Purposes Distribution Centres Serve

A distribution center is a warehouse or any specially purposed building which is stocked with products to be distributed to retailers, wholesalers or directly to consumers. Some massive retail chains own and operate their own distribution centres but some other businesses prefer to undertake the services of a third party distribution centre to keep their operation costs under control. The workflow and operations of a distribution centre begins when the goods are received from a source and ends when the products are delivered to the final user.

Need For Distribution Centers

Distribution centres can be spread into an area ranging from 50,000 sq. ft. to about 3 million sq. mt. Distribution centres are the vital link of a supply chain.  Longer and globally oriented supply chains have often required the purpose of distribution centres where the production output can be stored in distribution centres for a longer period of time and can be assembled in larger quantities. Some consignments that meant to be delivered to longer distance regions are often stored in distribution centres near the seas. They are carried to their destination towns through shipping.

Distribution Centres Should be Near
 

Distribution centres should more often be located near the retail stores which signify the importance of less consumption of fuel and time for carrying the consignments to be delivered. Though this purpose can also be served through the bigger vehicles and higher load factor.

Globalization, trade and freight are often interrelated and signifies the importance of transportation which is closely related to distribution centres. This requires a good understanding of logistics and growing levels of integration between production, distribution and consumption.

Divisions of a Distribution Centre

A large distribution centre may receive or ship more than a thousand truckloads every year. In general, a distribution centre may be divided broadly into three sections: a shipping dock, a receiving dock and a storage zone. Depending upon the types of goods, these sections are broken into specialized sections. If a company handles perishable or non-perishable goods, then the distribution centres will have separate zones to store these products under refrigeration or air condition to stop them from perishing. Docks generally have specially designed areas for the storage, transportation and safe handling of these products.

Distribution Centre in San Diego

The Distribution centre in San Diego serves the purpose of distribution of consignments within the city or across the borders through large consignments. This is done primarily through road transportation, aircrafts or shipping through a highly proficient agency which charges nominal brokerage for clearing or shipping the consignments through customs and delivering them at the final point. The services of any expert broker can be hired for the purpose of getting your consignments and shipments cleared through customs by different industries and businesses. In this manner, you can save your precious time and money without undergoing to deal with the hassles of the customs. Distribution centres may be located inside the big cities or near the smaller towns from where the shipments are meant to be loaded. Warehouses near the airports or sea towns supply the products directly to other towns or cities by means of ships and aircrafts.

Different Departments of a Distribution Centre

The Distribution centre consists of various departments such as goods in, bulk, export, packaging & production and transportation. Containers are unloaded by drivers and other staff and then the bulk department controls and ships large cartons and boxes. The Export department deals with the consignments that are leaving the country whereas the raw items are packed at the packing benches and finally the transportation department supervises the inbound and outbound shipping of all the consignments from the distribution centres.