shd excellence in logistics Office Depot l
Office Depot is externally recognised as a leading player in the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Internally, two Distribution Centres in particular – Manchester and Leicester – are setting the standard as the top performing DCs within the organisation’s European division. ShD caught up with Mike McCreesh, head of supply chain at Office Depot UK and Ireland, to discuss how the UK’s DCs have achieved such strong performance.
Moving stationery
established team, purpose-built sites, and effective supplier relationships that result in very high service levels. The accuracy of our service to our customer base is industry-leading at present.
ShD: How accurate are you, and where can you improve? MM: There are different elements to achieving warehouse accuracy: goods being moved accurately the first time, damaged goods, goods being delivered on time, and picking correctly.
ShD: Mike, how have you managed to maintain the performance of the DCs in Manchester and Leicester? Mike McCreesh: Some of it is down to local management – where does the MD want to invest? We’ve been backed by investment, throughout the last five years in particular, which has enabled our team to enhance our warehouse configuration in terms of leading edge automation. We have moved into purpose-built facilities in both locations in the last seven years. This has contributed to us being able to introduce more sophisticated operating practices, and we have
14 ShD December 2011
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enhanced our sites by investing in A- Frames and Automated Stock Retrieval Systems (ASRS) in particular. Within Office Depot’s European division, Germany is currently pushing the UK sites in terms of operational efficiency. It is no coincidence that the management team there has adopted a similar approach towards warehouse automation.
In terms of productivity, we have the same service model as we did five years ago; however we are approximately 40% more productive today.
In the UK, it’s a combination of an
We introduced a quality metric some years ago now that we refer to as OTAC (On Time Accurate and Complete). This is an all-encompassing measure of customer satisfaction that provides a true reflection of service levels. We have improved consistently over the last few years to our current level which is in excess of 99%.
ShD: Accuracy is imperative to what you do; the measurement you deploy appears to over-penalise, if anything? MM: Yes, accuracy is imperative. We measure errors live. It’s different by area. Our overall Supply Chain performance is categorised by Customer Service, Inventory, Distribution, and Transport. We have
excellence in logistics
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