Foodstuffs South Island Ltd has taken home three prestigious awards at the annual Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) awards dinner held on 21st October 2015.
Christchurch, New Zealand, 2015-11-9 — /EPR Retail News/ — 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
Foodstuffs South Island Ltd
Address:
167 Main North Road
Papanui, Private Bag 4705
Christchurch
Phone: +64 3 353 8700
Fax: +64 3 353 8190
Web Address: www.foodstuffs-si.co.nz
SOURCE: FOODSTUFFS NEW ZEALAND
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