You have been hired by the company that you used for your Mid Term Assignment in Supply and Demand 1 (Sedar Database Financial Records Assignment). If you are not enrolled in S&D 1 this semester contact the instructor to determine a suitable organization.

The company has decided to establish physical presence in Canada and to build a single DC that will serve the entire Canadian Marketplace.The site location has been chosen for you and will be Bolton Ontario. A suitable sized plot of land has been purchased and this site will only be served by road (no direct rail siding will exist). Using the type of product your company distributes (either from manufacturing itself or purchasing from an external firm) you will need to design a distribution centre and make recommendations on specific areas of operations and management. In each of the challenges you will be asked to make a recommendation and then defend your recommendation based on your course learnings.

The recommendations you make must be based on you understanding the trade-offs that exist based on your learnings in this course and you also should be prepared to justify any major expenses (i.e. recommendation of significant automation should be well supported to justify its cost). You will be assessed considering the level of thought and connection between your course learnings, your subject company and the type of products that will flow through the DC. You will need to make some reasonable assumptions based on a company's volume and market stability. For the purpose of this exercise consider your organization as stable within the industry (unless you specifically know otherwise) and that current volumes are forecasted to be consistent for at least five years. State any assumption that you require in the challenge they apply to.

Challenge 1. Describe Your Organization

Provide a brief background about the organization itself and the type of products that it will be distributing through the new DC. Please provide basic information here on the volume of product and value that are anticipated to flow through the DC. Please use information from the financial statements for the year that you used and make reasonable assumptions where necessary.