european supply chain management issue 2 2013
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The latest edition of European Supply Chain ManagementTRANSCRIPT
ESCMEUROPEAN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
ISSUE 02/13 £3.50
It’s ComingOver the next ten years we will see the last
great architectural shift in the software industry - to cloud computing
Page 4
Setting standards, driving resultsSupply chain partners need to work
together to make it easier to do business by adopting a standard approach
Page 6
The Fast LeaderToday’s more dynamic and agile
practitioners are learning to profit from persistent volatility and uncertainty
Page 20
At thecrossroadsThe success or failure of your business could depend on how you manage your information
CHAIRMAN ANDREW SCHOFIELD
GROUP MANAGING DIRECTORMIKE TULLOCH
MANAGING EDITORLIBBIE HAMMOND
STAFF WRITERSKIRSTy BIRKETT-STUBBS
MATT HIGHjO COOPER
ART EDITOR & ADvERTISING DESIGNjENNI NEWMAN
PRODUCTION MANAGERFLEUR CONWAy
PRODUCTION ADMIN [email protected]
EDITORIAL ADMINEMMA HARRIS
SALES DIRECTORDAvID GARNER
BUSINESS DEvELOPMENT MANAGERMARK CAWSTON
HEAD OF RESEARCH PHILIP MONUMENT
EDITORIAL RESEARCH MANAGERSLAURA THOMPSON
TIM EAKINS
EDITORIAL RESEARCHERS RyAN SADLER
DAWN FOORD
ADvERTISING SALES MANAGERROB WAGNER
SALES MANAGERGRAHAM ALLINSON
SALESjOE WOOLSGROvE
FINLAy jOHNSONDARREN jOLLIFFE
OFFICE MANAGERTRACy CHyNOWETH
© 2013 Schofield Publishing Limited
10 Cringleford Business CentreIntwood Road Cringleford Norwich NR4 6AU
T: +44 (0) 1603 274130F: +44 (0) 1603 274131
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
PLEASE NOTE: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with
those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information
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Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ESCM Editor
Entering the digital ageThis issue of European Supply Chain Management represents rather a landmark
for us here at Schofield Publishing. It’s the first digital issue of ESCM, and it’s
being sent to our subscribers via email. It’s taken a lot of planning and we are
very excited about the fact we can now share the magazine in this way.
However, we appreciate that some readers like to get hold a hard copy of the
magazine, and as we are very keen to address the needs of all our customers, we
are still producing a printed edition.
If you prefer to receive your version in that format, please drop an email to:
[email protected] with your name and full postal address, and
one will be sent out to you.
PS: Our sister magazines European Oil & Gas, Shipping & Marine, Railway
Strategies and Modern Utility Management are also going digital, so if you’d also
like to receive a copy of any of those titles, send your email address to Iain Kidd
as above!
libbie hammond [email protected]
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 1
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk2
4 It’s comIng
Even though it has been more than 15 years
since the public internet opened for business,
we still haven’t reached the point where all
applications are delivered over the cloud. But
we will get there
6 settIng standards, drIvIng results
Standardising the way data is identified, captured and shared enables organisations to see more clearly what’s going on in their supply chains, delivering benefits for many different sectors
9 toast of the town
Worcester based Exmac Automation has
completed a contract to design and install
a materials handling system for a new
Completely Knocked Down (CKD) facility at the
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plant at Halewood
12 at the crossroads
Corporate information responsibility is about
fostering a culture of care for information,
underpinned by reliable business processes
that treat information as an asset not a liability
12
14
ESCM
16 the outsourcIng challenge
Sourcing in manufacturing presents a
number of challenges. But this is all changing,
thanks to new ways of approaching and
applying technology to manufacturing
sourcing – and the application of some
sourcing best practices
20 the fast leader
Today’s more dynamic and agile practitioners
are learning to profit from persistent volatility
and uncertainty by adapting their supply
chains to flex with the markets
22 managIng connectIons
In the consumer space, Facebook has
managed to completely revolutionise the
way we manage our social connections and
in the B2B world, the race to turn individual
companies into multi-enterprise commerce
networks connected in the cloud is already
in full swing
Features
22
6
News• 11 Logistics news
• 15 IT news
• 19 Manufacturing news
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 3
26 McDonalD’s osterreich
With 184 restaurants and 156 McCafe’s,
McDonald’s Osterreich is keen to continue
expanding and evolving through long-term
investment to ensure customer satisfaction
31 iBa
Headquartered in Belgium and employing
more than 1200 people worldwide, IBA is
focused on providing solutions in the fight
against cancer
34 Kannegiesser UK
Kannegiesser has been in business in the
UK for many years and has created a strong
business with excellent customer relations
43
50
60
38 shears Bros (transport)
With the ability to diversify and expand
its business into new markets with
seeming ease, it is no surprise that Shears
Bros (Transport) Ltd will be looking for
potential new markets
41 Werner KenKel spółKa
Werner Kenkel Spółka z.o.o., a
manufacturer of corrugated board
and packaging and provider of flexo
print, is characterised by both modern
management and dynamic development
Profiles
41
38
34
31
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk4
Over the next ten years we will see the last great
architectural shift in the software industry as
everything transitions to cloud computing.
Fifteen years ago, there was this inescapable sense that the
internet would change everything. It has, and the cloud is
the ultimate expression of the internet’s disruptive nature.
Once cloud computing has truly taken hold in every sector
- which it will before the next ten years are over - the full
promise of the internet revolution will have been realised.
The first successful cloud services were companies like eBay
and Amazon, which put consumer transactions in the cloud.
Now, there’s no going back.
It may seem like a long time has passed since the days of
Netscape Navigator and AOL, but after a clearly superior
technology emerges, it takes time for the shift to take place. It
was clear back in 1980 that Oracle was the leader in database
technology, but it took a long time for the disruptions of
their superior relational database to ripple through the
system and push out the old guard. So even
though it has been more than 15 years since
the public internet opened for business,
we still haven’t reached the point where
all applications are delivered over the
cloud. But we will get there.
If you don’t believe me, ask a
venture capitalist the last time he or
Zach Nelson discusses cloud computing – the last great software shift
It’scoming
Lead One
she invested in a company that delivers software on a CD. All
the serious development with major backing happens today
in the cloud, and that will continue to make itself more and
more obvious.
There is a lot of discussion about whether this move will
be to the ‘public’ or the ‘private’ cloud, but when I hear that
it tells me that people are misunderstanding how the cloud
works. The nature of a public cloud is to provide secure,
seamless access to information and applications. You won’t
buy services from me if I can’t keep that ‘private’ when you
want it private, but ‘public’ when you want it shared. More
often, the term ‘private cloud’ is abused by people who are
just trying to slap a new coat of paint on the client/server
architecture that we know is already dead.
Workforce churn is going to play a huge part in the
adoption of cloud services in the next few years. Most
people coming out of universities have lived their lives in the
cloud. Show them a room full of servers and they’re going
to ask, incredulously, ‘What is this? This is how you run
your business?’ The Zuckerberg generation was born on the
internet, not the PC, and they’re going to turn to the internet
for both their business and consumer needs.
A lot of this change will be subtle and unnoticeable.
Nobody can say exactly when people stopped visiting a
bank just to check their balance - it happened slowly, over
time. Five years from now we will see multi-billion dollar
companies running all of their core business processes in the
cloud, but it won’t be part of some grand plan. We will wake
up one day, look around, and realise that the old ways have
faded away.
And what customer demands and business trends will
drive changes in software products, how they’re developed,
and the industry that provides them?
The best way to look at any trend or demand is to ask
whether the internet is going to be core to that business
process going forward. The answer is almost always going to
be ‘yes.’ So any business or industry that isn’t willing to truly
embrace modern, internet-based cloud architecture is one
that will, by its own admission, fall behind and lose out.
The shift from the computer to the smartphone is
fascinating. Microsoft has struggled so mightily, despite the
fact that they basically invented the tablet, because they kept
trying to drag the notion of the desktop computer to mobile
devices. Nobody wants to be tethered to a desk - they want to
be tethered to the cloud. That’s why the younger generations
use their smartphones for virtually everything we once
thought of as the exclusive domain of the computer. In fact, it
seems like just about the only thing they want PCs for, oddly
enough, is to make calls with Skype.
Of course, a ‘smartphone’ can mean many things, and
a Blackberry has pros and cons that differ from an iPad.
Developers will have their work cut out for them to keep
pace with the different choices consumers and business users
have in smart devices, and will need to make some strategic
decisions about what to support.
Social media is changing the way companies evaluate
their performance. Instead of evaluating quarterly profit/loss
statements, we can find out if we are doing our jobs correctly
just by tuning in to what individual customers are saying. We
can capture their thoughts from Twitter feeds, comments and
reviews, and what they tell us in transactions, and break that
down to immediately understand what these individuals are
telling us about how we do business, and how our products,
marketing, and customer service need to adapt to address
gaps. That change will be coming soon - definitely within the
next five years.
The sheer volume of social media content is going to
force companies to get smarter about which customers they
choose to respond to. Some are squeaky wheels, which will
simply never be satisfied. Others are canaries in the coal mine
and will deserve immediate attention. And still others will
be competitive saboteurs. Building the discipline that turns
social media into competitive intelligence will not be easy,
but it will be necessary.
Regulatory demands, both by businesses and governments,
are going to drive consolidation of processes and data
storage. The more systems data flows across, the more
difficult it is to co-ordinate security policies and ensure
compliance. There is no meaningful, consistent way to apply
security standards to 25 different systems. So consolidating
the number of systems that touch a particular data process,
and consolidating all those individual servers running in data
centres and utility closets in tens of thousands of businesses
around the globe, is going to be a major concern.
Zach Nelson
Zach Nelson is an accomplished software industry executive and
visionary with more than 20 years of leadership experience. CEO
of NetSuite since 2002, Nelson led the company’s successful IPO
in 2007 and its rise from startup to a slate of over 6,600 active
customers. Under Nelson’s leadership, NetSuite has grown
substantially year-over-year to become one of the industry’s
leading cloud computing companies. He was named one of the
10 Visionary CEOs of 2008 by InternetNews.com. Nelson holds
B.S. and M.A. degrees from Stanford University.
NetSuite
Today, more than 16,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on
NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally
in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself
as the leading provider of enterprise-class cloud financials/ERP suites
for divisions of large enterprises and mid-sized organizations seeking
to upgrade their antiquated client/server ERP systems.
For further information, visit:
www.netsuite.com/portal/home.shtml
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 5
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk6
Accurate data is the bedrock of efficient supply
chains. Allowing products and paperwork to move
effortlessly between trading partners, it drives
greater competitiveness, lowers operating cost, and improves
collaboration and customer service.
However, evidence suggests that bad data in the supply
chain is the norm rather than the exception. Experian QAS
research shows a focus on data quality can liberate millions of
pounds in lost budget and generate profit for UK companies.
