Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

SCM 554

IMPACT OF THE PANAMA CANAL ON TEXARKANA DISTRIBUTION

Project Background:

Two weeks ago, our school heard a talk by Captain Bill Diehl, President of the Houston Port Bureau. He talked about how the Panama Canal is affecting the distribution of physical assets through Texarkana. Regardless of our local interest (or lack of it) in increasing business in Texarkana, we ARE being and WILL be affected by this.

An expanded Panama Canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016. This project A) built two new wide sets of locks, one each on the Atlantic and Pacific sides, and excavated new channels to the new locks, and B) widened and deepened existing channels. This doubled the capacity of the canal for traffic and, importantly, permitted wider and larger ships to pass through. As a result, the Houston port now sees more shipping traffic than both the Atlantic and Pacific ports combined.

It might soon be substantially lower in cost to transport goods from Houston to most of North America than to transport goods from either of the coasts. Of course, standing directly between Houston, the east and west coasts, and Canada is Texarkana – with a transportation corridor of the planned I-69 from Houston. From I-369, the loop on the Texas side of Texarkana, one will be able to catch the future I-49 to go north toward Canada. From Texarkana, goods can be transported west on I-30 and east on I-30/I-40, and will be transported east on the future I-69. Texarkana was founded as railroad city and rail transportation still passes through. Our airport can also handle cargo transportation. Water transportation through Texarkana does not exist and probably never will due to physical constraints of the Red River north of Shreveport. With Texarkana being a place that receives much immigration from the southern coast after hurricanes and the increases in the price of gasoline as coastal refineries are disrupted by hurricanes, it has never made sense to me that nobody has built pipelines from the coast to Texarkana as a place that is “out of harm’s way.” But pipeline transportation from Houston could be possible.

Assignment:

Assess the planning that one should do to build a lean distribution hub near Texarkana. Remember that cost and speed of throughput are essential to being competitive. Not only is Texarkana on the way to other parts of the US from Houston, but so are cities such as Shreveport, Tyler, and Dallas. For this exam, think of a distribution center as something like a warehouse that stores very little; it is instead a space to re-assort goods for distribution to other places. Distribution centers have lots of loading docks on one side of the building to off-load things from trucks, lots of conveyor belts inside, and lots of loading docks on the other side of the building to stock trucks with assortments of goods required for a particular destination (a retail store or warehouse). Containers are shipped across the ocean. In Houston, these containers are off-loaded from ships and loaded onto trailers to be moved to distribution centers. At the distribution centers, containers are unpacked, goods are re-assorted, and new assortments of goods are then shipped by motor carrier (trucks) to other locations.

• Using only the principles discussed through the first eight chapters in your textbook, summarize issues that one should implement in designing a general distribution center near Texarkana that should be as lean as possible in current times.
• Cite information (by page number) that you use from this source.
• Limit your report to five single-spaced pages
• Please organize your thoughts with an outline before you start writing! Please start your essay with a brief statement of your essay’s objective, briefly summarize the situation, present and discuss/support your suggestions, and then briefly summarize your suggestions in a concluding section. Your abilities as a working MBA are judged in large part by your ability to organize your thoughts and to write coherently!