Case studies

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace

Apollo (now ThyssenKrupp Aerospace) is one of the world’s largest suppliers of high-value metals, with sales exceeding £120 million a year. The Company holds over £35 million in inventories world-wide, with three primary sites in the UK as well as six other international locations. Apollo had just completed their SAP rollout, and discovered a lack of planning ability. There was limited visibility of demand and supply data, and data in SAP wasn’t as clean as it should be. There was also a lack of uniform working practice across their three UK sites. “The Barloworld Optimus Inventory Management System, Optimiza, proved to be the perfect complement to Apollo’s existing SAP Programme. We’ve seen a dramatic service improvement within two years, with Birmingham rising from a low of 65% to over 96% by early 2003” says Supply Chain Manager Jacqui McCarthy.

Barloworld Handling

Barloworld Logistics plans, collects and delivers 150 000 tons of materials handling equipment to and from over 1200 customers to and from 20 loading points per annum, across 135 model types, 120 times per day within the UK with a 0 – 24 hour lead time.

Jewson

We at Barloworld Optimus know that software solutions alone might only combat half of the problem. When Jewson, the UK’s leading supplier of timber and building products to the trade and general public, approached us to improve inventory management, we saw beyond software installation. It’s true that a major part of the project involved the installation of the Optimiza inventory management tool to model different stock scenarios in Jewson’s consolidation centres. But we also recommended changes to certain supply chain procedures and processes, recommending a national consolidation approach whereby all branch sales are aggregated and orders are then placed based on the forecasts, including promotional activity, made at this level. Inventory control was further maximised by automating the management of product supersessions. One year on, Jewson has seen availability of certain lines increase from just 63% in 2005 to over 97% and maintains a service level to stores consistently above 90%.

BMW

BMW South Africa’s Parts Distribution Centre in Midrand services the 64 BMW dealerships across the country with parts and accessories and is under pressure to deliver on time and to specification. In 1997, BMW South Africa joined forces with Barloworld Optimus, using our Optimiza software to achieve a 26% reduction in inventory from the offset, while at the same time improving availability from 94% to 95.2% But our work does not stop when the results come in. During our partnership, we noticed that while BMW PDC may offer high levels of product availability to the dealership, this does not necessarily translate directly into high levels of service offered to the end customer. Our solution was to obtain data from each of the dealer systems and use Optimiza as the central database and repository, creating a Centre of Excellence to provide inventory expertise to each of the dealerships. In just the pilot phase, BMW South Africa benefited from a 13% reduction in inventory and an increase in availability from 96.1 to 98.3%

Gist

Already the fifth largest animal feed manufacturer in China, Associated British Foods animal feeds business Associated British Nutrition & Agriproducts (ABNA) approached Gist Ltd.’s Consulting Services division for the tools and know-how to develop a joint approach to optimising the supply chain of one of its customers in North America. Having established that the key to modelling the network was to recognise that it was actually a manufacturing problem - a Bill of Materials of one baby pig plus the appropriate amount of feed producing a fully grown pig of the desired size - Gist employed Barloworld Optimus’s specialist network modelling software CAST to pinpoint savings. While CAST’s findings did not offer a short term fix, the knowledge gained from the modelling exercise allowed the US customer to understand the potential for savings and to construct a road map for the future. CAST also proved to be a powerful tool to provide insight into the strategic drivers of the livestock business, allowing ABNA and their customer to reach a better understanding of their business and potential for savings in the future.

Shatterprufe

Barloworld Logistics, assessed the various areas requiring focussed attention and compiled a detailed project plan...

Zincor

Barloworld Optimus’ familiarity with SAP systems and their provision of a complete interface with Zincor's internal software was utilised to ensure the smooth implementation...

PPC Cement

At the time of making the proposal, Barloworld Logistics was operating a part of PPC’s transport fleet in the Western Cape. Barloworld Logistics’ operation was achieving some KPIs that were substantially better…

Pep

To redesign and re-engineer Pep's distribution system Barloworld Logistics adopted a phased approach, whereby...