Findings from The Data Revolution identify that on average
around £1 in every £6 of departmental budget is wasted by UK
companies because of poor data quality. Departments such
as marketing, sales, operations and customer services report
wasting 15 per cent of their budget on average — and in IT
and data management this rises to 18 per cent (around one
sixth). Two thirds of the companies surveyed with customer
loyalty programmes report that inaccurate data has had a
negative impact on these through, for example, lost custom.
It is also important to note that the demand for accurate
data is not only being driven by the B2B customer, but
also from consumer pressure for more detailed product
information, accessible in numerous formats. As such, it’s
never been more important for data moving along the supply
chain to be accurate, otherwise lost sales and consumer loyalty
could be the end result.
Standardising the way data is identified, captured and
shared, provides the key to more efficient supply chains
and more effective trading relationships in any industry. By
providing a consistent language and framework for data
exchange globally, supply chain standards drive accuracy,
reliability and trust – ultimately helping to save time and
money for everyone, as well as deliver better customer service.
The need for global standards is best illustrated by
examining what happens without them. There is no global
standard for shoe sizes, for example. Shoe manufacturers find
it difficult to export shoes because they have to label them
Gary Lynch makes the case for supply chain standards as the solution to more efficient trading
Setting standardsdriving results
StandardiSing data
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 7
Gary Lynch
Gary Lynch is chief executive of GS1 UK. He is a member of the
GS1 Advisory Council, GS1 in Europe Board and a member of
the GDSN Board of Governors. Before joining GS1, Gary was
Avaya’s eBusiness Director, responsible for the international
deployment of their CRM systems for their business partners. He
has also worked in senior marketing and business development
positions at UUNET (a global network provider) and eLogistics
(an online logistics marketplace).
differently for particular markets. Purchase orders, invoices
and delivery slips all have to be changed to include the correct
shoe sizing system, depending on where the buyer is located.
These additional considerations all create challenges for the
supplier/customer relationship and extra costs, which are then
passed onto consumers.
What’s in a number?By attributing an identifier, such as a specific number, to an
item, it can be accurately identified and tracked within an
organisation. However, for the system to work across multiple
organisations and geographies, as is the requirement of most
modern day supply chains, the number attributed must
be totally unique and universally recognised. This is where
industry standards come in.
Providing a unique set of identification numbers for
products, companies, locations, services, assets, logistics
units and customers, at any point in the supply chain, global
standards provide a way for trading partners to understand
each other and do business more effectively. For GS1’s
members, this system is founded on a common set of global
identification numbers known as GS1 Identification Keys.
Furthermore, demand for information is only going to
increase, with predictions that it is set to double from over 200
to over 400 attributes for each product in the next five years
(The Food Service Information Challenge). Driving factors
include: the evolution of the savvy shopper, who has the desire
and capability to research everything before buying or making
a choice; consumers wishing to eat more healthily, locally, and
ethically, and expecting that information to be available and
accurate whether in-store, online or eating out; European
legislative changes, such as the EU 1169/2011 directive on food
labelling; and CSR considerations.
Of course, supply chain efficiency is commonly associated
with the retail and food service sectors and it’s true that
manufacturers and suppliers are constantly evaluating their
processes to save time and money, and ultimately increase
sales. However, other sectors are also learning to improve
efficiency through global supply chain standards and solutions.
NHS Trusts, for example, use supply chain standards to
enable the efficient movement of patient records, healthcare
products and medicine for the benefit of patients, as well as
cost efficiency. One department at Leeds Teaching Hospital
has reduced its stock levels by £570,000 over the last three
years by implementing GS1 bar codes for its stock control and
forecasting system.
Information identification is only one part of the solution. t
StandardiSing data
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk8
Ensuring this data is then captured, maintained to a high level
of accuracy and integrity, and shared between supply chain
partners is the crucial next step to fully realising the benefits
of standardisation.
Certified data pools allow suppliers to enter and exchange
standardised and synchronised supply chain data with all their
trading partners. The advantage of this system is that there is
only one version of data held in a central database accessible
by all trading partners. Instead of supplying specific data
to individual trade customers in separate spreadsheets, the
supplier creates one central master file of product data, which
is much easier and more economic to maintain and update.
Everyone draws from the same product data pool, which
means that all parties have access to consistent information.
This collaborative approach increases the quality of product
data and engenders trust in trading relationships, eliminating
many of the workaround activities currently needed to paste
over cracks in the availability of accurate data.
Standards in actionStandardising the way data is identified, captured and shared
enables organisations to see more clearly what’s going on in
their supply chains, delivering benefits for many different
sectors; whether that’s supermarkets keeping their shelves
well stocked, restaurants providing allergen information on
menus, doctors guaranteeing that their patients will get the
right medication, or organisations giving better value to their
customers by cutting costs from their supply chain.
Plus, as supply chain scrutiny increases in areas such
sustainability, nutritional information and cost-cutting, data
accuracy and availability will become an even more pressing
priority – not only within supply chains but also from the
consumer’s perspective. In the wake of the horse meat issue,
the focus of the world’s public, media, legislators and industry
leaders has never been more firmly on supply chain visibility
and management.
To keep pace with consumer and customer expectations,
and to manage information efficiently and economically,
supply chain partners need to work together to make it easier
to do business by adopting a standard approach. When
everyone speaks the same trading language, the commercial
benefits will be realised too. GS1 UK looks forward to working
with our members to achieve these efficiencies.
GS1 UK
For more than 35 years GS1 UK has been working with its members to
enable the efficient movement of goods and sharing of information.
It drives supply chain efficiency alongside 111 other not-for-profit GS1
member organisations in 150 countries worldwide. Having introduced
the first truly global bar code numbering system in 1973, at least five
billion GS1-compliant bar codes are now scanned everyday – making
it the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world.
For further information, visit:
www.gs1uk.org
Worcester based Exmac Automation has
completed a contract to design and install a
materials handling system for a new Completely
Knocked Down (CKD) facility at the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)
plant at Halewood, where complete car sets are prepared
for shipping to various locations around the world for local
re-assembly. The Land Rover Freelander 2, which is being
assembled at a new JLR-built plant in Pune, India from 2011,
is the first model to be shipped in kit form from the new
CKD facility.
To prepare the knock-down kits for shipping, the
production engineering team at JLR’s Halewood plant needed
A new facility for Jaguar Land Rover required a state-of-the-art materials handling system
Toastof the town
Logistics
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 9
workstation and placed onto a shipping pallet that has been
pre-loaded – using an Exmac designed overhead hoist – with
the engine, gearbox, transfer boxes, exhaust, wheels and tyres
and various other components that comprise the complete
car kit. The Exmac roller beds and slings used to manually
handle components from stillages to platen, were specially
designed to ensure that parts are balanced for safe handling.
The body transfer skid is now powered forward onto a second
roller bed and stacked, awaiting a full stack, which is then
transferred onto the empty trailer and returned to the body
take-out area.
Finally, the doors are removed from the ‘toast rack’ and re-
loaded onto the pallet near their fitted position and supported
by a holding fixture that forms part of the pallet. The engine,
gearbox, transfer boxes, exhaust, wheels and tyres, and the
various other components that comprise the complete car
kit, are then arranged with the body on a single platen and
securely packed for shipping.
Commenting for Exmac, managing director Gary
Sweeney says the company is proud to be associated with
the new facility at Halewood, especially as it follows recently
completed contracts for systems to install the new Jaguar XJ
moon roof, roofs for the Evoque and Freelander 2 and a doors
delivery system.
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk10
to create a handling system that would enable bodies and
other components to be taken from existing production
facilities and transported to the new CKD facility where
they could be packed to ensure that vehicle kits are safe for
shipping. Exmac worked closely in partnership with the JLR
engineering team to develop both conveying and handling
systems that would integrate seamlessly with the existing
Freelander assembly system.
The Exmac contract was in two phases. First, the Exmac
powered ‘Take-out’ roller bed system transfers painted
Freelander 2 bodies onto a roller bed trailer, which tows them
to the new CKD Building. There, the trailer is aligned with a
cross transfer shuttle that takes bodies to one of three storage
lanes, each able to accommodate four bodies. Phase two saw
the installation of a crane and jib arm hoist systems as well
as a shuttle and specialised conveyor line for a ‘Take-out’
system that moves vehicle components and bodies from the
existing Freelander production line into the new CKD facility.
A powered roller system in the CKD facility itself has also
been installed to transport painted bodies on skids, together
with specially designed slings to handle and manipulate the
heavy components such as vehicle bodies and engine and
powertrain components.
A fourth lane runs in the opposite direction to enable
bodies to be re-circulated within the store. At the other end of
the store another cross transfer shuttle, also equipped with a
power roller bed, selects a body from one of the three storage
lanes and powers it into the first of two stations.
Here the doors are taken off the body and placed in a
‘toast rack’ while an overhead crane and hoist loads seats
and a cockpit into the body. Next, the body is lifted from the
Exmac AutomationFor further information, visit:
www.exmacautomation.co.uk
Logistics
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 11
Log
isti
cs
New
s
Over 15,000 individual pick instructions
ImplementatIon completed
Chess Logistics Technology has completed implementation
of a new warehouse management system for its customer
Kuehne + Nagel. The system is being used to manage storage and
distribution of food products on behalf of Spirit Pub Company
for whom Kuehne + Nagel provides contract logistics services.
Operations are carried out at two multi-temperature depots
based in Greenford and at Trafford Park, Manchester with a total
combined space of 18,000m2.
The Chess system forms part of an integrated ordering and
logistics execution solution which includes interfaces with
ordering systems used by Spirit and finance systems operated
by Kuehne + Nagel. The Chess system is responsible for creation
of supplier purchase orders and for the capture, processing
and invoicing of sales orders. The system also interfaces with
vehicle-based delivery solutions installed in the Kuehne + Nagel
60-vehicle distribution fleet.
The warehouse operation itself runs 24 hours for six days a
week and handles over 1200 fresh, frozen and ambient product
lines, comprising around 2400 individual deliveries per week.
Efficient management of the daily case pick volumes is provided
via real time technology driven by the Chess system, which
involves a combination of mobile RF and voice directed picking
devices. Over 15,000 individual pick instructions determined by
temperature, product and store requirements are completed
daily, with stocked lines picked and merged with JIT products for
onward delivery to pubs.
www.chess.uk.com
Automated warehouse solution provider TGW Logistics is
equipping one of Europe’s leading mail-order retailers with an
extensive materials handling
solution at its logistics centre
at its headquarters in Weiden,
Germany.
Specialising in the distance
selling of clothing and home
textiles to the over 50s, the
Witt Group distributes 350
million catalogues annually to
customers in eleven European countries.
Currently the goods-in area is not situated at the Group’s
headquarters and storage locations are spread across four sites,
which incurs additional handling and transportation costs.
To increase efficiency and accommodate growing order volumes
and product lines, the Witt Group opted to consolidate these
functions under one roof by modernising its logistics centre in
Weiden. The third phase of this project will be the implementation
of a new automated warehouse.
