Improving productivity in warehousing and delivery logistics

Wine, Spirit, and Beverage Distributor

Case Study

3

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Related Work

A wine, spirits, and beverages distributor had been growing via acquisition in various states and wanted to enhance their warehouse and delivery logistics services. Carpedia was invited to identify opportunities in two of their Florida facilities.

An assessment identified the following opportunities:

Inefficient warehouse processes
Routes and schedules were not followed, with drivers instead relying on tribal knowledge, leading to late shipments and poor customer service
Fleet was not effectively utilized
There was excessive temporary workers and overtime due to inconsistent demand throughout the week (i.e., orders were much higher for weekends than Mondays)
Leadership was not trained to effectively respond to variances or proactively problem solve

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Improvement in Warehouse Productivity

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Reduction in Fleet Requirement

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Increase in Utilization of Trucks

- Corporate VP Operations

“The Carpedia Methodology fits extremely well within the broader strategy across our system. Competitive pressures require that we continuously improve in all areas, with a primary focus on cost, quality, and service. The work we completed through this roll-out program has provided us with a strong foundation and we’re continuing to build on those changes to move the organization to the next level.“

Carpedia partnered with the client to improve warehouse and distribution processes along with increasing truck utilization through route optimization.

Key changes included:

Improved overall warehouse productivity through standardization and implementation of process changes to eliminate constraints causing lost time
Improved distribution expenses by optimizing routing configurations, decreasing the number of trucks and drivers in the fleet while still maintaining service levels
Installed a Management Operating System to provide managers tools to better plan, execute, and manage to create alignment throughout the organization, leading to improvements in workload balancing and scheduling
Provided coaching and insight into the concept of Active Management to facilitate proactive follow-up with direct reports and to manage variances

The Results

At the conclusion of the project, the client saw an improvement in warehousing and delivery logistics at both facilities. However, the most important aspect of the project was the transformation of their leadership behavior.The client appreciated how well the Carpedia team was able to integrate into the operation.

Specific results included: