Seattle Consulting, Inc.

Improving Outbound Distribution for the Washington State LCB

The Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) operates over 360 retail outlets across the state of Washington. It generates over $360 million in revenue for the state. It distributes over 15,000 cases a day from its central distribution facility in Seattle. Its distribution network had evolved over time to encompass several hundred routes which were non competitively placed with a variety of carriers. Often, the routes overlapped. The LCB had little recourse for poor carrier performance and no access to market pricing for its outbound distribution.

The Washington State LCB asked Seattle Consulting to work with it to:

Logically consolidate its outbound distribution route structure

Create a new distribution system which would enable fair and open competition between carriers

Establish performance criteria which would enable the replacement of poor performing carriers.

Seattle Consulting worked with LCB to design a zone based distribution system.

The results included:

Streamlining the distribution system from several hundred overlapping routes to eleven geographically contiguous and balanced zones

Establishing uniform standards for safety and delivery performance for all carriers

Enabling the first fair and open competition for outbound distribution. Overall rates came down significantly. Several new carriers bid on and won zones. Several poor performing carriers were eliminated.

The streamlining of outbound distribution significantly contributed to the ability of the LCB to continue its high rate of growth.