TGW worked with Witt’s logistics team to design an extensive,
one-stop materials handling solution. The core element of the
new installation will be an automated high bay racking area with
more than 450,000 carton storage locations. Extensive conveyor
equipment will transport the cartons to TGW’s ergonomically
designed employee workstations.
www.tgw-group.com
new modular system
Flexibility built-in
:
Axiom GB has designed and installed an automated processing, bagging and sortation line for mobile phones and tablets at Unipart Technology Logistics (UTL). The automated line has resulted in a tenfold increase in throughput for these products, to just over one thousand orders an hour. The ambitious plan, driven jointly by UTL and Vodafone, was to introduce automation that would significantly reduce costs, improve service levels and shrink the footprint of the entire picking and packing operation within the warehouse. James Hodgetts was the programme manager working on behalf of UTL on this major project, he comments: “My brief was to select a partner who could help us to develop a completely bespoke solution to automate around 80 per cent of the volume of single item orders which were all previously processed by hand.
“We shortlisted two companies for the project, Axiom and one other. The contract was awarded to Axiom as they
demonstrated a superior knowledge and expertise of automated systems. They’re a forward thinking company and of the people we spoke to they were right out in front in terms of new technology. “The Axiom team was especially knowledgeable regarding how the new process line would interface with the UTL systems – this was a real plus point in their favour. We knew we wanted a totally unique solution and Axiom gave us a feeling of confidence that they knew exactly what they were doing and how they were going to deliver the end result we were looking for.“It was a combination of their automation knowledge and our operations expertise that took us to the successful solution we have today.”
www.axiomgb.com
relIabIlIty and robustness
Successful solution implemented
:
:
Information is a valuable resource that, if lost, can
have devastating consequences. Notwithstanding
a hefty fine, organisations can also suffer from
reputational damage, loss of competitive advantage and loss
of customer confidence. With huge amounts of information
growing daily, data loss poses a greater risk than ever before.
The statistics are breathtaking. We now create as much
information every two days as we did from the dawn of
civilisation to 2003 (IDC, IBM CMO Insight report, October
2011). In 2011, there were more than 788 million corporate
email accounts worldwide – a fifth of them in Europe (Email
statistics report, 2011 – 2015, The Radicati Group Inc, May
2011) – generating and disseminating information. Social
media is chalking up the numbers fast, both in terms of
accounts and content that runs into the billions. Every month,
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk12
30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook and 25
billion tweets are posted on Twitter.
As with any fast-moving field, contradictions and
inconsistencies abound. Consumers willingly share personal
details, but are passionate about protecting their privacy.
Companies want to engage with customers using social media
but are terrified of losing control, not to mention the legal,
regulatory and record-keeping requirements that these new
channels present. Organisations want to extract maximum
value and insight from their information. Yet they fail to
impose order on a landscape that includes structured and
unstructured information that exists in physical and digital
formats (often both) – all located in different parts of the
organisation and subject to different rules and processes. All
too often, a business tries to minimise risk by building a digital
Is it time for corporate information responsibility? Marc Duale takes a lookAt thecrossroads
IT
fortress around its data, only to witness sensitive information
walking out of the door on paper or left by the printer for
anyone to see.
These challenges and opportunities can significantly
increase information risk. Research undertaken across Europe
by Iron Mountain and PwC reveals that many European
businesses are woefully unprepared to address such risk.
The Beyond Cyber-threats – a study on business culture,
employee responsibility and information security, March
2012 shows that just half of mid-market businesses in
France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and the
UK consider information risk to be one of their top three
business risks. There is also considerable inconsistency around
who is or should be responsible for information risk. Only
13 per cent consider information risk to be a boardroom
issue, while around a third (35 per cent) view all information
risk – whether related to paper or digital information – as
the responsibility of the IT department. Just one per cent of
businesses consider information risk to be the responsibility of
every employee.
Such overwhelming evidence of a lack of internal measures
to adequately address external pressures should be sounding
alarm bells across Europe. We could be losing control of the
information tsunami at the time we can least afford to do so.
This is not good news at a time when new EU data protection
legislation, announced last January, is set to add an additional
burden of accountability and obligation to all businesses.
The need for professional information management
within business has never been greater. Corporate Social
Responsibility, ‘CSR’, grew out of a growing demand for
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 13
Marc Duale
Marc Duale was appointed president, international in
September 2008, after overseeing Iron Mountain’s business
in Europe for two years. A French native, Duale joined Iron
Mountain in May 2006 with more than 25 years of international
leadership experience. Prior to Iron Mountain, Duale was the
managing director of Reuter’s Asia Pacific operations. Before
Reuters, Duale served as COO of DHL Worldwide Express’ Asia-
Pacific and Middle East business, with responsibilities spanning
more than 50 countries. Duale’s academic achievements include
an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Harvard
Business School.
t
IT
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk14
organisations to be held to account for their environmental
and social values, actions and impact. We believe the time
has now come for organisations to hold themselves to
account for the way they handle and manage information.
Organisations of all sizes need to demonstrate a formal
commitment to safeguarding information assets including
confidential customer, employee and business data. We call this
commitment ‘corporate information responsibility’ (CIR).
CIR is about establishing a company-wide culture of respect
for and protection of information, maximising its value
and minimising the risk of data loss, security breaches and
non-compliance.
CIR is about visibility and control. You need to know what
information you are creating, collecting, processing and
storing; where it is at any moment in time; who is accountable
for it and what the plans are for secure storage and legally
compliant destruction at the end of its journey. The back-up of
digital information, archiving of paper documents, scanning,
shredding, day-to-day storage – on or off site, with or without
a third-party provider – as well as search, retrieval and access
restrictions are all vital elements that should form part of a
robust, company-wide information management plan.
CIR is about understanding and being prepared for risk.
Unexpected things will happen. Fire, flood, conflict, crime, an
accidental data breach or the failure of the IT infrastructure are
all potential disasters that could strike your business suddenly
and with serious consequences for your information assets.
CIR is about acknowledging the threats and preparing for the
worst, in order to ensure fast recovery, business survival and
the protection of corporate reputation, customers and staff.
Whether or not your plan succeeds will depend on people.
Managing information is not simply an IT or business process
issue; it’s about culture and people. People produce most of
your information, and it’s usually people who are going to
lose or misuse it. It is essential that you get every employee
on board.
Achieving a culture of information responsibility requires
training and support. Most of all it requires backing of
senior-level executives. The drive and direction for responsible
information handling must come from the very top of the
business and be backed up by example. How information is
managed has become a boardroom issue, not just in terms
of developing and disseminating company-wide policies, but
as an example of best practice in information handling and
accountability that sets the tone for the whole business.
In today’s increasingly knowledge-based global economy,
the success or failure for your business could depend on
how you manage your information. Imagine the impact on
your company of having instant access to all the value and
intelligence stored in your information. Now imagine what
would happen – to your competition, your data-dependant
business processes, your customer service and brand
reputation – if that information were damaged, exposed, lost
or destroyed.
Corporate information responsibility is about fostering
a culture of care for information, underpinned by reliable
business processes that treat information as an asset not
a liability. We call on European businesses to make
this commitment.
Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain provides information management services that help
organisations lower the costs, risks and inefficiencies of managing
their physical and digital data. The company’s solutions enable
customers to protect and better use their information - regardless
of its format, location or lifecycle stage - so they can optimise their
business and ensure proper recovery, compliance and discovery. For
further information, visit:
www.ironmountain.co.uk
IT N
ews
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 15
Partner already seeing benefitsTransform invenTory planning
INFORM, one of the leading supply chain optimisation
specialists, has announced a major contract with the world’s
leading party product manufacturer, Amscan International.
INFORM’s add*ONE Inventory Optimizer will transform Amscan’s
inventory planning and forecasting, enabling the company to
reduce stock whilst simultaneously increasing the availability of its
product range.
With 40,000 stock-keeping units across the globe and as a
supplier to 40,000 international outlets, it is vital that Amscan finds
the balance between high availability and stock costs. Amscan
has implemented the INFORM solution add*ONE after seeing
the benefits the software has brought to its partner company,
Riethmuller, in boosting efficiency to keep costs low whilst
ensuring complete customer satisfaction.
Paul Cox, CFO at Amscan International, says: “In the party business,
ensuring customer satisfaction through high availability is
essential. Distributing our goods to such diverse global locations
means it is even more important to forecast demand and ensure
we can deliver.
“Equally, if we are left with redundant stock the tied up capital and
associated storage costs would place us under immense financial
strain. Therefore it is vital that we utilise the benefits of technology
to ensure an efficient balancing act can be achieved.
“After already seeing the benefits the software has brought
to our partner company, we envisage add*ONE will bring
vast improvements in the efficiency of our supply chain and a
decrease in the amount of manual effort for our workforce.”
www.inform-software.com
With four out of five consumers now using a smartphone
to purchase goods and services, and buyers opting for
digital shopping baskets over trawling the shop floors, the
‘Omnichannel’ effect is tightening its grip on the retail industry.
In an effort for businesses to gain more control in this
multichannel era, we have seen a shift to broader B2B
programmes and the use of extended business documents
including an uptake in the use of advance ship notice (ASN).
Sent to the receiver ahead of a delivery, an ASN typically
contains the same information as the original invoice, as well
as logistics information like carton IDs, content description, and
transportation specifics, giving distributors and warehouses
the data they need for advanced planning.
To make it easier to tell where stock is at any given time,
retailers are able to deploy a number of strategies such as
cross-docking and drop-shipping to lower warehousing costs,
increase delivery speed and improve customer satisfaction.
Denise Oakley, international marketing director at GXS,
explains: “In an increasingly competitive and mobile market,
it’s vital that retailers get to grips with stock visibility issues. It
is proving increasingly difficult to predict when an order may
be made outside of seasonal purchasing patterns, and in order
to react as best as they can, retailers must have an accurate
picture of stock at all times. The GXS Trading Grid can help
manage this process, eliminating inefficiencies and giving
retailers the best possible chance of performing well and
satisfying customers.”
www.gxs.com
Tipping poinT for reTailers in 2013
Get to grips with stock visibility
:
The Open Group has announced the publication of the Open Trusted Technology Provider Standard (O-TTPS), the first complete standard published by The Open Group Trusted Technology Forum (OTTF) and which will benefit global providers and acquirers of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products. This open standard is the first of its kind to help organisations achieve Trusted Technology Provider status, assuring the integrity of COTS ICT products worldwide and safeguarding the global supply chain against the increased sophistication of Cybersecurity attacks.Specifically intended to prevent maliciously tainted and counterfeit products from entering the supply chain, this first release of the O-TTPS codifies best practices across the entire COTS ICT product lifecycle, including the design, sourcing, build, fulfilment, distribution, sustainment, and disposal phases.
www.opengroup.org
Ventilation equipment manufacturer Vortice has streamlined its production process and increased efficiency thanks to the installation of Preactor advanced planning and scheduling software.Giuseppe Baldeschi, Vortice production manager, said: “In order to manage our production mix, we needed visibility of potential bottlenecks, plus we needed to optimise our resources according to the kind of products to be made. Preactor enables us to achieve the full benefits of our work transforming our production process to ‘lean production’.” Vortice worked with local Preactor partner proe2 to implement the Preactor software and integrate it with its IT management system, based on AS400. Marco Naj Fovino at proe2 said: “Vortice has an international reputation for high-performance products, and it needed a scheduling solution that would perform equally highly to keep its edge in a competitive market. We worked with the firm to find the best Preactor solution for its needs, as well as integrate it with the existing IT management system so the two systems could share information.”
www.preactor.com
Creating trusted technology Transforming production processChanging ThreaT landsCape going lean
: :
:
Sourcing in manufacturing presents a number of
challenges. With hundreds or thousands of parts,
multiple suppliers, quality requirements and
tight deadlines, it is difficult for manufacturers to truly know
whether they are getting the best deal on every single part.
