Holmen Paper is one of Sweden?s leading manufacturer of paper, with two Swedish production facilities located in Norrköping and Hallstavik. The European continent constitutes the company?s largest customer base which makes the company?s distribution system an integral part of the business. Historically, much of the produced paper has been transported by vessels, as vessels allow large volumes of goods and deliveries to markets which are difficult to reach with other modes of transportation.

Executive SummaryThis final thesis has examined the effects of an increased centralization and better coord­in­ation of the distribution logistics at ABB in Västerås. The company is today strongly decent­ralized and there is a minimum of collaboration between the 20 business units. This is why the questions were raised; how could the business units coordinate outbound logistic activities and what effects would that provide. The obj­ect­ive of this final thesis is to provide basic data for a future decision-making which desc­r­ibe these effects.The report has mapped out the factors that are important to ABB in an evaluation of their logistic activities and how the outbound logistics work today. The four factors are cost efficiency, delivery service, environmental impact and logistics capability.