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Innovation in Fulfilment
Winner: BT Supply Chain Partners
The Award for Innovation in Fulfilment had four main contenders. World Duty Free put forward its initiative for consolidating deliveries into its 89 airport-based stores from four major confectionary suppliers. The challenge was to get these competitors to combine their shipments and deliver more frequently on the same trucks – an exercise which required complex negotiations with the suppliers and two logistics service companies.
TM Lewin has developed an innovative partnership with Office Depot.
The presentation from ByBox Field Support in partnership with Bunzl played all the cards – including succumbing to the irresistible urge to use the line “we think outside the box”. ByBox delivers in-night pre-8am to a network of more than 18,000 drop boxes at 1,350 locations in the UK and is used by engineers to pick up deliveries and return used/faulty parts on a daily basis. The innovation to its business centres on the company’s application of its in-house developed end-to-end field service software platform “Thinventory”. The system manages the entire process from purchase orders to picking, engineer ordering to delivery, the return/repair loop and customer service to billing.
Taking the trophy, however, was the entry from BT Supply Chain Partners. The company has adopted an advanced transport management system that has streamlined and optimised its supply chain, handling the distribution of over 20,000 parts to 22,000 engineers each day. The initiative has resulted in a 30 per cent reduction in transport miles travelled – with an expected reduction in fleet size. The system not only handles the distribution of spares but also tracks each item as it moves through the supply chain. By using SMS and e-mail messaging, individual engineers are notified automatically of a part’s arrival at a hub or locker so they know when their parts are available for collection, minimising wasted trips. Reverse logistics channels are also maintained by the system allowing collection and redistribution of items. For the judges, this was the winner.
Shortlisted
» BT Supply Chain
» ByBox Field Support in partnership with Bunzl
» TM Lewin in partnership with Office Depot
» World Duty Free
Supply Chain Standard, December 2011
