Analysis of Cost Problem and Planning Transportation Route the Drinking Water: Case study of A Water Rice Co., Ltd

Abstract

This applied research had objectives 1) to study the current transportation process and analyze the causes of high transportation costs using a fishbone diagram 2) to analyze and plan more efficient delivery routes based on the Milk Run theory and 3) to compare the performance between the existing delivery model and the new one on a weekly basis. Data was collected between November 2020 and March 2021. The sample group included 3 people from the company (the owner and delivery staff) and 23 regular customers. Selected through purposive sampling. The tools used for data collection were in-depth interviews to understand delivery behaviors and cost issues, and Google Maps for analyzing customer locations and delivery routes. The study found that the company did not have an effective delivery plan, which led to repeated trips—often one truck was used to serve just one or two customers at a time even if they were located on the same route. The fishbone diagram helped identify major problems related to people vehicles methods and planning. Then the Milk Run concept was applied to design better delivery routes. Customers were divided into four zones with four corresponding delivery routes. As a result, the number of weekly trips was reduced from 42 to 20, and the weekly transportation cost decreased from 59,716.26 baht to 21,978.12 and equivalent to 63.20%.