Abstract
Due to an increasingly difficult and complex market, the attention to logistics has become both an imperative for manufacturing companies in the ceramics sector and an important competitive tool to affirm and consolidate their market shares. It is therefore essential to identify critical areas to build alternatives to current hypotheses of tiles’ distribution, according to the logistic of sale "ex works" for domestic customers. Through an extensive field survey conducted among each player of the supply-chain (ceramics industries, logistics providers and customers), it was possible to study and organize the different logistic models in the ceramic industry, including the network of warehouses and hubs in the district of Sassuolo. In particular the survey allowed the reconstruction of the operational model related to the “order-delivery” cycle in the district, assessing the main key factors such as costs of transport, fees, delivery and impacts on the organization of the customer, in terms of internal costs associated control activities on transport. Besides, the high redemption has allowed to understand the different motivations that guide the customers’choices of delivery and the factors that lead to a possible change in the near future (indicated as an opportunity by 78% of respondents). At last, the survey shows a concrete scenario where the uncertain dynamics of the market may lead to a more integrated management of logistics, through initiatives such as partnerships between one or more ceramic industries. Among the players in the ceramic industry, the logistics providers represent a key figure. Their role could evolve into integrators of the tile supply chain, in order to optimize loads and promote the reduction of the average time of delivery, which now amount to more than 12 days.