Article
On time, or not, that is the question
In many ways, logistics is like a theatre show, particularly when we think about operational and transport planning. Paddy MacBrant explains why.
About our service
Supply Chain and Logistics Network Strategy
Today’s supply chains have become more complex than ever. Global trends and shifting market dynamics, along with increasingly fragmented and volatile demand, are driving organisations to adapt and become more agile.
But, developing and delivering a robust, resilient, long-term supply chain strategy that’s fit for the future can be hard when change happens so fast.
Whether you’re looking to increase capacity or move your warehouse, change product portfolios, reduce inventory, or automate your supply chain and speed up fulfilment, we can provide end-to-end supply chain support to design, develop and deliver a resilient supply chain solution.
Developing and delivering your supply chain solution
To achieve this, we look at your current supply chain and logistics network alongside alternative options and conduct stress-testing to consider factors such as increasing volumes of ranges and seasonality.
We’ll carefully evaluate costs, benefits and the impact on broader operations and fine-tune options for your supply chain solution. We will share our modelling with you showing calculations for space, volume and expenses including all operations costs, stockholding costs, the one-off cost of change, and the cashflow impact.
Throughout, we’ll work across your organisation to engage with stakeholders to help you develop a robust, realistic business case and deliver the right supply chain to make your ambitions a reality.
Designing your supply chain strategy
We’ll work with you and your teams to understand your business strategy and values, growth plan and aspirations, customer proposition and competitive advantage and develop long-term strategic supply chain objectives that support and align with your business strategy.
We look for opportunities to improve your overall supply chain to enhance the customer experience and give you a competitive edge, while considering how external factors might impact your supply chain.
Supply Chain and Network Strategy: How can we help you?
I want to...
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Streamline my existing warehouse facilities
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Find a new location for my warehousing and distribution operations
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Reduce my logistics costs
We’ll review and benchmark your supply chain operations to understand how cost efficient your supply chain is, and whether you’re paying more or less than competitors for things such as packaging, warehousing, taxes, shipping and returns. We’ll find opportunities for sustainable cost savings and help you implement them too.
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Reduce stock levels
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Create a supply chain that supports future growth
We’ll look at your current supply chain and logistics network, the availability of property, labour, automation and infrastructure, and develop alternative supply chain options aligned to your business objectives. We can help you develop a solid business case, and also design and project manage your supply chain transformation too.
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Outsource my logistics
We act completely independently to help you outsource your logistics operations. From the creation of a tender specification to RFIs, RFPs and RFQs, we’ll advise on who to invite to tender and manage the tender process, evaluating responses and recommending the right supplier, as well as drafting and negotiating contractual agreements.
Hatmill’s experience with managing complex warehouse moves, along with quickly engaging with the wider team, meant that we were able to deliver the programme in line with expectations. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their services.
- Managing Director, A leading supplier of Point of Sale products
About our service
More about Supply Chain and Logistics Network Strategy
Logistics network design
We will work with you and your teams to understand your future business plans and agree a range of growth scenarios, and alongside other factors such as available property and infrastructure, we’ll develop potential supply chain network options for your organisation that are fit for the future.
Centre of gravity location analysis
We’ll help you to determine the ideal location for your warehouse and distribution centre (DC) facilities that minimises logistics and shipping costs whilst capitalising on an ability to service new and existing markets, making your network design fit for the future.
End-to-end supply chain reviews
With markets and events changing so quickly, it’s hard to judge how your supply chain is performing, and how much headroom you have for growth.
We can help you review and benchmark your supply chain and logistics operations, ways of working, performance levels and costs. We will help you review the overall performance of your supply chain and logistics operation, and also help you design and deliver improvements and change.
Logistics & 3PL outsourcing and tender management
We’ll work with you to create the tender specification, and to create RFI, RFP and RFQ documentation. Acting completely independently, we can advise on who to invite to tender according to your requirements. We have our methodology that manages the tender process and responses, including co-ordinating contract development alongside bid refinements. We can then recommend the right supplier for you and support the transition.
Sales and operations planning (S&OP)
S&OP processes can break down siloes between departments to help realise cost savings and efficiencies and enhance the customer experience. Often systems are looked at as the best way to ‘fix’ S&OP, but this is usually the final piece of the jigsaw – we believe great people, processes and behaviours are often the key to success.
