Distribution Centers

Distribution Centers are the physical or logical origin points for material logistics — where materials ship from before they reach a project site. A project can be anchored to a distribution center so Darwin can calculate transportation cost automatically.

Why Distribution Centers Matter

• Transportation accuracy — anchoring a project to a real origin point makes distance-based cost calculation meaningful
• Multi-region operations — companies operating across regions can model each region’s real logistics origin
• Reusable across projects — set a distribution center up once, reuse it on every project anchored to that region

How Distribution Centers Work

Each distribution center has a name, a location address, and location coordinates. One distribution center can be marked as the default. When a project references a distribution center, Darwin uses its coordinates together with Transportation Rates to calculate logistics costs on expense lines.

Creating a Distribution Center

1. Go to Config → Distribution Centers
2. Click New Distribution Center
3. Enter a name (e.g., “San José Yard”, “Miami Warehouse”)
4. Enter the location address and confirm coordinates
5. Mark it Default if it should apply automatically to new projects
6. Save

Best Practices

• Use one distribution center per real logistics origin, not one per project
• Keep names specific to the physical location, not the client or project
• Set a sensible default if most of your projects ship from the same origin

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This completes the Initial Setup checklist. With Currencies, Systems, Categories, Tax Rates, Expense Types, Handling Costs, Transportation Rates, and Distribution Centers in place, you’re ready to build your Catalog:

➡️ Catalog Overview