Explanation of The W-G-P is a Chemical Company that manufactures and distributes agricultural chemicals. They have a goal to improve their current distribution patterns

1. W-G-P Chemical Company case explained by (Mohammad Khalifa)
The W-G-P is a Chemical Company that manufactures and distributes agricultural chemicals. They
have a goal to improve theircurrent distribution patterns. The company produces almost 130 stock
keepingunits (SKU’s) gathered in two different types; (A) called Prevention and (B) which is called
Support. There are two main manufacturing plants located in Louisiana and Alabama marked in
black, nine seasonal contractedmanufacturingplants,three in-transitdistributioncentres marked in
redand 28 full line distributioncentres warehouses marked in blue as shown on the attached map.
W-P-G annual sales are $525,146,747, they produce 121358.884US tons of product. A massive
amount of 107 million is spent on the distribution. It appears that they can re-assess their
distribution both seasonally and the actual facilities used. They might be able to cut down on
transportation and warehousing cost, Allot of the products are seasonal and can only be used at
specific times under various circumstances.
WGP dependson Agricultural dealerstopromote anddistributeitsproducts, they purchase product
to serve their geographical location either by rush overnight shipments or 90 days in advance with
the transportation cost paid by WGP, this early bird idea saves on dealers then resell to farmers
along with other competing products. Furthermore, WGP offers the dealers early ordering and
pickup discount. Up to 40% of annual sale are made by early ordering program. The record shows
that almost70% of sales happen in a period of three months on the season prior to the application
of the products. Prevention is 13 Stock keeping units, highly seasonal and accounts for 85% of
revenue; it is only manufactured in Louisiana manufacturing plant. Support is 116 Stock keeping

2. units, Available all year and accounts for 15% of revenue; it is manufactured in both Louisiana and
Alabama manufacturing plants.
A majorimprovementcanbe made byintroducingachange of the methodof distribution via online
orderingdirecttoconsumeror factory shopsin the high demand area, In addition, an update of the
currentusedtechnology, byinvolvinganinformationtechnologyspecialist, to build in software and
push the online sale.
Information sharing and further incentive will help to reduce the cost of inventory, Improve order
estimation; it will also enhance market vision which will eventually improve the distribution.
A reduction of the 15% returns acceptance from dealers to 10% in low demand areas will help
control the reverse logistic but might discourage the dealers from carrying out a large amount of
inventory so it should be based on the returns amount history.
Using reverse logistics and discusses alternative modes of transportation via airplanes, trains, and
eventhe possibilitytouse the same cargo shipsthat deliversraw materialstopickuplarge shipment
of processed materials from both main manufacturing plants when delivering raw materials, This
optionshouldbe carefullyconsideredasitcouldbe fasterand cheapertouse trucks particularlythat
most of the high demands are seasonal and within 1200 kilometres from the manufacturing plants
whichcan be reachedin less than 24 hours, therefore, adopting a different method might be more
expensive or it could affect the fast delivery required on seasonal demand.

3. Based on the attached google map that shows all warehouse locations, the distance from the two
mainfactories ismeasured.A change of both In-Transit warehouses to the Midwest region or even
combine three In-Transitwarehouses inone will be a great advantage of the distribution centres as
it is less than 1000 Kilometres from (both main manufacturing plants to Birmingham In-Transit
Warehouse in Alabama) to a (Midwest central location like Decatur Warehouse or Evansville
Warehouse) will be a great advantage of the distribution methods as the records shows it is the
highest sale areas that account for 80% of the annual revenue .Therefore, it will consolidate
shipment and save on distribution cost. Moreover, this will help to reduce the number of
warehouses within400 Kilometresfromeighttoonlytwowarehouses.Thismight acquire extra cost
on the short termof expanding or investing in the expansion of current Midwestern warehouse to
transform it to larger In-Transit warehouses to meet demand but will reduce the total cost by
reducing the number of warehouses. Additionally, it will be a huge saving on costs of using public
storage and distribution centres.
By M.Khalifa