Sometimes even the most experienced and capable sourcing
experts struggle to find the lowest cost supplier or a provider
that has more efficient manufacturing processes. But this is all
changing, thanks to new ways of approaching and applying
technology to manufacturing sourcing – and the application
of some sourcing best practices.
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk16
Sourcing experts typically employ re-quoting at an existing
supplier or re-sourcing to a new supplier (or both) to cut
costs. However, it’s difficult to know if these efforts result in
the maximum savings possible. For example, if a there’s not
enough information to re-negotiate with suppliers effectively.
Yet sourcing teams need to meet annual cost reduction goals,
even in the face of rising costs.
Two common hurdles to this are bandwidth and the lack
of information. The time factor is obvious – small sourcing
staffs, too many suppliers in too many countries, and
countless parts. Meanwhile sourcing professionals lack the
Sourcing in manufacturing: cost challenges and best practice. By Myles Peyton
outsourcingThe
challenge
Manufacturing
detailed information and tools they need to help them easily
identify cost-saving opportunities and conduct more fruitful
negotiations with suppliers.
Here are some best practices manufacturers can apply to
meet cost-reduction goals:
1. Identify cost-saving opportunities The first step is to identify the parts or subassemblies with
the potential for the greatest savings. Determining the right
parts is science in itself. Using basic part information and
simple comparisons, such as historical cost versus mass or
cost versus complexity, sourcing experts can identify potential
opportunities to reduce costs.
Whether it is manually completed or using software, this
first step narrows the total universe of parts to a smaller group
that offers the potential for the biggest savings.
2. Scrutinise each part The next step is to look at each part and quantify its cost-
savings opportunity. The key to this second phase is knowing
what it ‘should cost’ to manufacture the part in question. If
you knew what it should cost to manufacture the part in an
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 17
t
aPriori’s new Geometry Analysis Tool, released in the r2 2012 aPriori Product Cost Management Platform update, displaying GCDs in different colours based on the value of the selected property or output.
aPriori Product Cost Management Platform displaying 3D CAD image and manufacturing
production variables including period costs, fixed costs, capital costs and geometric cost drivers.
Manufacturing
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk18
efficient supplier market (across various geographies), you
can compare that amount with the price currently being paid
and identify the parts that are out of line.
Taking the difference between the historical cost and the
‘should cost’ and multiplying it by the annual product volume
provides a total potential savings for each part. Ranking the
parts in order according to annual savings gives the sourcing
team a prioritised to-do list.
The key here is having a ‘should cost’ for each product.
Company cost experts can manually assess what it should cost
to make a few parts, but not the hundreds or thousands that
most companies have. As above, there are also new software
products and databases that make this information available
on a dynamic basis leveraging 2D and 3D product designs.
This information would ideally include the information
about the part’s geometry, the materials being used, and
production volume to generate a precise ‘should cost’
number. It might also include the most-efficient (lowest cost)
manufacturing processes for producing the part based on
production volumes, materials, factory locations and more.
As a result, the sourcing team not only has a target price, but
also a wealth of supporting information that can be used in
any re-quoting, re-bidding or re-negotiating processes with
suppliers.
3. Use the information and cost out parts The next step determines how to drive cost out of the parts.
There are usually three options – re-quote, re-route and re-
design.
The easiest way to save money on your parts is to find
ones where you are simply paying too much. Once identified,
the first thing to check is if the part is being manufactured
using the most efficient process available. If so, then this part
becomes a case of simply being overcharged for a part. In this
case, re-negotiating with the current supplier, or finding a
new one, usually results in a lower price.
In some situations, the supplier may not be manufacturing
a part as efficiently as possible. If your sourcing experts have
access to information on the most efficient methods for
manufacturing each part, you can work with your suppliers
to re-route to a more efficient method and re-quote a lower
price. Re-routing can often necessitate re-sourcing if the
current supplier does not have the correct processes, and
although possibly time consuming, it can provide greater
profit opportunities than re-quoting or re-bidding alone.
In some instances, the initial analysis will identify parts
that appear to cost more than they should, even though the
most efficient processes are already being used and the price
being charged is competitive. In these cases, the reason for
the higher price may be that the part was not designed as
efficiently as possible. These parts become candidates for
re-design. Re-design has more potential cost savings than
re-quoting or re-routing, but in most cases will involve
additional work from engineering to determine the best
new design options. This step also may require re-testing for
durability and other attributes on the new part.
SummaryThese steps help manufacturers identify opportunities for cost
savings. While the effort to attain these savings is minimal, the
financial impact can be enormous, saving millions of pounds,
euros or dollars. By putting these practices in place, sourcing
teams can be sure they are getting the best deal for each new
product they outsource to suppliers. Then moving forward,
the sourcing team will have more confidence that all of the
new parts are priced correctly from the start and there will
be fewer and fewer instances where the company needs to
re-quote, re-source or re-design products. Cost awareness is
always a good business practice.
Best-in-class manufacturers distance themselves from
their competition with a systematic, technical approach that
puts product cost management at the heart of decision-
making. These manufacturers understand that a core set of
activities, processes and tools is required to identify key cost
control points and equip the business to reduce costs at every
opportunity through accurate and informed decisions.
This is the time for costing managers, engineering
executives, and entire organisations to embrace these
solutions, because these product cost management
‘visionaries’ are driving the best practices of tomorrow’s
manufacturers.
aPriori
aPriori is a provider of product cost management software solutions
for discrete manufacturers. aPriori’s software and services generate
solid product cost savings for discrete manufacturers. aPriori’s real-time
product cost assessments enable employees in engineering, sourcing
and manufacturing to make more-informed decisions so manufacturers
can launch products at cost targets, maximise savings in re-work projects
and avoid overpaying for sourced parts. For further information, visit:
www.apriori.com
Myles Peyton
Myles Peyton is the managing director for Northern Europe
for aPriori. He and his team have advised hundreds of
leading European companies on how to reduce product
costs, reduce cycle times and get higher quality products
to market faster. His previous European roles include Total
Immersion, Autodesk, PTC & Moldflow. Myles is based in
aPriori’s office in Chertsey, Surrey.
Plug and play approach Bosch Packaging Technology has
launched Gemini 4, a new Delta robot
hardware platform and software
controller. With increased speed and
lower changeover time resulting in
higher productivity, the platform
allows manufacturers to reduce the
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of
their automated production lines. The
hardware component of Gemini 4 has a
streamlined architecture and integrates
standardised industry equipment from
German automation specialists Bosch
Rexroth and Beckhoff. Operators are
now able to run up to eight Delta robots
and 16 conveyors through the simplified
Gemini 4 controller for gains in efficiency.
The streamlined design of the Gemini 4
controller and its software are optimised
for the control of Delta robots, helping
to increase acceleration and pick rates.
This enables manufacturers to enhance
accuracy and raise their production line
speeds by up to 25 per cent (product
dependent), while maintaining gentle
product handling, process
reliability and quality.
“The Gemini 4 boosts
standards in the field of
Delta robot control,” said
Roy Fraser, product manager
Robotics, Bosch Packaging
Technology. Innovations
in the automation of the
manufacturing process
have driven down the TCO,
allowing multinational
brand owners and local
enterprises alike to
increase productivity and improve
competitiveness.”
www.boschpackaging.com
EnhancEd spEEd rEducEs cost pEr pick
Ma
nu
fac
tur
ing n
ewsA recent report from Source for consulting on
professional procurement in mid-sized companies
revealed why organisations should be further focusing on
procurement, with risk demanding more attention in the
boardroom says Tom Woodham, director at leading end-to-
end supply chain consultancy, Crimson & Co.
The report, which looked at the personal experiences of
respondents from finance and procurement professionals,
asked about the buying of goods and services and the
status of procurement in their organisations.
It was found that ‘negotiating with current suppliers to
reduce costs’ was the top priority within procurement.
Whereas, ‘putting in place processes to minimise the risk
of fraud’ and ‘ensuring security of supply’ were barely
recognised as concerns. “Supply chain risk needs to be
a top priority for procurement professionals today,” said
Woodham, who was one of the experts consulting Source
on the analysis of the results.
“The recent horsemeat debacle has helped to further
highlight the importance of contingency planning and in
terms of the supply chain, the scandal can actually be seen
very positively, in that it will result in procurement getting
the boardroom attention it needs and deserves.”
ww.crimsonandco.com
risk should bE top priority
Procurement should be a boardroom topic
:
Companies looking to make improvements within the
workplace that will make a real difference to overall efficiency
and profit levels should look no further than the Lean Academy.
The Lean Academy, launched and run by Gosport-based Lean
Business Specialists Fedden USP in conjunction with MIT
Skills, aims to train individuals to become lean champions
and facilitators geared with the life-long skills, knowledge and
confidence required to make significant changes that will
benefit businesses in their on-going journey towards
continuous improvement.
Neil Fedden, principal consultant at Fedden-USP, says: “Businesses
that want to excel in today’s competitive climate need to look
at ways of improving their bottom line performance, lead times,
productivity levels, customer service levels and workplace
organisation. But perhaps more importantly, how to sustain those
improvements and continue to make changes that benefits the
organisation, its people and its end-users/customers – this is
where the Lean Academy can help.”
Running its first programme starting on 4 July in Southampton,
the 12-month off-site course carried out during one day per
month allows like-minded individuals to learn the practical
application of lean principles together whilst sharing ideas in a
fun and creative environment.
www.fedden-usp.co.uk
sharing idEas
First Lean Academy launches 4 July
:
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 19
Global operations function well in stable times,
when just-in-time makes all the sense in the world.
But unexpected changes like commodity price
fluctuations and natural disasters can highlight the hidden
constraints and vulnerabilities within many companies’
operations.
Suffice it to say that supply chains - and, to some extent,
manufacturing operations - are not as dynamic as they
increasingly need to be. And by its very nature, supply chain
integration means that a supply chain can be only as good as
its weakest link.
In this period of persistent volatility and uncertainty, many
supply chain executives are questioning whether things have
gone too far. In fact, 70 per cent of executives who responded
to a recent Accenture survey (Accenture 2011 Global Risk
Management Study) said they were dissatisfied with their
organisations’ ability to predict future performance amid
today’s market volatility. And more than 80 per cent expressed
deep concern about the resilience of their supply chain.
