CHALLENGES IN LAST MILE DELIVERY – CASE OF FMCG INDUSTRY

Abstract

This was live case-based research at an FMCG warehouse based in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The area of focus was towards B2B last-mile delivery.
The research had two major objectives: Study the last-mile delivery present process to
understand the gaps and shortcomings experienced. Also, focus on issues faced by the
software existing at the warehouse for vehicle planning and routing.
Initial phase was exploratory research to arrive at the various last mile delivery options that
are used by different industries. Then the attention was directed towards FMCG industry
exclusively. Later, primary research was carried out by two methods – firstly, the process of
observation being at the warehouse and learnings from the day-to-day tasks; Secondly –
detailed interviews at the warehouse were taken of the personnel involved in the tasks.
All the area of concerns were listed as per interactions with the personnel implanting the
software. To map down the problems faced to its core, the framework of the software was
studied in detail.