Success stories

Transforming supply chain visibility for the personal care industry

Turning complexity into clarity

A global personal care company faced critical supply chain inefficiencies in South Africa, where soaring operational costs and limited visibility hampered logistics performance. Integration challenges with their newly adopted control tower system further complicated freight management, leading to untracked costs and reduced efficiency. In 2022, the company partnered with a dedicated logistics team to address these issues head-on.

Summary		Results

Summary

Results

This collaboration achieved real-time supply chain visibility, improved cost control, and paved the way for further global expansion.

In the world of consumer goods, where supply chain disruptions are increasingly prevalent, a renowned multinational reached a critical crossroads. Despite its commitment to performance and innovation, significant supply chain hurdles emerged.

In South Africa, our customer identified opportunities to strengthen its newly adopted control tower system. The central hub integrates all elements of the supply chain, revealing areas for increased efficiency and cost optimization. Most notably, the organization lacked visibility into freight management, which caused untracked costs that heavily impacted its bottom line.

From the outset, the control tower implementation project set the stage for a valuable opportunity for all stakeholders involved. The integration requirements were complex, requiring a seamless connection between existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and the new platform. This transition involved not only technical adjustments, but also significant changes in order processing, encouraging constructive dialogue among staff and suppliers to collaborate.

In response to these challenges, the customer partnered with Kuehne+Nagel’s supply chain design (SCD) experts to steer the project, assess the situation and develop a strategic roadmap for improvement. Their mission? To optimize the company’s supply chain in South Africa and tackle inefficiencies head-on.

The turning point

The SCD team collaborated with the customer in a series of focused workshops, delving into the obstacles they faced. It was all about rolling up their sleeves and working together. As they mapped out the entire supply chain, it felt like piecing together a giant puzzle, with each stakeholder contributing their unique piece.

With everyone aligned, a shift in confidence became evident. Instead of looking to fix problems, we co-created solutions that made sense to all involved. These sessions uncovered key pain points, including fluctuations in demand, underutilized transport units, inventory build-up, and limited production capacity, all of which contributed to order deviations.

After thoroughly analysing the identified challenges, the SCD collaborated with Kuehne+Nagel’s sea freight and key account management (KAM) teams to develop a robust solution tackling the identified challenges. A major breakthrough was gaining visibility into freight managed by both the company and third-party suppliers, greatly enhancing transparency from procurement to final delivery. By fully integrating with the ERP platform, the control tower provided real-time visibility into the entire order lifecycle—from placement to fulfillment.

The new control tower solution wasn’t just about software; it was about teamwork. Kuehne+Nagel’s dedicated team became an integral extension of our customer’s logistics operations. The workshops highlighted the importance of continuous improvement, leading to the initiation of projects such as a demurrage and detention simulation tool and optimised container utilization. These significantly reduced untracked costs for the business.

The impact and way forward

Within a few months, the control tower solution yielded substantial cost savings while also enhancing service delivery. The organization reduced their operations team from 11 to 4 people, streamlining processes and allowing for greater efficiency. This shift from manual processes to a fully digital system resulted in improved order adherence, refined planning accuracy, and increased transport unit utilization, ultimately leading to better customer satisfaction.

The success in South Africa inspired them to explore expanding the control tower solution into the eastern Middle East, the GCC and potentially Asia. With a goal of reducing procurement costs by 5% year over year while entering new markets, the company is well on its way to achieving this objective.

These accomplishments provided a valuable use case, serving as a foundation for future initiatives and control tower adaptations to meet evolving needs. With newfound freight and supply chain visibility, the customer developed a blueprint for expansion, improving control over operations and enhancing third-party logistics (3PL) provider engagement through data and digital processes.

The project not only produced significant cost savings and optimised service delivery but also set a precedent for leveraging innovative logistics strategies. Key lessons learned emphasise the value of stakeholder engagement, real-time visibility, and a unified approach, positioning the company to thrive in an ever-evolving market.