Challenge
A global logistics company, based in Benelux, needed to create capacity due to rapidly rising costs and labour shortages which were slowing down company growth.
Supply chains were utilised to the max, and there was a urgent need to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve customer and employee experiences.
In addition, all European operational companies (OpCos), including those in Benelux, were in the process of implementing the same ERP with the same processes. This meant the timing was right to drive a successful transformation journey by optimising processes using automation.
Approach
FWF were selected to support an enterprise-wide digitisation and automation program. FWF’s team of logistics experts provided the expected value for the business via several pilots, and ensured commitment via crowd-sourced discovery sessions which created bottom-up support for automation.
With an involved and committed board, FWF created an automation pipeline and, together with the customer, set up the right operating model for the multi-year programme based on a maturity assessment. This program was based on their automation potential and ROI, using all sorts of tech and to enable them to meet their strategic objectives.
Impact
Based on the agreed program, the first year resulted in the needed organisational awareness, a reusable blueprint for all OpCos, and a 7% reduction in hours. They also benefited from reuse of saved time to improve cashflow and reduce processing times in operations like land transport and warehousing.
The next steps are to organise for companywide implementation of their digitisation and automation systems, copying this to all OpCos, and building their own centre of excellence (CoE).
