The Co-operative Group has won the prestigious Supply Chain Project of the Year and the Grand Prix accolade at the first ever Retail Week Supply Chain Awards.
The Group won the Supply Chain Project of the Year Award, the biggest of the night, for the integration of Somerfield’s supply chain and the transformation of Lea Green distribution centre in St Helens. This award was shared with technology partner Manhattan Associates whose supply chain optimisation solutions played a key enabling role in the project.
However, the real success story of the night was the Group walking away with Grand Prix Award. This special award, which is not open to general entry but is conferred by the event’s organisers, was awarded by the judges who felt the Group had achieved a significant amount of change to the organisation, while also delivering a massive benefit to the enlarged Food shops business.
The Co-operative’s Supply Chain and Information Systems teams worked together to deliver the integration of the two organisations’ supply chains, which included a number of tactical solutions, such as including more fairtrade food and transport optimisation that has resulted in the significant reduction in transportation costs and has also removed more than 5,800 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
Mark Hale, the Group’s Director of Food Retail Information Systems, said: “These awards are recognition of all the fantastic people we have in our business and the hard work they put in to transform our supply chain for the benefit of our stores and customers.”
More than 400 of the UK’s top retailers attended the inaugural industry event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London, which was hosted by comedian Russell Kane.
Trevor Ashworth, the Group’s Director of Food Retail Supply Chain, added:“This is a great collective achievement for both the Group and our partners within our supply chain. We’ve delivered a fantastic result, which was a major milestone in our integration plan for the Somerfield business, which also delivered huge business benefits.”
The Co-operative worked closely with a number of key partners, including Manhattan Associates, BT, Zetes and IBM, to successfully deliver the integration programme without impacting availability in its stores.
Via EPR Network
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