Managing change to accelerate ROI on supply chain and logistics investment
Many of our projects involve ‘once in a decade’ investment decisions for our clients. They bring significant changes for operational teams. Our experience focuses on preparing them to be ready and confident to perform well in every aspect of the new operation.
About our service
Logistics network design
We will work with you and your teams to understand your future business plans and agree on a range of growth scenarios. Alongside other factors such as available property, labour and infrastructure, we’ll develop potential supply chain network options for your organisation.
Supply chain scenario planning
We’ll look at your current supply chain and logistics network alongside new options, putting forward alternatives and conducting stress-testing across a five-to-ten year timeframe to consider factors such as:
- Logistics network size and shape – the number of sites, storage points, cross-dock locations
- Product flows and replenishment
- Order fulfilment frequency and lead time
- Design life of solution
- Rate of business growth and change
- Volume split across customer channels and geographies
Evaluating total lifecycle cost
We’ll carefully evaluate logistics costs, benefits and the impact on broader operations and fine-tune options. We will share our modelling with you showing calculations for space, volume and expenses including all operations costs, stockholding costs, and the one-off cost of change.
Creating a supply chain business case
Finally, we’ll work across your organisation to seek feedback from stakeholders to inform decision making, develop a robust business case and deliver the right supply chain and logistics network to make your ambitions a reality.
About our service
Centre of gravity location analysis
The location of your warehousing and distribution centre (DC) operations, and whether to move, streamline or centralise them, is a big decision and one that’s difficult to make. In the context of fast-moving external events, it becomes even harder; make the wrong decision, and it’s not something that can be easily rectified. Many organisations find themselves paralysed by indecision with the impact of delays felt across the entire organisation.
We’ll help you to determine the ideal location and set-up for your warehouse and distribution centre (DC) facilities that minimise logistics and shipping costs while capitalising on the ability to service new and existing markets, making your logistics network design fit for the future.
Logistics location analysis
We adopt our tried-and-tested approach to centre of gravity analysis to identify the optimal location for warehousing and DC facilities. We consider the relevant factors that are likely to influence a business case for change. The weighting and the importance of these always vary from business to business:
- Stockholding strategy and objective
- Target and current stock availability
- Customer proposition
- Number of stores
- Geographic spread of store network
- Volume of in-store stock handling
- Supplier logistics costs
- Supplier lead times
- Frequency of store replenishment
- Ability to manage a logistics operation internally
- Labour availability and retention of existing colleagues
Project team coordination and management
We will we help you find the right location for your logistics and we will also help you design and deliver your plans. We’ll research and locate the best real estate, create a clear business case, engage and consult with stakeholders across your business, lead procurement activity, and manage tenders for all elements of the new warehouse facility from building contractors to automation. We will also project manage the build, fit-out and other details such as stock transfer and IT systems.
We can help you review and benchmark your supply chain operations, ways of working, performance levels and costs and answer big questions such as:
- Is my current supply chain cost-efficient?
- Is there any capacity for growth in my current operations?
- Am I paying more or less than competitors for things such as packaging, warehousing, taxes, shipping and returns?
- Are there any short, medium and long-term opportunities for cost savings? What are the trade-offs?
- How are we performing? Are we more or less efficient than similar companies in our industry?
- Should I be investing Capex to reduce costs? Or improve efficiency?
- How can our supply chain help to enhance our customers’ experience?
Future growth
We’ll look at your current supply chain and logistics network and put forward alternatives, conducting ‘what if’ scenario planning across a five-to-ten year timeframe to help you understand what current capacity you have to support volume growth.
On-site supply chain reviews
We’ll work both on-site (subject to access) to conduct one-on-one interviews in the business with stakeholders. We observe and verify utilisation, capacity and opportunities for improvement, as well as conduct a desktop review of supply chain data and plans.
Project team coordination and management
We will help you review the overall performance of your supply chain and logistics operation, and we can also help you design and deliver supply chain transformation, operational improvements and change. For example, creating a clear business case, engaging and consulting with stakeholders across your business, leading procurement activity and project managing any large-scale construction and fit-out work.
