22 Extended SupplyChain
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Together, which targeted innovation, cost efficiency, service and quality. “Together started with two simple questions,” said
Woodhead. “Are our containers full? And if we’re going to have to add storage shouldn’t it be in the North of San Adrian, on the way to the UK?” General Mills changed the stock holding location
which enabled the company to fill 26 floor locations by using double stack part pallets meaning an efficient load building with a mix of heavy and light loads. The increase in load fill aimed to reduce shipments
and was therefore seen as a long term robust solution for future savings. The order lead time, newly reduced by one week,
meant increased agility, better customer service and improved reliability. And changes in quality meant a reduction of inbound damages. General Mills then teamed up with MacAndrews
Shipping Line who it appointed as its contracted warehouse partner. A 10,000 sqmwarehouse was built 150kmnorth of
CalumLewis, operations director at toymanufacturer Lego.
Think big, start small, scale fast and keep it simple.
The company trades worldwide with a broad
distribution of ambient, chilled and frozen products with brands such as Green Giant, Old El Paso and Häagen-Dazs. It is considered the sixth largest food manufacturing company in the world and is seen as a medium-sized business in the UK. Its factory in San Adrian, south of the Port of
Bilbao, Spain, had a warehouse for overspill close to their facility. The plan was to move the warehouse north of San Adrian to cut the overall transport process by a week and to create value. Howorth and Woodhead explained the main key
challenges the company faced at that time, starting with cost inflation. Other challenges the company faced included
demand volatility with promotions being inherently more difficult to predict, requirement for greater responsiveness and sustainability which has remained top of GeneralMills’ agenda with the need to focus on value in today’s economy. To address this, the company developed Project
Socialmedia You are never too old for Facebook
Social media is becoming increasingly important to supply chain professionals, speakers at the Extended Supply Chain conference have revealed. During a panel discussion at the
conference, Roger Staplehurst, vice president in strategic supply chain at CSR plc, said: “You are never too old for Facebook or Twitter. Social media is important in the commercial world,more and more gadgets etc are coming out and you end up running blind because no one really knows about them. “You need to become your own
forecaster and research the products on social media websites. Comments you see on them give much more helpful information then press reviews or articles.”
Travis Perkins’ group supply
chain director Robin Proctor and Oracle’s EMEA practice director Mo Khurana also spoke about social media being critical nowadays although Khurana pointed out that social media and new technology alone will not improve something, the people have to be able to use it. Chris Poole, Diageo’s global
customer service development director, said: “More savvy pieces of kit are coming out and customers are becoming more demanding. “Companies and the economy are
more competitive than ever and to create a faster supply chain we need the use of new technology, for example 3D images and 3D copy- some will take off, some won’t.”
San Adrian, in Port Land, Bilbao. It has a racking design ofUK and Euro bulk stack and took just under nine weeks to complete. The new warehouse’s location enables the
transport process to be cut by a week which sees environmental benefits such as direct delivery to customers in Ireland, reduced total shipments and reduced number of road shipments, saving 300,000 road miles. In 2011 the company managed just over 25 pallets
per container whereas they can now handle over 26, nearly 27 pallets per container. Project Together also enabled a week out to be taken out of the overall transport process, making
Innovation isn’t just a good idea – it has to be delivered.
them less reliant on road loads, saving 2.5 million road miles per year and allowing them to deliver directly to Ireland. “By changing ourmind set throughout our project,
it doesn’t stop, we can continue our innovation, said Woodhead. “In the last 4-5 weeks we have started trials in the new warehouse. It isn’t just about physical logistics but about a supply chain, there’s a real end-to-end supply chain feel about this. “Short sea routes have replaced road loads and are
a real innovation in the business industry.” Howorth added: “In today’s economic situation,
consumers are wasting less and volumes are down. They are thinking more about how they shop – online banking, convenience stores etc. Theywant to spend less but shop more often and use less fuel. “Innovation isn’t just a good idea – it has to be
delivered.” The challenges & opportunities of building a
consumer driven supply chain came under scrutiny in the presentation from Calum Lewis, operations director at toymanufacturer Lego. Lewis highlighted the fact that consumers are focusing more and more on price and value when choosing a retailer for toys. And that inevitably increases the drive for cost
reduction in supply chains, often with a short term perspective. In addition, he said, in the current economic
climate with increasing retail
competition, promotions and deals are now expected. That leads to more volatility in demand which in turn has an impact on the efficiency in the supply chain. Buyers are under pressure to increase margins – and a one margin point improvement could have a major impact on the bottom line. However, a simplemargin focus did not take account of full value chain costs. “I would argue that to support the commercial
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