Increasing added value of transport management
Increasing the added value of its transport management set-up and identify means to improve customer service performance.
Assignment
Our client is a manufacturer of packaging materials for customers in various sectors of industry. With over 50 plants in Europe, divided over 10 business units, the scope of the company is truly pan-European.
Our client is looking to increase the added value of its transport management set-up and identify means to improve customer service performance in addition to increase value creation from the clients outsourced transport management operations.
Key questions to be answered are:
- How should the future transport management setup look like (people, processes, systems)?
- What resources are required to support this future model (people, processes, systems) both internally and at the outsourced transport management operations?
- What opportunities exist to increase value creation add from 4PL?
Project summary
Our client is a manufacturer of packaging material for customers in various sectors of industry. They have been working with an outsourced transport management solution for several years. However, the benefits of this solution are limited to operational support in organizing and managing transports from the clients manufacturing sites including related savings only.
Improvement initiatives of the outsourced control tower and cooperation with the customer sites need to be implemented (focus on continuous improvement and more structural improvements).
Our approach
We supported the supply chain team of the company to improve its transport related operations. Our project consisted of four phases:
Phase 1: Transport management maturity assessment: consisting of:
- Maturity assessment on the strategic, tactical and operational transport management processes to over 40 customer employees
- In-depth interviews with key stakeholders of our client to get their insights including expected developments
- Site visits to client plants
- Knowledge sessions with various client departments (e.g. procurement and supply chain)
Phase 2: 4PL assessment: including a site visit and in-depth assessment of current outsourced transport management operations.
Phase 3: Key gaps definition based on the maturity assessment grid and gathered input, including proposed changes. In various workshop these gaps and applicable changes have been detailed together with our client.
Phase 4: Recommendations on:
- People; organization, roles (including new functions needed) and number of FTE needed
- Processes; changed and update processes. Advice include processes changes on the 4PL side
- Systems; changes in the related IT landscape of the customer
- Finally, advice on how the increase the added value of the outsourced transport management operation.
Result
The project resulted in a concrete roadmap to close the defined gaps including:
- An advice for a revised organization chart; including definition of FTEs needed and new roles required.
- Describing the changed roles and responsibilities of both our customer and the outsourced transport management company (revised RACI diagram).
- Updated & standardized key processes and ways to adhere these processes, including improvements related to the outsourced transport management operation.
- Improved transport forecasting process.
- Improved way of transport management control and extended carrier integration.
In feedback of the project, our client inform us that they have implemented the proposed organization changes and changed cooperation with the transport management company.