The company
This major division of an international agricultural cooperative processes fruit and vegetable ingredients for customers with A-brands and private labels. It operates in a fiercely competitive market. Strong supply and demand dynamics exist due to the displacement of soft fruit cultivation areas (supply) and intense competition among private labels (demand). The company has production locations in five countries.

The situation
The company had a pressing need to reduce its cost base and build better tools and organisation structures in order to reduce stock levels, lower logistical costs and increase availability for customers. It wanted to close a number of smaller production locations and move production to Eastern Europe. At the same time, logistical costs had to be reduced. Gwynt was asked to do a supply chain scan, draw up and implement a transition plan, and provide interim management.

The approach
We decided to develop and implement the improvement plan in several phases. The project started with a wide supply chain scan and the formulation of a transition plan. Once that was done, we developed a blueprint for planning demand & supply. Then we set up supply chain processes in a new SAP system, drew up a new structure for planning and reporting, and optimised the transport and warehouse network. As interim manager of supply chain & operations, we were given control of the project for a full year.

The result
The company made huge improvements and achieved its major objectives:

• a transparent and centrally organised supply chain
• a reduction in working capital by more than 15%
• control of operations based on implemented KPIs
• savings of over 7% in external warehousing