08 November 2011

Chemical manufacturer cuts costs in transport review

Speciality chemicals manufacturer Scott Bader has cut costs and improved efficiency in its transport operation at Wollaston, Northants. The comprehensive review was carried out with the help of logistics consultancy Davies & Robson, which included value stream mapping as part of the exercise.

Scott Bader makes speciality resins, adhesives and polymers for industries including marine and automotive, and the Wollaston site is home to its UK head office as well as laboratories, manufacturing plant and warehousing and storage.

Raw materials are received in bulk and converted into finished product for deliveries within the UK and export. The total number of SKUs across raw materials and finished product is 9,000. Tankers are used, as well as pallet and parcel carriers, and many loads are subject to rules surrounding the carriage of dangerous goods.

Scott Bader had identified a number of potential efficiency improvements in the purchasing and organisation of transport to and from the Wollaston site and it asked Davies & Robson to validate these improvements and to review the outsourced transport arrangements.

Following a thorough analysis, including a value stream mapping exercise to identify non-value added activities, Davies & Robson concluded that savings could be achieved by centralising responsibility for inbound transport and vehicle scheduling, and increasing the proportion of contracted transport activity.

By eliminating administrative waste, for example, processing time could be reduced by 3%, while centralising responsibility for the sourcing of transport costs is expected to deliver a saving of 15 minutes per sales order.

Davies & Robson also recommended re-tendering the transport contracts to cut costs by a further 5%, along with changes to the contracts themselves to improve reporting, promote continuous improvement and provide a fair balance of risk between the company and its transport providers.

Scott Bader's logistics manager Solly Wilson said: "While we were in no doubt that there were synergies to be had, having these corroborated by Davies & Robson's industry experts gave us the evidence and confidence we needed to start making changes."

Author
Laura Cork

Supporting Information

Companies
Davies and Robson

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