(1). Types of distribution centers in the United States Since the 1961s, the rationalization of commodity distribution has been paid more and more attention in developed countries. In order to benefit from the circulation field, American enterprises have taken the following measures: first, they have changed the old warehouse into a distribution center; Second, the introduction of computer management network, loading and unloading, handling, storage of standardized operations, improve work efficiency; Third, chain stores set up distribution centers to promote the growth of chain stores' benefits. There are many kinds of distribution centers in American chain stores, mainly including wholesale, retail and warehousing. A. Wholesale California Food Distribution Center is the second largest wholesale distribution center in the United States. It was built in 1982, with a building area of million square meters and about 2,111 employees. * * * has more than 611 fully enclosed temperature-controlled transport vehicles, and its sales in 1995 reached 2 billion US dollars. All the commodities are food, with more than 43,111 varieties, of which 98% are purchased by the company, and 2% are developed and processed by the center, mainly fresh foods such as milk, bread and ice cream. The center has a membership system. Each member supermarket pays different membership fees to the center because of the different size of the store and the different quantity of goods required. Member stores, like other stores, do not enjoy any special treatment in daily transactions, but can participate in the regular profit processing of distribution centers. The distribution center itself is not a profit-making unit and can not pay business tax. Therefore, when the distribution center gains profits, it will distribute part of the profits to the member stores in the form of dividends. The amount of dividends received by member stores will depend on the delivery volume and transaction volume in the distribution center, and the more dividends will be paid. The distribution center is mainly managed by computer. The business department obtains the ordering information of the member stores through the computer, and sends the order instructions to the manufacturers and the storage and transportation department in time; The manufacturer and the storage and transportation department will arrange the distribution sequence according to the priority of the order, and put the distributed goods in the waiting port for delivery. The distribution center operates 24 hours a day, and the distribution radius is generally 51 kilometers. The distribution center negotiates with manufacturers and supermarkets to set commodity prices, which are mainly based on: (a) quantity and quality of commodities; (b) Payment time. If payment is made within 11 days, you can enjoy a 2% price discount; (c) The mark-up rate of the distribution center to the commodities distributed by the major supermarkets depends on the variety and grade of the commodities and the purchase quantity, which is generally 2.9%-8.5%. B. The retail distribution center of Wal-Mart Commodity Company in the United States is a typical retail distribution center. The distribution center is wholly-owned by Wal-Mart, which is designed to provide goods for the chain stores of the company on time and ensure the stable operation of each store. The center has a building area of 1.2 million square meters, a total investment of 71 million US dollars and more than 1.2 thousand employees. The distribution equipment includes 211 headstock, 411 carriages and 13 distribution conveyor belts, and there are 171 receiving ports in the distribution field. The center operates 24 hours a day, delivering goods to the 111 chain stores of Wal-Mart in six states, including New York and Pennsylvania. The center is located in the center of 111 chain stores, with a business circle of 321 kilometers and an average size of 2,111 square meters. The center deals in 41,111 kinds of commodities, mainly food and daily necessities. Usually, the inventory is 41 million dollars, the peak season is 71 million dollars, and the annual turnover inventory is 24 times. Among the goods in stock, the best-selling goods and slow-moving goods each account for 51%, and the goods in stock for more than 1.81 days are slow-moving goods. The inventory of each chain store is about 11% of the sales volume. 1995. The center's sales are $2 billion. The prices of goods sold in Wal-Mart's chain stores are different according to the income and consumption levels in different regions. The head office has set the upper and lower limits of the price difference, which in principle cannot be higher than the price of similar goods in the same industry in the region. C. warehousing the food distribution center of Fleming company in the United States is a typical warehouse distribution center. Its main task is to accept the business entrusted by the California headquarters of the American Independent Grocery Alliance and be responsible for the distribution of goods for the alliance's 351 franchise stores in the region. The distribution center has a building area of 71,111 square meters and operates 89,111 varieties, of which 1,211 varieties were developed by the American Independent Grocery Alliance and must be distributed centrally. About 71% of the goods handled by the service target store are distributed by the center. Generally, fresh goods and goods that are afraid of collision, such as milk, bread, potato chips, bottled drinks and beer, are directly purchased from local manufacturers, and vegetables are directly purchased from local wholesale markets. (2) Operation Process of the American Distribution Center The layout and management of the warehouse in the American Distribution