Foodstuffs South Island wins at national logistics and transport awards
Foodstuffs
Simon Olsen, Inventory Manager Hornby Distribution Centre, was
awarded Young Achiever of the Year; and Foodstuffs South Island Ltd
was recognised twice for its new Hornby Ambient Distribution
Centre, in the 'Supply Chain Innovation', and 'Implementation and
Practice' categories.
John Mullins, General Manager Supply Chain, Foodstuffs South
Island Ltd says, "We're honoured to be recognised by the industry
for being leaders in both innovation and sustained
excellence.
"Opening the Hornby Ambient Distribution Centre in October 2014
was a significant milestone. Our new high performance and
throughput centre is the result of several years of sustained
effort and planning from our team.
"The initial project had many facets that had to come together -
it involved changes to our internal systems and how we work with
suppliers, as well as constructing a state-of-the-art building
based on best practice from overseas."
Mullins confirms that Hornby is the largest food distribution
centre in New Zealand, it has 400 staff, distributing half a
million cartons of products per week.
The distribution centre has integrated seismic -resistant order
fulfilment systems, a range of sustainability features and has
improved product speed to market. This means when one of the
Foodstuffs network of stores places an order, it's delivered within
one day, and often delivery is the same day of order.
"In opening Hornby, we were able to consolidate three ambient
distribution centres into two offering greater capacity and order
processing capability. Other key benefits include an improved
transport fleet and network efficiencies, a significant reduction
in packing waste, increased distribution flexibility and urgent
order processing," adds Mullins.
Between the distribution centres of Hornby and Dunedin, the
Foodstuffs South Island supply chain is servicing around 2,000
customers. Previously this involved entirely manual operations, but
with the new distribution centre at Hornby automation was
introduced for the split case and small bulk items- around 15% of
the business' total order volume.
"The centre benefits our suppliers, retailers and consumers. Our
ultimate objective is to increase productivity, improve accuracy
and raise service levels to do the very best job we can for our
customers," says Mullins.
"The Distribution Centre has now been in operation for twelve
months. This award is a big congratulation to the Foodstuffs team
involved in the Distribution Centre opening and the smooth
operations achieved since transition."
At the same awards, Simon Olsen, Inventory Manager Hornby
Distribution Centre, was awarded Young Achiever of the
Year.
Simon began his career with Foodstuffs as a student working
part-time at the Hornby Temperature Controlled Distribution Centre
back in 2002. Since then he has worked his way up through numerous
roles into the senior position of Inventory Manager at the Hornby
Distribution Centre.
Scott Fairweather, Hornby Distribution Centre Manager, nominated
Simon for his outstanding leadership and influence.
"We're extremely lucky to have Simon in our business. He has been
a pivotal member of the team involved in transforming the wholesale
operations distribution and enabling a seamless transition of
suppliers and members into the new Distribution Centre."
"Under his leadership, the inventory team have increased
productivity, reduced warehouse damages and improved inventory
verification resulting in greater order accuracy to our retail
members. Simon leads by example - he doesn't shy away from rolling
his sleeves up and getting involved," says Scott.
John Mullins emphasises that the CILT awards recognise the hard
work of all the Foodstuffs staff involved in the distribution
centre operations, but particularly those involved in the project
management, transition from the older Papanui distribution centre,
and the operations of the new Hornby Centre.
Award for Implementation and Practice (Sponsor: Cubic
Transport)
Winner: Foodstuffs South Island (Ltd)
Award for Supply Chain Innovation (Sponsor: Dexion New
Zealand)
Winner: Foodstuffs South Island (Ltd)
Young Achiever of the Year (Sponsor: CILT NZ)
Winner: Simon Olsen, Inventory Manager Hornby Distribution Centre,
FSSI
