ESTUDO COMPARATIVO DA DISTRIBUIÇÃO DE CARGAS FRACIONADAS E CONSOLIDADAS DE PISOS LAMINADOS DE MADEIRA DE UMA INDÚSTRIA DE BOTUCATU (SP) COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN LESS-THAN AND FULL TRUCKLOAD DISTRIBUTION OF WOOD FLOOR OF AN INDUSTRY LOCATED IN BOTUCATU (SP) ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO DE LA DISTRIBUCIÓN DE CARGAS FRACCIONADAS Y CONSOLIDADAS DE PISOS LAMINADOS DE MADERA DE UNA INDUSTRIA DE BOTUCATU (SP)

Less-than-truckload service consists in delivering small quantity of goods which size, to a customer, an origin or a destination, is not enough to completely fill a vehicle. This service is characterized by presenting many passages and intermediate operations that lead to an increase of travel durations and causes a no-fulfillment of the deadlines of delivery of products, rising costs of transportation. Already the full truckload service results from the creation of large shipments from several smaller ones, in order to obtain economies of scale in freight costs and increase the customer service level. Consolidating cargos is a powerful economic practice in strategic planning that helps to reduce the freight rates. In this context, the objective of this article was to make a comparative study about the distribution of lessthan and full truckload of wood floor of a civil construction company, located in Botucatu, Sao Paulo. The methodology used in the study was a survey of freight prices with the companies that provide services of road transport. The collected data were compiled into spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel software (2003 and 2007 versions) and gave rise to graphs that enabled the performance of statistical analysis and comparative data. The study concluded that the best way to distribute the wood floor with quality of service and speed, providing the satisfaction of end costumers, is to adopt a distribution system with full truckload service by the fact it has no intermediate stages that subject the products to damages and, also, presents better economic results to the company.