Allocate orders across warehouses with clear constraints fast. Estimate cost, utilization, and unmet demand instantly. Export reports, test scenarios, and improve delivery performance daily.
Enter warehouse capacity and costs, region demand, and distances. The tool assigns each region to the cheapest available warehouse capacity.
These sample values mirror the prefilled fields. Replace them with your own network and demand profile.
| Warehouse | Capacity/day | Fixed/day | Handling/order | Regions and demand/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central DC | 1200 | 1800 | 0.45 | Metro A 850, Metro B 620, Metro C 410, Metro D 300 |
| North Hub | 700 | 1100 | 0.55 | Distances vary per lane, set in matrix. |
| South Hub | 650 | 1050 | 0.52 | Use max distance and penalty only if needed. |
The planner assigns each region’s demand to warehouses by ascending variable cost per order, while respecting capacity.
Note: This is a practical heuristic for quick planning. For strict global optimization, a linear programming solver is typically used.
Daily demand by region is the backbone of distribution planning. Convert monthly order history into an average orders‑per‑day baseline, then apply growth, seasonality, and promotion uplift. Service targets translate into practical limits: a max delivery radius, a preferred lane distance, and an acceptable share of split shipments. When demand is uncertain, plan with a conservative peak multiplier so capacity and transport budgets remain resilient.
Warehouse capacity should reflect real throughput, not just storage. Start with pick‑pack lines, labor hours, carrier cutoff times, and average minutes per order. Translate these into a daily capacity figure and validate it against recent performance. A good plan keeps utilization high without creating bottlenecks, typically leaving headroom for returns processing, rework, and late inbound receipts. If unmet demand appears, it signals a need for overtime, temporary labor, or an additional node.
Total fulfillment cost combines fixed and variable components. Fixed cost includes rent, core staffing, and systems overhead per day. Variable cost includes handling per order and distance‑based shipping. Lane economics improve when you reduce long‑distance shipments and allocate orders to the lowest variable cost option that still has capacity. Penalizing distances above a policy threshold helps enforce service commitments and discourage inefficient lanes in practice.
Distribution decisions should align with inventory availability. Regions with volatile demand benefit from safety stock positioned closer to customers, while stable regions can be served from fewer nodes. Keep a buffer for carrier disruptions and weather events by spreading critical volume across at least two warehouses when possible. Review single‑point dependencies, including one warehouse supplying the highest revenue region, and define a contingency routing plan.
After running scenarios, compare the recommended allocation against actual shipment data. Track average cost per order, miles per order, utilization, and unmet demand. Investigate costly lanes and test changes such as renegotiated carrier rates, packaging improvements, or a new cross‑dock strategy. Recompute the plan weekly during steady periods and daily during peak. Small adjustments to costs, capacities, and distances often produce meaningful savings.
It assigns each region’s daily demand to available warehouses by the lowest variable cost per order while respecting capacity. Fixed costs are added only for warehouses that ship orders during the planning window.
Use recent throughput: orders processed per hour × staffed hours, adjusted for carrier cutoff times and expected returns workload. Treat capacity as a realistic daily maximum, not a best‑case peak.
Use typical driving distance or an average carrier zone estimate between each warehouse and region. Consistent inputs matter more than perfect precision, especially when you compare scenarios over time.
Unmet demand appears when total regional demand exceeds total warehouse capacity, or when you leave warehouses blank. Increase capacity, add another node, or reduce peak multiplier to test alternatives.
Fuel surcharge increases distance‑based shipping cost as a percentage. Peak multiplier scales that shipping cost again to reflect congestion, surge pricing, or seasonal rate inflation.
Yes. Set a max distance and a penalty per kilometer over that limit. The penalty pushes allocation toward nearer warehouses, making long lanes less attractive when capacity allows.
Important Note: All the Calculators listed in this site are for educational purpose only and we do not guarentee the accuracy of results. Please do consult with other sources as well.