A distribution center is a logistics infrastructure in which products are stored and output orders are given for distribution to retail or wholesale trade. It generally consists of one or more warehouses, which occasionally have refrigeration or air conditioning systems, areas to organize merchandise and gates, ramps or other infrastructure such as vehicles.

Companies usually define the location of their distribution centers based on the area or region in which it will have coverage, including natural resources, population characteristics, availability of labor force, taxes, transportation services, consumers, energy sources, among others. Likewise, this must also take into account the routes to and from production plants, and to main roads, or the location of sea, river, air ports, loading stations and free zones.

The implementation of distribution centers within the supply chain arises from the need to achieve a more efficient, flexible and dynamic distribution, that is, to ensure a rapid response capacity to the customer, in the face of an increasingly specialized "Demand (economy)" demand. The implementation also offers a reduction in costs for companies and avoids bottlenecks.

Another advantage is the fact of generating "factory - customer" link mechanisms, which allows adequate attention to small points of sale, such as kiosks, cafes or restaurants, with a high rate of entry and exit of products, which usually have a short period to place their orders or a very short period for their marketing.

The mission of the warehouse is to correct imbalances between production and consumption (Stocks) or minimize transportation costs (e.g. Cross-Docking Centers). In all of them the reason for being is the same to ADAPT immediately to the behavior of SUPPLY and DEMAND.

It consists of the integration of the different functional areas (that make up the solution of a logistics facility) in a single building. It covers not only the arrangement and composition of the internal functional sections of said building (what is within the four walls), but also the other external areas.

Warehouse management must respond to the real behavior of demand, apparently unpredictable and with the problems derived from day-to-day management, which is a characteristic of this type of centers. Due to the demanding requirements and the difficulty of modeling them, activity throughout the day, month and year is usually far from the design parameters.