There are four entries encompassing seven organisations shortlisted for the Food and Drink Supply Chain Excellence Awards in 2020.
You can discover who wins the Food and Drink Supply Chain Excellence Award by registering watch one of two broadcasts of the virtual Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2020 on the 12th November:
Register here for the 3.30pm broadcast.
Or register here for the 7.00pm broadcast.
Simply Supply Chain with Futura Foods
Before the existence of the collaborative workgroup pioneered by Simply Supply Chain, drop and drive unsubstantiated discrepancies were costing UK chilled suppliers millions (for the 20 original group members, circa £15 million per annum). Depot errors, poorly labelled goods plus lack of any auditable retailer systems led to tens of thousands of cases of food/drink items being claimed as short delivered every week.
With no way of proving otherwise, suppliers ended up facing endless calls and paperwork, just to be left unpaid for goods they had delivered.
Six years of collaboration and the Drop & Drive Claims Workgroup has delivered an 85% reduction in these unsubstantiated claims through process improvement, with numerous positive impacts on workload, stress and job satisfaction too.
The initiative has achieved this huge saving by working with suppliers and retailers alike to deliver innovative win-win solutions across the board, from simple and effective labelling, GFR (Good Faith Receipting) and independent auditing.
With many members reporting their losses reducing by 90%+ ─ it’s clear to see the tactics deployed are working.
Member satisfaction demonstrates just how worthwhile participation is: members gave the working group an average score of 9.7 out of 10 for likelihood to recommend in a 2020 survey.
The judges said that the programme solved a problem that needed to be fixed, which was a particularly complex issue. They also praised the collaboration developed between retailers.
Ella’s Kitchen with Wincanton
Wincanton, Britain’s largest 3PL, and their client, Ella’s Kitchen, have collaborated to find the most environmentally friendly, sustainable means to service their customers. Working with supply chain stakeholders we have sought to reduce the logistics carbon footprint from one of Ella’s largest suppliers based in Northern Ireland into the Wigan NDC.
Ella’s stock is very light, so inbound pallets have always been built high to the limitations of the automated warehouse in which they would be stored and picked. However, this means that the ex-factory trailers neither cube or weigh-out and more loads are shipped than would be possible if the trailer fill was also optimised.
A working party was assembled consisting of key supply chain stakeholders to evaluate options. The Ella’s product portfolio was reviewed and a short-list of critical sku’s was identified for which a change to the pallet build specification could facilitate double stacking and potentially halve the number of loads shipped whilst not compromising product quality or warehouse efficiencies.
Packaging and transit trials have confirmed that a modification to just 25% of the SKUs has facilitated a disproportionate 48% reduction in loads shipped, and will save 115 tCO2e pa.
The judges praised the entry for a well structured plan.
Plaids
“#RoadtoZero” is an internal campaign which aims to reduce pladis UK’s Supply Chain waste sub 2% by 2021. The project sets out to tackle the 18,000 Tonnes of Gross Loss waste per annum across a network of 8 sites.
#RoadtoZero is a collaborative effort across every function involving senior leaders, excellence leads, graduates and manufacturing colleagues. It’s one of several ‘planet’ initiatives living and breathing our sustainability commitments. Since its launch, colleagues have adopted innovative solutions and engineering techniques to reduce the company’s impact on the planet.
pladis UK has set the ambitious target to make all plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. It is ensuring that all our packaging can be recycled through its continued partnership with TerraCycle; it is improving its labelling to ensure consumers can easily determine how and where to recycle packaging; and it is driving our #RoadtoZero with the help of every ‘pladisian’.
The judges praised a company that was ‘thinking ahead’ in its supply chain: “It is changing its culture and the way it is doing business.”
Tesco with FitOut UK
In April 2020, Tesco opened a pop-up store at London ExCel to allow Nightingale Hospital staff to buy food and other essentials with ease. The 24-hour shop was set up in response to Public Health England’s desire for shops catering to NHS staff during the Covid-19 crisis.
Tesco Group Procurement working in collaboration with Head of Procurement UK and ROI, Clare Gregorio, and its supply chain partners needed to deliver quickly. Under strong leadership, they all rose to the challenge, and built the store in just nine days.
The issues extended well beyond how fast the team had to work. They included restricted access for deliveries, and shops and hotels were closed as were the majority of construction material suppliers and contractors. There was also a need to limit people on site and achieve social distancing.
Despite everything, and the fact that something like this had never been done before, barriers were overcome and the end result is an exemplar turnkey project that exceeded every expectation of what could be done. Its success was based on a strategy that brought together efficiency, consolidation and control, while driving value, reducing costs and delivering sustainably simultaneously.
The judges praised the entry for showing “strong” sourcing and procurement.