Profiting from uncertaintyHowever, today’s more dynamic and agile practitioners are
learning to profit from persistent volatility and uncertainty by
adapting their supply chains to flex with the markets. Not only
are they insulating themselves from the downside, they are also
positioning themselves to take advantage of the upside. These
organisations are reimagining their supply chains as adaptable
ecosystems of processes, people, capital equipment, technology
and data.
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk20
Truly agile companies also have more
nuanced views of resource allocation - moving
toward making quicker decisions to pursue the
most promising opportunities. The best performers
excel at incremental investment coupled with rapid and
well-documented test-and-learn cycles. They run numerous
pilot programs concurrently, but their spending will soon shift
toward the initiatives that start to show better or faster returns.
The payoff for this approach is considerable. Research by
Accenture and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(Simchi-Levi, David, ‘Operations Rules’, (New York: The
MIT Press, 2010) shows that companies whose systems and
processes can anticipate certain risks are as much as 75 per
cent more profitable than their competitors.
In light of this, we have pinpointed four core capabilities
that enable the dynamic operations that high performers seek:
1. There is great value in being able to move from insight to
action - transforming data into a decisive response, and doing
so quickly. The key, of course, is whether the company’s data
does in fact create insight, and whether it is actionable. If
the organisation lacks access to real-time data - and cannot
identify the right data in the first place - it is already lagging.
The organisation must be in continuous monitoring mode so
it can sense when a change has begun to happen. And it has to
have the tools and capabilities to analyse and simulate - along
with the talent and skills to use those tools. Some companies
have become masters at sensing and responding, helping to
shape demand in close to real time.
2. It’s important to have an adaptable structure - to design and
Mark Pearson explains why ‘dynamic’ is as crucial as ‘efficient’ when it comes to operations
fastThe
leader
Supply Chain StrategieS
implement an operating model that can easily capitalise on
new opportunities and respond to disruption. Management
teams need to ask themselves how long it has been since
their operating models have changed - and how much the
business environment has shifted since then. And then the
more pressing questions: How long would it take to alter our
operating model? Can we do it quickly enough to hold onto
our market lead today and in the future?
3. Flexible innovation is essential so the organisation can
continually innovate for growth and operational efficiency.
One consumer products giant excels at ensuring that
innovation continuously enables the company to be agile
enough to cope with shrinking product lifecycles and launch
new products quickly. This company is particularly good
at using crowdsourcing to boost its innovation capabilities
and supply chain responsiveness. Not only can it more easily
capitalise on immediate market trends in ways that a more
traditional R&D arrangement might not be able to, but
executives responsible for other corporate functions can
better anticipate what they need to do to plan for sourcing,
manufacturing, distribution and servicing.
4. Companies must perform agile execution - the ability to
respond adroitly to major disruptions such as natural disasters
but also adjust to everyday facets of volatility such as shifts
in commodity pricing, greater demand swings, lead time
variability or inadequate supplier performance. That helps
explain why some leading European TV manufacturers are
shifting production from China, and why companies that
make TVs for the US market are re-emphasising the Mexican
maquiladoras that fell from favour years ago as Far East costs
became irresistible.
In addition, many more companies are making extensive
use of shared services centres - operations centres, often
internal to the companies, that are built around such core
processes as procurement and that can be adapted faster than
conventional functional organisations can change.
Although there are definite moves worldwide to embrace
the four characteristics of truly dynamic operations, few
companies are yet employing all of them. It’s apparent that
many management teams are waiting to see who gets it figured
out before they act. But the ‘fast follower’ tactics that worked
before will not work now. In today’s tumultuous environment,
it is essential to be the fast leader.
Mark Pearson
Mark Pearson is the senior managing director of Accenture
Management Consulting’s Operations group and is focused on
helping clients develop more dynamic supply chain and service
operations capabilities to enable rapid response to changing
customer demands and market opportunities across North and South
America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. He has worked at Accenture
for more than 23 years, primarily in Supply Chain Management across
procurement, fulfillment and service management.
Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services
and outsourcing company, with approximately 259,000 people
serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and
business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most
successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help
them become high-performance businesses and governments.
For further information, visit:
www.accenture.com
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 21
As individuals, we all share an inherent need to
connect, share and network. Because it has been
written into our DNA by the forces of evolution.
Facebook has found a way to address that need for one billion
of us around the world. For corporations, the necessity to
connect, share and network is even bigger than for our private
selves. Because it has been written into today’s corporate DNA
by the forces of globalisation. Businesses can no longer succeed
on a global scale operating in a silo. There’s no place where
that’s more apparent than in the world of supply chain, where
the need to network and collaborate with other companies is
key to success - and quite frankly, to survival.
There are many aspects of the meteoric rise of Facebook
that have been rightfully criticised. From controversial
interpretations of privacy laws and a botched IPO to a
lacklustre stock performance, there are many things you don’t
want to learn from Facebook.
But in just a few short years, Facebook has managed to
completely disrupt and revolutionise the way we manage our
social connections. And it has done so by virtue of a small
number of key principles that are worth taking cues from
when it comes to managing global supply chain networks.
A new information-sharing modelFacebook completely changed the way we share information
with our friends. Post a new baby photo and all of your
friends can see it instantly – on desktop computers, laptops,
smart phones, tablets and even in their cars. No need to send
messages back and forth with each friend individually to share
the news. Updates are automatically posted in the cloud and
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk22
spread in real time. This post vs. send approach is at the heart
of Facebook’s information sharing model. It makes Facebook a
device-agnostic collaboration platform that brings everyone in
your network of friends ‘onto the same page’ in real time.
When this new information-sharing model is applied to the
world of B2B commerce, it can turn your supply chain into a
Cloud Supply Chain.
In a Cloud Supply Chain, thousands of supply chain events
get automatically posted to the cloud and new ETAs are
shared with every supply chain partner and stakeholder who
needs to know in real time. Suppliers, ocean carriers, 3PLs,
consolidators, air carriers, customs agents, banks, forwarders
- everyone is suddenly in the loop in real time. This enables
unprecedented levels of collaboration across company borders.
During pre-cloud days, sharing information about global
supply chains was all about sending. Mostly through one-to-
one communication using letters, phone calls, faxes, emails
or EDI connections - highly inefficient in retrospect and not
scalable to support information sharing on a massive scale.
The new information-sharing model of a Cloud Supply Chain,
just like Facebook, is all about posting.
Collecting and analysing dataFacebook sits on top of the data generated by some one billion
users, three billion daily ‘likes’ and comments, 300 million
daily uploaded photos and over 140 billion friend connections.
It’s the most comprehensive database of social connections
ever created.
If my math is correct, more than three million things have
been ‘liked’ on Facebook since you started reading this article
ManagingFive things your supply chain can learn from Facebook. By Boris Felgendreher
Search
connections
Social Media
about 90 seconds ago. And of course those ‘likes’ have already
been analysed and stored somewhere in the cloud to enable
advertisers to show you better ads before you even finished
reading this sentence.
During the same time, a lot has happened in your supply
chain as well. POs have been issued, orders processed,
payments authorised and vessels loaded. Maybe cargo has been
moved, shipments cleared, inventory rerouted, goods received,
merchandise sold, shelves restocked or replenishment been
ordered. In today’s complex global supply chains, events and
transactions like these happen a thousand times over - every
minute of the day.
And these actions generate important data in the process -
lots of it. But unfortunately, a traditional Enterprise Software
System (ERP) doesn’t have access to all of this information,
because it resides inside the four walls of your organisation.
An estimated 80 per cent of your supply chain data, however,
is generated outside your four walls and scattered across the
various IT systems of your supply chain partners, isolated from
the reach of your ERP system.
In the consumer world, Facebook helped us stitch together
and tap into the formerly isolated personal silos of our social
connections by hooking everyone up to the cloud. That
giant suction sound you hear coming out of your social
network? That’s Facebook sucking in all the data of your
social connections.
You ought to be hearing that same kind of suction sound
coming out of your supply chain network. And it should be
generated by your Cloud Supply Chain sucking in all the data
of your supply chain connections. Once that data is collected,
it can be sliced, diced and analysed in every which way to
discover trends and patterns. You can run what-if scenarios
and selectively share data with your partners to collaborate on
important supply chain decisions.
Controlling and sharing dataOne area that Facebook has been criticised for the most is
privacy - in particular, the ability of users to control their own
data. The company has made some recent progress towards
putting the right control tools in place to better reflect the
underlying relationships between network participants. Users
have to be able to share and withhold information depending
on their specific relationships with each other. You probably
have certain pictures or information you would only feel
comfortable sharing with some close friends – who share
your kind of humour – but not with your co-workers or your
boss. If you don’t have that control, you’ll quickly lose trust in
the platform.
Likewise, today’s modern global supply chains can contain
thousands of trading partners who have to be able to safely
withhold from or share information with each other -
depending on their respective business relationships. A global
retailer may do business with the same logistics providers and
even share some suppliers with his direct competitors. Suppliers
may share the same raw material suppliers, global logistics
providers often service several competing customers, and so on.
The best way to securely share and withhold supply chain
information among trading partners is through a Facebook-
like Cloud Supply Chain that maps the underlying business
relationships between trading partners. These relationships
are very complex environments, with nuances and many
shades of gray.
A Cloud Supply Chain has to go much deeper than Facebook
probably ever will into controlling access to certain information,
on a granular level, down to individual users. If you have
competitive intelligence running across the same platform,
this is crucial. Trust is everything. A trusted platform is going
to win the race.
Facebook vs. MySpaceWhen you sign up, Facebook already has dozens, maybe
hundreds of friendship recommendations waiting for you. All
you need to do is hit ‘accept’. As creepy as that may feel, it is a
testament to the vibrancy of that community. It’s living proof
that the famous network effect has reached critical mass. It’s easy
to forget though that it’s not always been that way.
Just a few short years ago, Facebook and MySpace were
roughly at par. The infrastructure behind each is essentially the
same. Cloud-based, profile pages, status updates, news feeds,
apps. Then Facebook reached critical mass and the rest is history.
MySpace recently re-launched as a small niche player – a mere
shadow of its former self. It’s the community that made the
difference here.
People want their social networks to be peer-approved. They
don’t just want some of their friends to be part of a community.
They want all of them connected to it. Who wants to be the only
guest at a cocktail party?
In fact, if your cloud supply chain platform was a cocktail
party, the world’s biggest logistics providers, all leading ocean
carriers, major trade banks and many of your suppliers should
already be sipping martinis by the time you get there. You don’t
want them calling in, having to ask for directions.
When you evaluate a cloud supply chain platform, look for
vibrancy. Are industry leaders embracing the platform? Are they
doing so publicly? How many different industry verticals are
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 23
Boris Felgendreher studied Business
Administration at the University of Münster,
Germany and graduated from the University of
Texas at Austin. Boris started his career at Dell
Computer Corp. and held various marketing
positions at emerging technology companies
before joining GT Nexus in 2008.
Boris Felgendreher, Marketing manager, GT Nexus
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk24
represented? Are key industry stake
holders, like logistics service providers,
standardising on the platform, maybe
even white-labelling it for their own customers? Are companies
starting to build business models around the platform? All these
are telltale signs that a community may have the potential to be
the Facebook of supply chain.
