IMPACT OF EFFECTIVE PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION IN BREWERY INDUSTRY

IMPACT OF EFFECTIVE PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION IN BREWERY INDUSTRY

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Since most commercial producer cannot sell directly to the final consumer without passing through the distributor or other market intermediaries. The reason for effective distribution process is aimed at getting the product from the manufacturer to the final consumer.
Additionally, the organization should identify certain factors before adopting the type of distribution process it will use for its product. It is known that every product seek to link together the set of marketing intermediaries that conform on the firm’s objective. Here are some factors that must be considered by the firms before setting any distribution process and these are:
1. Finally capacity of the organization
2. The type of competitive environment in which firm operate.
3. The nature of their product
4. Geographical location of producer and its consumer.
The manufacture must be able to analyze the reason of choosing one particular distribution process to the other.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 
Production is the creation of goods and services, the goods and services can be produced in factories, industries, firms or companies. Production is not complete until the products/services get to end users or consumers. This can be obtained through the distribution process and that complete the production cycle. The distribution activity is equally referred to as physical distribution management (PDM), marketing logistics and material management. Physical distribution system includes; transportation, material handling, order processing, inventory control, warehousing and packing into a complete distribution strategy.
McCarthy described the place component of marketing mix (distribution) as “the situation and use of marketing specialist middlemen, transportation and storage agencies to provide target customers with place and possession utilities. Distribution channel is regarded as a bridge that spans various gaps between producers and customers. Kotler on his own stated that “physical distribution is defined as the planning, implementing and controlling the physical flows of materials and final goods from one point of origin to point of use to meet customer’s needs at a profit. It is concerned with the efficient movement of raw materials, from the suppliers to the factory site where they are processes into finished product and passed to the final consumers.
The procedure of getting the right quantity of the right product to the right place at the right time and at the least cost is no simple job because complainers like the brewery industries with their great diversity of customers spread over vast geographical areas must integrate the systems components to avoid dissonance (dissatisfaction). As stated earlier, there exist a gap in the firm of place and time between manufacturers and the ultimate consumer or user for whom the manufacturer is producing and this gap can only be bridged by distribution. Many problems are confronting the distribution system of brewery industries, these problems ranges from lack of channel members, to physical distribution problems such as lack of adequate, transportations, poor inventory management, inadequate warehousing facilities and lack of sophisticated method of communication. The problem in distribution network starts with selection of mode of distribution, selection of inexperienced personnel’s with little or no business acumen as distribution. The continuous increase in the cost transportation due to decoration of our roads, high cost of vehicles and spare parts and currently increase in cost of petroleum products poses a serious problem in the effective coverage of territories in the distribution of bear both in rural and urban areas in the country.
In the area of inventory, modern management is rarely practiced; this is partly caused by insufficient storage facilities and inappropriate storage methods which invariably results to high rate of spoilage, breakage and waste of products. Besides, warehouses are very few and far, sophisticated material handling equipments like fork lift, cranes, convey or machines etc. are lacking in some of these companies. So in the light of these marginal or problems and the fact that there are many brands of beer in the market from which the consumer has to choose with little or no difference among them in terms of quality and other characteristics. It then follows that there is a need for the individual brewery firms to management the physical distribution system and engaged in proper manipulation of other marketing mix variables in order to keep a float in the present day competitive beer market in Nigeria.
In this study, the researcher shall consider the physical distribution management from the point of view of Ama Plant, Enugu State.

IMPACT OF EFFECTIVE PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION IN BREWERY INDUSTRY