Center are well organized, so that the busy business does not affect each other. The main experiences are as follows: a. There are 27 channels and 19 inlets between the shelves in the warehouse; B, pallets are the main parts, and four groups of containers are a shelf; C. The stacking of goods is divided into stored goods and distributed goods. Generally, according to the production date, purchase date and quality guarantee period of goods, the principle that the goods in the advanced warehouse are out of the warehouse first is adopted, and the goods in the upper shelf are backward stored goods, while the goods in the lower shelf are distributed goods to be out of the warehouse; D. Variety distribution is a large number of whole cases, so forklift is used for distribution; Shop distribution is subdivided goods, as small as a few socks wrapped in Shuang Yi, so the conveyor belt is used to distribute goods; E. Lightweight and bulky goods (such as toilet paper, etc.) shall be distributed by forklift, while heavy and small goods shall be distributed by conveyor belt; F. Special commodity storage areas, such as a small amount of high-value drugs and tonics, are fenced with barbed wire to prevent loss, and irrelevant personnel are not allowed to enter. The present situation and logistics solutions of China's logistics industry The existing logistics enterprises in China can be roughly divided into the following categories: (1) Professional logistics enterprises directly under the central government, namely, the Material Storage and Transportation Corporation and the Sinotrans Corporation. Warehousing is mainly aimed at the interior of the system, so business flow is separated from logistics and is subject to administrative control. (2) Local professional logistics enterprises, that is, storage and transportation companies and grain storage systems of local commercial systems, are completely under the local administrative leadership. (3) Concurrent logistics enterprises, that is, logistics enterprises integrating logistics and business flow, account for a large proportion, and the number is increasing. For a long time, due to the influence of planned economy, China's logistics has a low degree of socialization, chaotic logistics management system and diversified institutions. The former ministry of materials and equipment, the former Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Communications of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the central ministries (Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Forestry, etc.) and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection all have their own logistics systems. This decentralized and diversified logistics pattern makes it difficult to give full play to the advantages of intensive management of socialized large-scale production and specialized circulation, and it is difficult to achieve scale operation and scale benefits, with low utilization rate of facilities, unreasonable layout, repeated construction and serious waste of funds. Due to the conflict of interest and unsmooth information, the surplus and shortage of materials can not be deployed in time, and a large number of materials are stranded in the circulation field, resulting in the precipitation of funds and a large number of inventory costs. In addition, the overall level of logistics enterprises and logistics organizations in China is low, the equipment is outdated, the loss rate is high, the efficiency is low, and the transportation capacity is seriously insufficient, which forms a "bottleneck" and restricts the development of logistics. In view of the current situation of China's economic development and logistics industry reform, and drawing on the experience of developed countries, China began the pilot work of logistics distribution centers in 1992, and the former Ministry of Internal Trade issued the Opinions on the Development and Construction of Commodity Logistics (Distribution) Centers. The Opinions put forward that large and medium-sized storage and transportation enterprises should give full play to the advantages of facilities and services, transform and improve facilities, increase service items, improve service functions, and transform into socialized modern logistics centers; Small storage and transportation enterprises and wholesale enterprises with certain storage and transportation facilities have changed to distribution centers. In recent years, with the development of chain commerce, the construction of distribution centers has been paid attention to, especially the enthusiasm of chain enterprises to build their own distribution centers is very high. According to relevant data, there are more than 711 chain companies in China at present. The larger chain companies are already building their own distribution centers, and some small chain companies are also planning to build their own distribution centers, with a view to realizing that 111% of the goods will be distributed by their own distribution centers. However, a well-functioning socialized distribution center has a huge investment and a small distribution volume, which will inevitably lead to excessive debts and long payback period, which in turn will affect the development of chain enterprises; At the same time, a considerable number of warehouse facilities are idle in society, resulting in duplication and waste of investment. In order to avoid detours and guide the development and construction of logistics distribution centers, the former Ministry of Internal Trade issued the Notice on Strengthening the Development and Construction of Commercial Logistics Distribution Centers in 1996, pointing out the significance of developing and constructing logistics distribution centers. Put forward the guiding ideology and