Mobile AppsSix hundred million of Facebook’s one billion users view, post
and upload content to the site using mobile devices such as
smart phones and tablets. The Facebook app currently ranks as
the most downloaded mobile app in the world. Why? Because
your personal life doesn’t always happen in front of your
computer – at least I hope it doesn’t.
The life of a company’s global supply chain never happens
in front of anyone’s computer either. It happens in the port
of Antwerp, onboard a cargo plane above the Pacific, on a
store shelf Paris, in a truck headed for Portland or inside a
temperature controlled container sitting in Mumbai.
In the next few years, we are guaranteed to witness a dramatic
increase in data gathered from all the mobile, moving parts in
the supply chain. In real time, as they make their way from one
end of your supply chain to the other. Through GPS, RFID,
mobile scanners and alike. Mobile sensors are becoming smaller
and cheaper every day. They are quickly becoming
an integral part of the supply chain, measuring temperatures
and humidity inside containers, detecting tempering, scanning
UPC codes, and transmitting GPS data of shipments - even
down to the item level. All of that will finally enable true
end-to-end supply chain visibility. No more gaps, no
more guessing.
But your systems need to be ready to deal with this onslaught
of big data. They have to be capable of capturing, saving, and
more importantly, making sense of all this data. Only then will
you be able to make truly agile supply chain decisions based on
what’s actually happening in your supply chain - as opposed to
having to cling to a rigid six-months-old plan that is based on
what you thought would happen.
There is only one viable way of making all these different
elements in your supply chain communicate with each other and
turn them into an interconnected, intelligent
network that you can orchestrate. And that’s
through leveraging the cloud.
Communication from the various elements in your supply
chain to the cloud is one aspect. The other aspect is the reverse:
communication from the cloud to the various elements in the
supply chain. Enabling decision-making on the ground, in the
supply chain trenches. Running supply chain analytics apps
on mobile devices to guide decision-making on the ground.
Having current and even historic supply chain data at people’s
finger tips on the ground will open up completely new ways of
decision-making in the field and allow companies to fluently
move from centralised, top-down to decentralised, bottom-up
control whenever and wherever necessary.
Summary
In the consumer space, Facebook has managed to completely
disrupt and revolutionise the way we manage our social
connections. Cloud-based social networking is now firmly
anchored in the mainstream. In the B2B world, the race to turn
individual companies into multi-enterprise commerce networks
connected in the cloud is already in full swing. The rate at which
global leaders like Pfizer, CAT, Nestlé, Renault, Lenovo, adidas,
ZARA, Xerox, Procter & Gamble, DHL and others are now
moving their supply chains to the cloud is a clear indication that
cloud-based supply chain orchestration has quickly turned into
a competitive advantage and is about to go mainstream. During
this process, there is a lot to learn from Facebook.
Social Media
GT Nexus
GT Nexus offers a cloud-based platform that the world’s biggest
companies use to drive efficiency and agility across the global supply
chain. Leaders in manufacturing, retail and logistics services all share
GT Nexus as their standard, multi-enterprise collaboration platform.
For further information, visit:
www.gtnexus.com
As well as interesting features, ESCM is also your source to keep up-to-date with companies that form the backbone of the industry and the ongoing development they experience. It is also a chance to see how they are coping with the challenges within their respective marketplaces and their burning ambitions to succeed, come what may.
Profiles
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk 25
McDonald’s Osterreich
IBA
Kannegiesser UK
Shears Bros (Transport)
Werner Kenkel Spółka
over the next few years as the company focuses on
attracting new target groups, such as elderly people,
families, mums and families, through the automatic
implementation of McCafe’s at newly built restaurants.
This chain, which was launched in Australia in 1993,
reflects a consumer trend towards high quality coffees
and has since spread worldwide, putting McDonald’s
in direct competition with major coffee brands. The
company has also added real fruit smoothies to its
McCafe menu following increased public awareness
26 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
The opening of Mcdonald’s first restaurant in
Vienna began a 35-year story of success in franchising
that continues to this day, with Mcdonald’s Osterreich
boasting an annual turnover of 548 million euros and a
recorded 157 million guests in 2012.
With 184 restaurants and 156 McCafe’s, McDonald’s
Osterreich is keen to continue expanding and evolving
through long-term investment to ensure customer
satisfaction. There are currently 8900 employees
and 48 franchisees in Austria, but this is set to grow
McDonalD’s osTerreich is COnTinuing grOWTh Of sAles AnD guesT COunTs ThrOugh AggressiVe expAnsiOn AnD innOVATiVe iDeAs
McGrowthIncredible
McDonalD’s osterreich profile
27www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
to healthy eating and nutritional quality, an area of its
menu that McDonald’s has improved drastically over
recent years.
Well known for following trends, McDonald’s
has consistently kept a watchful eye on evolving
consumer tastes due to greater nutritional awareness
and changing fashions and is always fully prepared to
broaden its product portfolio. For example, McDonald’s
Osterreich launched the McMarryMe burger in August
2012 as part of a yearly contest at its participating
Yuu’n MeeYuu’n Mee is a premium
seafood company, specialising in tailor-made
product development for food service and
retail companies. With highest raw material and
production standards, Yuu’n Mee focuses on sustainable
aquaculture practices, delivering outstanding product quality with a
uniquely fresh and pure taste while preserving the
environment for future generations. Yuu’n Mee
has been successfully co-operating with McDonald’s
Austria for many years, delivering top quality
breaded shrimps to the McDonald’s restaurants.
During the last years this and other successful
products were introduced to several European countries.
28 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
restaurants in Europe. Consisting of three beef
burgers, cheddar cheese, lettuce, onion and ketchup,
the new product was marketed in an advertisement,
which involved a bride and groom tying the knot in a
McDonald’s restaurant.
McDonald’s Osterreich regularly launches new
products that match consumer trends to attract new
guests and widen its product range. In September 2012
it brought out McNoodles, bowls topped with chicken,
vegetables and choice of curry or sweet and sour sauce,
at its 179 Austrian restaurants for three months. It also
took advantage of the cult following of the McRib
sandwich, which was first introduced in McDonalds
restaurants in 1982, by launching the McRibster in
Austria early last year.
The company is currently following the nutritional
and environmental trends caused by the world
becoming increasingly more aware of food, traceability
and healthy options and is focusing on sustainability
and transparency; through advertising the importance
of a balanced diet and active lifestyle and backing this
ethic up with a more health conscious menu, it aims to
ensure customers are offered a wide product range to
achieve a balanced diet. It is also boosting consumer
confidence in the brand by putting nutritional
information on packaging that is simple to understand.
Furthermore, McDonald’s Osterreich is increasing
its salad range in May 2013 to give its guests more
opportunity to select products that will aid in a healthy
balanced diet. Additional products being launched
in 2013 include the Chicken Burger with less than 250
calories and the Veggie Wrap New Happy Meal, which
will consist of a fourth element offering a choice of
apple, carrot, fruit salad or fruit purée.
In 2005 McDonald’s became a member of the
Sustainable Packaging Coalition, in which the company
OSI Food SolutionsOSI Food Solutions Austria
has been a proud supplier to McDonald’s Austria for 36 years, working with McDonald’s since
the first restaurant opened in this country in 1977. OSI Austria
is part of the global OSI family which serves McDonald’s in
approximately 85 per cent of its markets worldwide. The
company produces high quality beef and chicken products for
McDonald’s Austria, and in 2012, supplied more than 12,000
tonnes of protein items to this valued customer.
29www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
Franke Foodservice SystemsFranke Foodservice Systems is the world’s leading provider of comprehensive systems and services for the global foodservice industry. Franke is a proud partner of McDonald’s with a long and trusted partnership. We provide kitchens, smallwares, and technical service throughout Europe to help our customers maintain operational excellence.
The majority of the raw materials used for McDonald’s Osterreich’s
entire product range are produced in Austria; the company now works with 52,000 farmers
made a commitment to furthering sustainable
packaging in a way that it finds acceptable. For
McDonald’s this involved creating a scorecard that
takes priorities such as minimising weight, preference
for renewable materials and recycling into account.
McDonald’s Osterreich, meanwhile, takes advantage of
its compostable infrastructure by diverting practically its
entire waste stream from landfills. This is seen as a win-
win scenario for the company, as using less and wasting
less is good for both business and the environment.
Corporate responsibility is an important factor to the
company, therefore the waste recycling and recycling
system at McDonald’s is continually being developed;
this recently resulted in the recycling of its used cooking
oil as biodiesel to fuel the McDonald’s trucks and also
for the trucks of REWE Austria. To further enhance
its reputation, the majority of the raw materials used
for McDonald’s Osterreich’s entire product range are
McDonalD’s osterreichprofile
McDonald’s Osterreich www.mcdonalds.comEmployees 8900Industry Fast food restaurant
produced in Austria; the company now works with
52,000 farmers, an impressive quarter of all the farms in
the country.
Always keeping abreast of ways to improve and
evolve with the demands of consumers, McDonald’s
Osterreich is testing a mobile order app that will be
available for public use from Autumn 2013. The app
will give guests the opportunity to order and pay for
their order via mobile phone and pick up the ready-
made order in the selected restaurant. By removing
waiting times, McDonald’s Osterreich is offering a more
convenient, simple and efficient service to its customers.
Over the coming years, the highly successful
company is focusing on generating a continuous
growth in sales through constant investment; eight
new restaurants are opening in 2013 alone and a further
20 restaurants are to be opened at highly frequented
locations before 2015. There are also continued plans to
enhance growth in sales and guest counts by remaining
innovative, transparent and aware of upcoming trends,
thus ensuring further product development and a
stronger brand image that consumers trust.
McDonalD’s osterreich profile
30 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
31www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
IBA (Ion Beam applIcatIons sa) Is the worldwIde technology leader In the fIeld of proton therapy for treatment of cancer
growthTargeting
IBAprofile
therapy technologies, confirming momentum on
Proteus®ONE*. The Proteus®ONE system includes a
compact gantry and compact synchrocyclotron, and
allows much greater access to proton therapy given
the system is easier to install and operate and is also
more easily financeable. Jean-louis guelton, the vice
president of manufacturing and supply chain at the
company emphasised that the compactness of this
solution is a real benefit to end-users: “this will create
much more affordable solutions,” he stated.
IBa’s proteus® technology is already planned or
utilised in 25 centres around the world, and 14 are
treating patients every day. the company is committed
to making proton therapy the most accurate cancer
treatment available worldwide.
Jean-louis went on to note that IBa is the only
The company’s expertise lies in the
development of next generation proton therapy
technologies that provide oncology care providers
with premium quality services and equipment,
including IBa’s leading fully integrated Integralab
radiopharmacy system, and dosimetry advanced
solutions for quality assurance of medical equipment
and increased patient safety.
headquartered in Belgium and employing more
than 1200 people worldwide, IBa currently has
installed systems across europe and the Us and is
expanding into emerging markets. the company
is focused on providing solutions in the fight
against cancer.
as recently as may 2013 IBa reached a major
milestone in the development of compact proton
32 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
supplier to have multiple centres treating cancer
patients with Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS), the most
precise modality of treatment in proton therapy. “PBS
enables Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT),
allowing clinicians to precisely target a cancerous
tumour by controlling both the intensity and the
spatial distribution of the dose to the millimetre,”
he said.