About our service
Logistics & 3PL outsourcing and tender management
Whether you’re looking to run a tender for a third-party logistics provider (3PL) new equipment or automation, it is important that a robust procurement process is in place. This can help to acquire the right providers and services at the right commercial agreement and help you to build a partnership with your suppliers.
Scoping and creating tender specs
We will work with you to create the tender specification, and to create the RFI, RFP and RFQ documentation. Acting completely independently, we will advise on who to invite to tender according to your requirements.
Managing the tender process
The tender process will be closely managed, and all responses evaluated and scored fairly using a balanced scorecard approach. This will include modelling the commercial impact of each supplier. We will evaluate responses against pre-agreed parameters to identify and recommend the right supplier for you.
Contractual agreements
We can work with your team to draft and negotiate contractual agreements, and to implement the solution chosen. We’ve developed an innovative approach that narrows down the legal agreements and terms in parallel with the tender process. This means you only negotiate once and when you still have significant influence.
About our service
Sales and operations planning (S&OP)
In growing organisations that are managing increasing market challenges and customer demands, it’s not unusual for different departments such as sales, manufacturing, marketing and finance to start operating in siloes. And it’s in this environment that small problems become harder to resolve and can quickly become more significant issues.
Bringing functions together
Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) processes can be an effective way to bring together functions and get everyone on the same page, coordinating sales and operations planning across business functions:
- The S&OP process brings the actions and/or steps taken to achieve an objective.
- The integration of critical functions within the business ensuring they are connected and aligned
S&OP helps companies to:
- Increase transparency between departments
- Better inform decision-making about a product’s supply and demand
- Improve inventory management and sales and budget forecasting
- Better understand a product’s lifecycle and its management
- Streamline processes that improve the overall customer experience
The key to S&OP success
We can help you improve your S&OP process to break down siloes between departments and realise cost savings, efficiencies, and enhance the customer experience. But it’s much more than a process; it’s a cultural shift which takes time to fully implement. There’s no ‘plug-and-play’, S&OP needs to be moulded for each company – often systems are looked at as the best way to ‘fix’ S&OP, but this is usually the final piece of the jigsaw – great people, processes and behaviours are often the key to success.
About our service
Managing change to accelerate ROI on supply chain and logistics investment
Many of our projects involve ‘once in a decade’ investment decisions for our clients. They bring significant changes for operational teams. Our experience focuses on preparing them to be ready and confident to perform well in every aspect of the new operation.
Gearing for change
In operational environments optimal performance and efficiency are critical. With this in mind, when introducing significant change, we must analyse the impacts early to ensure teams are ready to take on new ways of working. It’s this that enables the investment in your supply chain to realise its full potential.
We work closely to support your teams during each phase of your project, making sure your whole organisation is ready to adapt and realise the benefits you’re expecting.
Accelerate your ROI
In our fast-paced, complex world change is continuous. For example, Supply chain automation technology is rapidly evolving the warehousing landscape. Regardless of the type of supply chain and logistics solution we are developing for you, the deployment of it is simply the start of your journey to improved performance. Are you aware of the percentage of your benefits that will come from your team changing their ways of working and thinking? It’s often much higher than anticipated, and a common pitfall is not to listen to and act on what motivates teams to drive the performance in the new operation.
Be adaptable, be resilient
We help you reduce the risk of programme delays and harness the benefits sooner with our change toolkit and support. We adapt our baseline tools to fit your context, keeping it simple and focused and ensuring ownership of the approach remains with your teams. Change activities integrate seamlessly with the development of the technical solution and aim to limit the often-seen dip in performance at go live. In essence, the operation is ready for the change.
Change can be exhausting for individuals and teams. With our straight-forward approach we engage the whole operation, overcoming resistance, building resilience and engagement and giving with you a solid foundation for continuous improvement.
We help you to:
- Optimise the benefits from your investment
- Build your change capability with the Hatmill Adaptable Toolkit
- Speed-up readiness for change with our integrated roadmap
- Establish trust and ownership through engagement
- Bring focus to what matters most to your people
- Manage risks to successful delivery
- Develop an agile approach to drive continuous improvement
- Continue to grow proficiency and improve performance
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