Team
In this project, our purpose is to improve the commercialization and distribution practices of fresh produce from Sinaloa into the United States. Particularly, we are proposing the development of a long term, progressive strategy to vertically integrate the Sinaloan fresh produce, supply chain through a logistics platform, so that producers gain more control of the distribution of their products. This research will result in a methodology, which Sinaloan farmers can apply in practical terms to progressively implement a logistics platform.
Problem Description:
Sinaloa is one of the main suppliers of fresh produce in the US and provides roughly half the fresh produce consumed during the winter. Up to now the traditional way of doing business has been through a lot of players which reduces the producers’ profit margin drastically even though they provide the most value and assume the higher risk. The establishment of logistic distribution platforms in the U.S. will integrate the producer vertically in the supply chain, in contrast with their current practice of selling FOB at the border, and will give them a greater control of their value chain.
The implementation of a logistics platform has to be gradual and methodical, so that the optimal configuration in terms of location, transportation, and distribution of the products is chosen. Therefore, the methodology that we will use includes: 1) a market and logistics analysis to find a feasible location for the logistics platform; 2) an analysis of the multimodal transportation options to efficiently move the product from the field to the logistics platform; 3) an analysis of the requirements of the market in order to design a platform that efficiently meets the customer needs and increases revenue; and 4) a sensitivity analysis based on certain metrics to make a comparison between the expected performance of the platform versus the competition.
At this moment, the three phases of the project have been completed.
In this project, our purpose is to improve the commercialization and distribution practices of fresh produce from Sinaloa into the United States. Particularly, we are proposing the development of a long term, progressive strategy to vertically integrate the Sinaloan fresh produce, supply chain through a logistics platform, so that producers gain more control of the distribution of their products. This research will result in a methodology, which Sinaloan farmers can apply in practical terms to progressively implement a logistics platform.
Problem Description:
Sinaloa is one of the main suppliers of fresh produce in the US and provides roughly half the fresh produce consumed during the winter. Up to now the traditional way of doing business has been through a lot of players which reduces the producers’ profit margin drastically even though they provide the most value and assume the higher risk. The establishment of logistic distribution platforms in the U.S. will integrate the producer vertically in the supply chain, in contrast with their current practice of selling FOB at the border, and will give them a greater control of their value chain.
The implementation of a logistics platform has to be gradual and methodical, so that the optimal configuration in terms of location, transportation, and distribution of the products is chosen. Therefore, the methodology that we will use includes: 1) a market and logistics analysis to find a feasible location for the logistics platform; 2) an analysis of the multimodal transportation options to efficiently move the product from the field to the logistics platform; 3) an analysis of the requirements of the market in order to design a platform that efficiently meets the customer needs and increases revenue; and 4) a sensitivity analysis based on certain metrics to make a comparison between the expected performance of the platform versus the competition.
At this moment, the three phases of the project have been completed.