“Proton therapy is increasingly considered the most
advanced and targeted cancer treatment due to its
superior dose distribution and fewer side effects.
Protons deposit the majority of their effective energy
within a precisely controlled range, directly within the
tumour and sparing healthy surrounding tissue.”
He added: “As access to proton therapy increases
in Europe and across the world, IBA continues to
demonstrate compassionate innovations with more
patient-friendly treatment rooms and more precise
therapies. Today IBA proton therapy systems account
for more than half of the world’s clinically based
proton therapy facilities.”
Without a doubt, customer care is the focus of all
IBA’s solutions, as Jean-Louis noted: “This is care for
our people, our customers and also for the patients, so
we are always working to find solutions to help cure
33www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
IBAprofile
IBA www.iba-worldwide.comIndustry Proton therapy technology
cancer - for us the solution is always based on finding
the most efficient and successful proton therapy. But
overall the patient is most important person, and we
provide the solution to the institution treating them.
So when we implement a solution customer service
comes first and we react quickly if there are any issues.”
A prime example of how IBA works with health
institutions is a recent 50 million euro contract that
has been signed with Apollo Hospitals to install the
first proton therapy centre in India. “They selected
us because of our experience,” said Jean-Louis.
“Proton therapy is being installed into more and
more countries but this is the first time it has been
introduced to India so it’s a milestone for us in the
Asia region.”
IBA will equip the new centre with its Proteus®PLUS
multi-room configuration, which will include three
treatment rooms, with Pencil Beam Scanning
capability. IBA will also provide all dosimetry
equipment to ensure the safest and fastest
commissioning of the centre so that patients can
benefit from proton therapy from 2016.
In fact, 2013 has been very busy for IBA, as the
company has also completed the first upgrade
installation of a gantry rolling floor system at the
Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Centre at Massachusetts
General Hospital, and has installed a cyclotron, beam
line and the first of four state-of-the art treatment
rooms at the accelerated pace of just 12 months (from
the delivery of the building) at the ProCure Proton
Therapy Centre in Seattle.
Jean-Louis confirmed this reflects the significant
increase in demand the company is seeing for proton
therapy and that there is still huge potential to develop
this therapy in the future. “We are focusing on our core
activities in 2013 and undertaking a global efficiency
and productivity initiative in order to be ready for
the growth we are anticipating,” he said. “We have
invested a considerable amount in our research and
development as that is key to our expansion, and we
want to make sure all our solutions work together.”
He concluded: “We believe that proton therapy will
increase in popularity across the world and we have
to continue to develop and improve our solutions to
respond to clinical demands. We must create solutions
that are ready for the future environment, while
remaining competitive. But overall, we always keep the
patient’s well-being at the top of the agenda.”
* Proteus®ONE is the brand name of a new configuration of the Proteus® 235, including some new developments subject to review by Competent Authorities (FDA, European Notified Bodies, et al.) before marketing
Boasting 60 years of industrial laundry
technology expertise, Kannegiesser is a technology
partner for its customers and offers a thorough and
professional service from the initial trouble shooting
through to the best resolution of any technical issue.
It performs intensive development work in each of its
three divisions, wetwork area, flatwork processing and
garment finishing, to boost productivity, flexibility and
the economic activity of laundry operations.
Specialising in industrial washing and drying
technology, the company has accumulated higher
demand for orders over recent years; it was this, and
Kannegiesser UK outgrowing its existing office in
Banbury, that led to a relocation in August 2012, as
Richard Boscott, purchasing manager at Kannegiesser
UK, elaborates: “Due to an increasing order book and
34 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
Kannegiesser UK IS pUttIng ItS yeARS of expeRIence to gooD USe In A new fAcIlIty In BAnBURy
superA
system
35www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
DRM Industrial Fabrics LtdThe successful relationship with Kannegiesser started over 20 years ago and has gone from strength to strength. DRM’s manufacturing capabilities and diligence produce high quality monorail bags for Kannegiesser systems.DRM is an established key player in the European laundry supplies market and has manufactured in the UK since 1970. The latest co-operation with Nuova Folati San-Ai Range means DRM is able to re-spring your ironers in the UK and Ireland.
the fact we have outgrown our existing office, it was
concluded that the best way to progress and expand
as a business would be to turn the manufacturing
facility in Kendal into a purpose built facility where all
departments could operate from location. The new
facility in Banbury has a factory space of more than
32,000 square foot, plus two floors of offices, each 5000
square foot. On top of this, there is a basement area of
more than 6000 square foot, equaling a total area of
almost 50,000 square foot.”
The production of the Supertrack Monorail System
was seamlessly transferred to the new site while
the Thermopatch UK division and the Revolution
Continuous Roll Towel processing machines, remains
in Kendal. Export turnover at Kannegiesser Supertrack
has doubled over the last two years and the company
anticipates a further increase in the next 12 months,
as highlighted by Martin Kannegiesser, owner, on
his first visit to the new facility in Banbury: “This new
building demonstrates the significant success that our
UK company has achieved in the last few years due
to intensive sales activity, which has seen exceptional
progress in delivering the Kannegiesser range of
productive and energy efficient laundy processing
Kannegiesser UKprofile
Monorail bags manufactured by DRM Industrial Fabrics Ltd.
36 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
Seychell Engineering and Fabrication is an ISO9001 accredited company which has
been manufacturing high quality products for various industries including aerospace,
automotive, medical and scientifi c for the past 28 years. Kannegiesser has been a Seychell customer for over 20 years during which time it has supplied a wide variety of fabricated and machined components.
Seychell can supply products of all sizes from small machined parts to very large fabricated product and in quantities that range from one-off specials right through to high quantity repeat orders. Product is manufactured in a quick, effi cient and cost effective manner and can be delivered throughout the UK and overseas.
The Seychell team of specialist engineers manufacture components from a large variety of different metals and plastics utilising the following operations:
● Sheet metal and steelwork fabrication● CNC and conventional milling and turning● CNC laser cutting and eight axis bending● TIG and MIG and gas welding● Tube manipulation
Tel: 01869 240127Fax: 01869 321174
machinery and systems into the UK market.”
Now manufactured in the Banbury site, the
Supertrack Monorail System has an integrated system
design that gives it the capabilities to work with the
entire range of Kannegiesser laundry equipment;
it is available for batch sizes of 36 kilograms to 100
kilograms and is ideal for customers with high
throughput as its sorting platform offers ergonomically
arranged sorting positions. It efficiently distributes
laundry batches to the batch washer, finishing area or
sorting stations. Storage of classified sorted laundry can
be tailored to suit every requirement and the delivery
of transit bags to washer extractors and continuous
batch washers is managed by the Trackview control
system as part of a pre-programmed sequence, which
achieves the optimum washing process.
With a product range of washing technology,
flatwork technology, garment technology, and cross
system technology, Kannegiesser is keen to provide
customers with products relevant to their needs
and considers what type of goods the laundry will
handle before developing the design. Workflow of
garments is one of the key aspects that it looks into
when upgrading an established laundry or designing
service it already offers to customers, the company has
aims to continue growing as a business, develop new
products and retain its exceptional reputation in the
laundry industry. It is also investing in machinery for
its new factory, with Pro Saw supplying a new saw and
feeding system that will give Kannegiesser increased
efficiency and improved throughput. On the subject
of Banbury, his firm and future developments, Martin
Kannegiesser concludes: “Banbury is an exceptionally
good location for Kannegiesser as it is at the centre
of a very strong concentration of manufacturing
companies. All this expertise means that we can
develop our Supertrack business with a locally available
supply of talent. We have been in business in the UK
for many years and this new building in Banbury is
a continued reminder that we can create a strong
business with excellent customer relations that have
enabled, and will continue to enable, our growth.”
37www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
VanrietVanriet, is a family owned company, which has been established for 55 years designing and manufacturing quality handling systems to a wide range of market sectors throughout the world. Vanriet enjoys an excellent relationship with our specialist partner, Kannegiesser, in the laundry-based industry. Supplying a flexible and personal service to ensure a productive relationship in the provision of laundry conveyors and Vanriet’s focus is always on providing a first class, endurable product.
Kannegiesser UK Ltd www.kannegiesser.co.ukEmployees 120Industry Laundry equipment
for a new business. On top of this, with 400 customer
service employees, Kannegiesser offers complete
after sales support to all of its UK customers for the
full Kannegiesser product portfolio, as well as global
Supertrack support.
To further offer its customers a seamless service,
Kannegiesser has a high level of availability for spare
parts for its products, as Richard explains: “We have
demonstrated that 90 per cent of spare parts ordered
are delivered with next day delivery. We have a spare
stock holding of more than £1.5 million and to further
improve our capabilities we are introducing the latest
‘pick and select’ software into this side of the business
over the next 12 months.”
Dedicated to continuously improving its energy
efficient equipment, Kannegiesser’s Powerdry II, its latest
batch dryer, has a new optional package available that
reduces energy consumption to a market leading figure
that hasn’t been achieved until now. “Kannegiesser has
also invested in a new laser robot in its Sarstedt factory,
where its Powertrans Continuous Tunnel Washer is
manufactured, making us a market leader in design and
wash quality once again,” adds Richard.
Proud of the high quality technology and customer
Kannegiesser UKprofile
Laundry Conveyors
Vanriet have developed a range of conveyor options specifi cally for the movement of laundry items which is why professional laundries move
their linen using Vanriet conveyors.
Creative solutions from practical people
VANRIET UK Ltd. Riverside Industrial Estate, Fazeley, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B78 3RWTel: +44 (0) 1827 288 871 • Email: [email protected] • www.vanriet.co.uk UK designed and
manufactured
The third generation of the family business, run by
Peter and Ian Shears, has seen great success and growth;
it is a founder member of Pall-Ex UK and offers next
day services to the whole of the UK, Ireland, runs direct
deliveries onto the Isle of Wight, and its contribution was
recognised when it was awarded “The Pall-Ex Depot of
the Year” at the palletised freight distribution network’s
2010 awards ceremony. The brothers are confident and
passionate about their company, as Ian says: “Shears
Bros was voted depot of the year because we are
good at what we do. The members vote for who wins
the award so it is indicative of the service we strive to
provide to our partners and customers. We are willing to
work with people in a friendly and open manner, are we
are very efficient and great at what we do.”
