Business case
- Major manufacturer of bakery products distributes its products to supermarkets from a distribution center fed by all its bakeries
- Short life of product and additional seasonal led top high waste and poor customer service (and fines)
- Lauras International was asked to coach the site team to deliver substantial efficiency and service improvements to this operation
Initial Condition
- Proof of Delivery Errors (errors found by customer when checking against the POD note) had increased affecting 150,000 cases of finished goods
- Inaccurate forecasting and stockholding was leading to product shortages.
Target Condition
- Eliminate all POD errors
- Improve order entry accuracy
- Improve case pick accuracy
Planned Activities / Intervention
- Problem solving team was formed from key areas of the process, including the Customer Service Manager, a Warehouse Shift Manager and a Supervisor from the Shipping area.
- The team used PCS over 4 days to break down the problem to find 18 root causes.!
- Implementation plan and countermeasures developed for key-in errors which affected order accuracy
- Countermeasures for picking accuracy issues, to stop pallets from being loaded onto the wrong trailer
- Action plan developed to finish actions, which they could not get done within the 4-day workshop.
Achieved Metrics
- The POD Error rate was reduced by 60% immediately.
- Additional $1.48M of product was delivered right first time, and on time, greatly improving customer service.
$133,713 was saved by reducing ’over delivered product” (excess product was either not returned or returned with too little remaining shelf life) and from non-recordered shortages.
