Over the past two decades, one of the world’s leading consumer-goods companies quietly built a distribution network the same way many established players did—through incremental decisions. Every warehouse, satellite node, or cross-dock was added because someone, somewhere, made a request.
The network worked until a turning point in a conference room in Chicago.
During a quarterly review, the newly appointed VP of Supply Chain looked at a wall-sized map dots for warehouses, shaded zones for customers and asked the question no one had asked in years:
“Why, exactly, do we have a warehouse here?”
The room fell silent. A senior sales manager finally offered a hesitant answer:
“Well… our distributor back then preferred picking up from that area.”
Another executive added:
“And that one over there came with the acquisition in 2012.”
Someone else chimed in:
“That facility? The team said local service would be better.”
By the time the discussion ended, one thing was clear:
The company’s distribution network wasn’t designed—it had happened.
The Modern Supply Chain Reality: Disruptions That Rewrite the Rules
As the company re-examined its footprint, they felt that the footprint no longer resembled the company’s growth trajectory, customer expectations, or cost structure. Demand had shifted dramatically across regions and channels, while the network remained anchored in decisions made five, ten, even fifteen years ago.
Besides, the world around it was shifting. Not with dramatic shocks, but with a constant hum of disruption:
- Port congestion that ebbed and flowed unpredictably
- Retailers tightening OTIF windows with little tolerance for delay
- E-commerce demand patterns moving faster than old replenishment cycles
The company’s leadership realized that a network built on historical habits could no longer navigate these disruptions effectively.
Two questions became urgent:
- Is our current footprint still fit for purpose?
- What should our network look like in 2025 and beyond?
The organization turned to Sophus for answers.
Why Sophus: From Intuition-Based Decisions to Scientific Design
Sophus offered something the company had never had before: a unified decision-intelligence platform capable of modeling the entire distribution ecosystem.
With Sophus, the team could:
- Integrate 2024 actual demand and future forecast demand
- Incorporate service requirements by channel: retail, e-commerce, distributors
- Factor inbound constraints from suppliers
- Compare transportation, warehousing, and handling cost structures
- Test multiple warehouse scenarios—including quantity, location, and size
- Evaluate resilience under modern disruption patterns
For the first time, discussions about “where to locate the next DC” shifted from regional anecdotes to data-backed scenario comparisons.
The Baseline Assessment: What the Existing Network Was Truly Doing
The first model Sophus produced revealed a reality hidden in plain sight.
1. A footprint built by history, not strategy
Several DCs existed because of past acquisitions or distributor preferences—no longer tied to where the business was growing.
2. A mismatch between demand and facilities
Fast-growing demand clusters were often served from distant nodes, while slower regions hosted oversized facilities.
3. Transportation inefficiencies embedded deep within the network
Some long-haul lanes had become cost sinkholes—slow, expensive, and fragile under today’s volatile trucking market.
4. Limited resilience to upstream disruptions
Certain regions were overly dependent on single long-distance inbound paths, creating exposure when ports or carriers fluctuated.
5. The network didn’t reflect the company’s 2025 strategy
Channel expansion, market shifts, and product mix changes had outpaced the old footprint.
Scenario Planning: What a Future-Ready Network Could Look Like
Sophus modeled hundreds of alternatives supply chain scenario planning within just days and provided insights such as the following.
Scenario A: Maintain all DCs and simply rebalance flows
Low change, low value. Costs barely moved, and service remained inconsistent.
Scenario B: Consolidate into fewer, larger hubs
Strong cost reduction… but at the expense of OTIF and e-commerce responsiveness.
Scenario C: Hybrid Redesign (The Optimal Strategy)
This scenario delivered the best balance of cost, speed, and resilience. It included:
- Relocating a major Midwest DC closer to actual demand
- Adding a highly efficient satellite node dedicated to e-commerce
- Consolidating two underutilized East-region facilities
- Re-optimizing inbound and outbound lanes to reduce volatility exposure
This hybrid configuration became the backbone of the recommended network.
The Impact: Quantifiable Gains in Cost, Service, and Stability
The redesigned network achieved three strategic outcomes.
1. Millions in Annual Savings
With better-aligned DC locations and improved lane structures, the model forecasted multimillion-dollar transportation and warehousing cost reductions.
2. Faster Delivery—Up to 5 Days Saved in Key Regions
The Midwest, previously a bottleneck, became a high-performance zone with significantly reduced transit times.
3. Improved Disruption Resilience
The new configuration diversified inbound paths, balanced regional load, and reduced dependency on vulnerable long-haul links.
4. A Network Aligned With 2025 Market Needs
For the first time, distribution capacity matched e-commerce growth, modern-trade priorities, and shifting customer density.
5. Institutionalized Decision Science
Sophus gave the company a repeatable, transparent approach to network design—turning future debates into evidence-based planning.
Cross-Functional Alignment: The Hidden Win
Perhaps the biggest achievement was not the network map, but the alignment it created.
Sophus visualizations coverage heatmaps, scenario comparisons, resilience scores, and cost trade-offs enabled clear cross-functional dialogue. Sales, finance, and operations now shared the same single source of truth, resolving long-standing disagreements rooted in “regional intuition.”
Executives described the transformation as moving from:
“We think…” → “We know…”
“This region says…” → “The data shows…”
“We’ve always done this…” → “Here is the optimal configuration.”
Conclusion: A Resilient Network for the Next Decade
The company’s journey reflects a shift occurring across the supply chain industry. As disruptions become a constant and customer expectations accelerate, legacy distribution footprints no matter how well-intentioned can no longer keep up.
By adopting Sophus, the company replaced a patchwork historical network with a strategic, future-ready platform that:
- Reduces cost
- Improves service
- Strengthens resilience
- Aligns cross-functional priorities
- Supports long-term growth
Ready to build a network that performs under pressure? Sophus helps you design, test, and optimize your entire supply chain with speed and accuracy. If you want a smarter network that cuts cost, improves service, and scales for the next decade, book a walkthrough with our team and see what Sophus can deliver.
