"We have been working with Hillebrand for a number of years, however the Warehouse Consolidation Centre system is our first truly collaborative project. The results have been impressive and have lead to a much more cost-effective and operationally efficient supply-chain. We have significantly reduced our stockholding in the UK, while at the same time increased our efficiencies in the supply chain. Hillebrand and the supply chain consultants based in the source countries have provided the exact solutions we required, giving us confidence in our suppliers and in the integrity of the wine supply chain from New World countries."
"A couple of years ago we had a high wine stockholding but low availability of products in the UK. With the help of JF Hillebrand Supply Chain Management, sorting out inbound traffic was the first issue that the Thresher Group addressed, making use of Hillebrand’s global consolidation model for imports. By consolidating stocks at source we can bring in mixed containers and we’ve also cut lead times by half, down to just 8 weeks from Australia and 5 weeks from South Africa.
After a successful trial in South Africa, the continuous feed & stock management model has become the business operating model for the Thresher Group.
As a direct result of the global roll out the successes achieved by this pioneering continuous feed & stock management model has allowed the Thresher Group to significantly reduce its wine stockholding in the UK by 20% and at the same time increase warehouse stock availability by 30%. The sharp improvement in warehouse availability has led to a 10-15% increase in on-shelf availability giving our consumers better choice and ensuring the wines they want are more often there. The Thresher Group distribution model within the UK has also changed. The stockholding reduction benefit has allowed us to remove a wine & spirit regional distribution centre from the network resulting in a lower unit cost for central storage, handling and store deliveries."