Bloomex.Ca Logistics Optimization

Abstract

A Canadian online floral delivery company considers whether to source more flowers from its existing growing locations and which of those would be optimal given its current market. What would be the advantages of opening a logistics facility in Miami? Students must consider the transportation costs per standard box from each origin or transshipment center to each production facility as well as data about the available supply at each origin and projected demand at each facility per week. Excerpt UVA-QA-0760 Jan. 19, 2011 Bloomex.ca Logistics Optimization Bloomex.ca was a leading Canadian floral company offering various floral and gift arrangements throughout Canada via its online computerized sending system. The website acted as a storefront that allowed consumers worldwide to place orders online for delivery in Canada, chat with a live agent, or place orders through a toll-free number. was the only floral company that offered same-day delivery to almost any location in Canada, and orders could be placed 24 hours a day and were 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Bloomex's business model was based on operating a network of small- to medium-scale warehouses and production facilities in seven major Canadian metro areas: Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. Bloomex imported the majority of its fresh-cut flowers directly from growers in South America, Southeast Asia, and Florida as well as local growers in Ontario. It also sourced product from global wholesalers in Holland. As one of the options for optimizing Bloomex's logistics, the company's owner, Dimitri Lokhonia, was considering a possibility of opening a logistics facility in Miami. Three out of eight of Bloomex production facilities could then operate as transshipment centers: Miami (when opened), Toronto, and Vancouver. This meant these facilities could receive flowers from local growers or other growing locations and send them on to various production facilities. Exhibit 1 provides the data on the transportation costs per standard box from each origin or transshipment center to each production facility; Exhibit 1 also provides data about the available supply at each origin and projected demand at each facility per week. . . .