principles of development and construction. At the same time, the former Ministry of Internal Trade also issued the Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform and Development of Commercial Storage and Transportation Enterprises, which put forward the reform and development policy of "transforming mechanism, intensive management, improving functions, developing logistics and enhancing strength", and determined that the main development direction was to transform into a modern logistics distribution center, build a socialized logistics distribution center and develop a modern logistics network. Since the 1991s, with the establishment of the socialist market economy, logistics distribution has emerged. In 1992, the former Ministry of Commerce issued a document to deploy a pilot project for the construction of the national logistics distribution center, marking the official start of the construction of the logistics distribution center in China. Due to various reasons, the strength is not enough and it has not been further developed. These are of course related to the system and understanding at that time, and the more important reason is that the market economy was in the initial stage, which restricted the development and construction of logistics distribution. In recent years, with the rapid growth of market economy, especially the development of chain commerce, various forms of distribution centers have mushroomed. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 1,111 logistics distribution centers of various types in China. Among them, Shanghai and Guangdong have the largest number and the most mature development. In addition, Japan, the United States, Britain and other countries have established their own logistics distribution centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places in China. There are also some foreign enterprises that are studying the logistics and distribution industry in China, and take entering China in the next few years as their development strategy. According to the information we have, we have analyzed the situation of various logistics distribution centers at home and abroad at present. The conclusion is that most of them have crossed the stage of simple door-to-door delivery, and basically belong to real logistics distribution, but they are still traditional logistics distribution at the level, that is, they are in the primary stage of logistics distribution, and they do not have or basically do not have the characteristics of information, modernization and socialization of new logistics distribution. Therefore, there are various drawbacks and problems that traditional logistics distribution cannot overcome in operation. Fortunately, the relevant state departments have recognized these problems, and are trying to guide China's logistics distribution industry to develop in the direction of informationization, modernization and socialization from the macro-adjustment. Some knowledgeable government officials, business circles and theoretical circles are also discussing this aspect together, and have begun to practice. Our solution is to establish a new logistics distribution center integrating logistics, business flow and information flow. 1996-11-11, the former Ministry of Internal Trade issued "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform and Development of State-owned Commerce", with special emphasis on "developing and building a socialized logistics distribution center with commodity agency and distribution as the main features, and organically combining logistics, business flow and information flow". Accelerating the construction of logistics distribution center in China conforms to the development direction of logistics informationization, socialization, modernization and internationalization in the world, which organically combines logistics, business flow and information flow in the circulation process. It turns out that logistics, business flow and information flow are "three-stream separation", and the information, socialization and modern logistics distribution center organically combine the three. Engaged in distribution business can not be separated from "third-rate", in which information flow is the most important. In fact, both business flow and logistics operate under the instruction of information flow. Smooth, accurate and timely information fundamentally ensures the high quality and efficiency of business flow and logistics. At present, China's commodity economy is relatively developed, but logistics and distribution are obviously lagging behind. For a long time, the separation of business flow and logistics has seriously affected commodity management and scale efficiency. Practice has proved that the market economy needs a higher degree of organization, scale and systematization, and it is urgent to strengthen the construction of logistics distribution centers with information functions as soon as possible. Developing a new logistics distribution center with informationization, modernization and socialization is an important content of establishing and perfecting a new circulation system under the conditions of socialist market economy. As a developing country, China should learn from the experience of developed countries and make use of modern facilities, but at present it is impossible to reach the modernization level of logistics distribution centers in developed countries. We can only develop new logistics distribution centers with China characteristics from the national conditions, regional conditions and enterprise conditions. With the increasing popularity of e-commerce, China's logistics and distribution industry will certainly develop in the direction of a new logistics and distribution center. Excerpt from-Value China Network