Shears Bros Transport’s road into the haulage
industry began in growing produce for the local market,
from there the company developed into a wholesale
fruit and vegetable merchant in 1955 but the huge
surge of supermarkets in the 1980s caused the firm to
diversify into new areas. “The 1980s were challenging,”
38 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
From hUmBlE BEgInnIngS, FamIlY BUSInESS ShearS BroS (TranSporT) LTd haS DEvEloPED InTo onE oF ThE major PlaYErS In UK roaD haUlagE
abovecutA
39www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
remembers Ian. “Within 12 months of the opening of a
supermarket store in Wimborne, we went from serving
eight greengrocers in town down to two. However we
were supplying several tonnes of potatoes each week
into fish and chip shops though, and as I have always
liked lorries I came up with a plan to get haulage work
out of Poole, our local area into East Anglia where
our potatoes were sourced and collect them direct
from the farm rather than pay a ‘delivered in price.’
From this point the haulage business grew and we
eventually sold the fruit and vegetable business on.
One of the sectors we saw significant growth was in
the then new concept of the pallet networks and so we
joined Pall-Ex in Feb 1997. We now work in all sections
of the road haulage industry from dedicated general
haulage deliveries, the Pall-Ex and Hazchem Networks,
through to storage and warehousing. Our customers
are from across a wide variety of sectors, from print
to flooring, clothing to air conditioning, plastics to
chemicals, basically if it fits on pallet we can deliver it!”
The haulage company opened a new 54,000
square foot warehouse and distribution facility in
Bournemouth in 2010; comprising of a 29,000 square
foot cross docking facility with full height doors,
allowing access for double decked trailers, so all freight
is handled completely under cover. The warehouse
is 25,000 square foot and equipped with high bay
racking and has a capacity of 2000+ pallets, providing
Shears Bros’ customers with extra services, such as
order fulfilment and short and long-term storage.
Pall-Ex founder and TV personality Hilary Devey
opened the warehouse in February. Being part of the
Pall-Ex Network has had obvious benefits for the firm.
“Within two or three weeks of Hilary approaching us
and asking if we were interested in working together
we had completed a deal with Pall-Ex, making us a
founder member of that organisation, and we have
been working with Hilary ever since. The ability to
deliver our customers freight overnight, whether
it is for a next day delivery into Glasgow, Truro, or
even Dublin or Belfast is a huge benefit and our
membership with Pall-Ex also enables us to reduce
vehicle mileage. With these efficiencies comes the
benefit of less emissions and a greener footprint. So
it is a win-win situation for everyone, including the
environment!” enthuses Ian.
Customer relationships are of high importance to
Shears Bros, and Ian is positive that it is the company’s
transparency and traditional values that has led to
its continued success. “We are a family business, and
customers like to be included in that,” says Ian. “We
are very open, friendly and honest and believe that
a strong relationship with our customers is of great
importance to us, particularly with the economy as
it is. We have a good, solid base of regular and loyal
customers who have stayed with us through thick and
thin and which is a tribute to the hard work all our staff
ShearS BroS.profile
40 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
put in to doing a good job for them. We like to think that
what we say, we will do.”
In recent years the company joined the Hazchem
Network, which gave Shears Bros the opportunity to
distribute palletised ADR consignments throughout the
UK in a safe, legal and economic manner. “Hazchem is
a niche market for us; not many companies can cover
the whole of the UK carrying hazardous freight,” says
Ian. “We were also awarded regional partnership status
with Norbert Dentressangle in 2010 which has given
us a good degree of stability in the recent difficult
trading conditions.” Amongst other recent gains for
Shears includes a contract with Jordans Ryvita Co Ltd
to supply line haul services from their Ryvita factory
in Poole Dorset, direct into their RDC in Biggleswade.
This vital link in their supply chain demands that trailers
are loaded directly from off the production line and
transferred straight to their RDC where this freight is
consolidated with other Jordans Ryvita products and
distributed throughout the UK.
With the ability to diversify and expand its business
into new markets with seeming ease, it is no surprise
that Shears Bros (Transport) Ltd will be looking for
potential new markets in the future. “In the next two or
three years we aim to continue growing our business
and with our move into a larger warehouse we now
have the capacity and the expertise to do this. It is likely
we will explore potential new markets too,” says Ian.
Shears Bros (Transport) Ltd www.sbtl.co.ukEmployees 80Industry Haulage
ShearS BroS. profile
41www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
The specialisTs aT Werner KenKel creaTe innovaTive packaging in an environmenTally friendly faciliTy
createpassion toThe
Werner Kenkel Spółka z.o.o., a manufacturer of
corrugated board and packaging and provider of flexo
print, is characterised by both modern management
and dynamic development. its wide experience
combines with a young spirit and sound work ethic,
and these factors come together to create a leading
manufacturer of corrugated board packaging in the
polish market.
rafal grochowczak, commercial director, explained
that the company has two manufacturing facilities
based in krzycko Wielkie, which employ nearly 600
people. “The main aim of the company is to conduct
business activities in a responsible and balanced way
through the implementation and use of modern
technologies,” he added. “at the same time we focus on
minimising any negative impact on the environment.
To ensure we fulfil the requirements, we are certified
to iso 14001, and we have recently received the fsc
certificate, which means we have become a member of
an elite group of companies that take great care of the
environment.”
The principles of sustainable economic development
are very important to Werner kenkel. its long-term
strategy includes the key elements of promotion of
social development and conducting business activities
with respect for the natural environment. “steering
business activities in a responsible and balanced way is
possible through taking into account the social aspects
of business activities as well as the implementation
and use of new production technologies whose
main characteristics are positive influence on natural
environment,” noted rafal.
“moreover, our employees are another important
aspect of our long-term strategy. Their work has a
significant influence on the quality of our end products
and production processes. Therefore, the development
of their skills and their engagement with the company
is a priority for us. hence, we consistently familiarise
our employees with licenses, laws and rules connected
both with job safety and Werner kenkel’s strategy.”
he added: “The strategy of sustainable development
is one of the most important principles for us, therefore
the company expects all business partners and
suppliers to follow it as well.”
as well as encompassing its own activities and those
of its suppliers, Werner kenkel’s social responsibility
policy extends to the wider community. in fact,
from the very beginning of its business activities
the company has been engaged in the support of
local people. “in recognition of these activities the
Werner KenKelprofile
43www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
Werner KenKelprofile
environmental self-help house in Włoszakowice was
given the name of the company’s founder – Werner
Kenkel,” says Rafal. “Our company also closely co-
operates with the foundation ‘We Help Because We
Can’ where we are engaged in the organisation of
courses for parents and carers of the disabled. The aim
of such courses is to learn effective communication
with the disabled, provide support of the therapeutic
process as well as to expand the basic principles of
providing medical help for those people.”
In addition, out of concern for the youngest
generation, Werner Kenkel subsidises the municipal
kindergarten located in the neighbourhood of
the company.
Business activities The main business activities of Werner Kenkel include
the manufacture of corrugated board packaging with
offset print, corrugated board packaging with flexo
print and the manufacture of corrugated board. Its
flexographic facility is situated in Krzycko Wielkie with
an area of more than 34,000 m2. The facility offers a full
range of corrugated board and provides packaging
with standard flexo postprint, high quality postprint
and flexo preprint.
The company’s offset facility is modern, and has an
area of more than 13,000 m2. It offers a wide range of
packaging as well as point of sale stands, with offset
technology printing. A major asset of the factory is its
integration with the neighbouring flexographic plant
and the possibility to use its own raw material base in
the form of corrugated board.
The third member of the Werner Kenkel Group - and
also the newest - is a flexographic facility with a total
area of 36,000 m2, which is being created in Bochnia
near Kraków. It will be equipped with the latest
machines from the world’s leading manufacturers and
will start the operation in Kraków at the beginning of
2014, and will be certified to BRC standards.
Given the dedication to quality that Werner invests in
its manufacturing process, its ISO 9001 certification and
the list of blue-chip customers from Germany, Sweden,
Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech
Republic that return time and again, it is no surprise
to find the company has been the recipient of many
quality awards over the years. “The most important
award for us is the satisfaction of our customers,” said
Rafal. “But we are extremely proud however, of the
fact that we have been awarded prestigious prizes by
the professional bodies representing the packaging
Fosber Group Spa
Established in 1978, Fosber is a leading global supplier for the design, construction and installation of complete lines as well as individual machine units for the production of corrugated board packaging.Originally founded in Lucca in 1978, through its Italian headquarters and strategically located subsidiaries in the USA and China, the Fosber Group today supplies complete corrugators as well as major machine upgrades across the globe with a total dedication to quality and customer service.Fully controlled and owned by Fosber Italy, the Chinese division is entirely geared and structured to provide after sales technical assistance and spare parts support for the local market.Its renowned focus on continuous evolution and innovation, coupled with its constant investment in
R&D are the keys of the company’s success. In what are continuously changing and evermore demanding markets, the Fosber Group delivers the most up-to-date technology to guarantee its customers high performance, total production flexibility, dramatically reduced running costs, less complexity and enhanced reliability.
Mission Statement:• To pursue excellence in all areas of the business• To produce the highest quality machinery with maximum reliability, through innovative simplistic design technology• To provide customers with the most responsive and focused technical support• To be ‘simply better’
Management:President of Fosber Spa - Mr. Ettore Bartoloni Saint Omer
General Manager of Fosber Spa and CEO of Fosber China - Mr. Massimiliano Bianchi
President of Fosber America - Mr. Jeff Pallini
“Werner Kenkel’s constructors represent a
dynamic, experienced and most of all creative team
of professionals who meet customers’ needs with
great passion and in accordance with the latest trends.
The team has received many prizes and has been
appreciated by our demanding business partners
for many years. They have the ability to combine
classic solutions with the latest methods of packaging
production.”
He concluded: “Our constructors aspire to be
innovation leaders, and this has been proven
through the numerous pioneering constructions
and solutions they have created. Those projects have
found acknowledgment among our customers and in
industry forums. So if packaging is such an important
element on the way to product market success, it is
worth entrusting its design to real specialists, such as
those at Werner Kenkel.”
44 www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk
Werner Kenkel www.wernerkenkel.com.plIndustry Packaging
Werner KenKel profile
industry.” For instance, its ‘ChockoShots-Football
Trophy For You’ packaging won the National PakStar
Competition for the best packaging in the country
and went onto become Worldstar Winner 2013 in the
category for the best packaging in the food industry.
It has also been named Domestic Leader of
Innovation and Development (2011), won a special
honour in the international competition ‘Heidelberg
ECO Painting Award 2011’, and received prizes at the
Art of Packing Professional – Pearl among Packaging,
PackStar 2012 and won a Wielkopolska Quality Award.
These sorts of awards wouldn’t be possible without
a dedication to research and development as Rafal
confirmed: “Packaging, during this period of fierce
competition, has become an extremely significant
marketing tool. Everybody is aware of that fact.
Packaging, as a silent salesman, has become one of
the most essential elements in product marketing.
“Nowadays, however, the requirements
concerning perfect packaging are much more than
only its looks. Construction functionality in terms of
logistics, product presentation or its utilisation are
all essential elements.
ESCMEUROPEAN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Schofield Publishing10 Cringleford Business Centre
Intwood Road Cringleford Norwich NR4 6AU
T: +44 (0) 1603 274130F: +44 (0) 1603 274131
EditorLibbie Hammond
Sales ManagerRob Wagner
www.europeansupplychainmanagement.co.uk