1 januari 2008

The company
A top-three beer and cider producer, with firm market positioning and a strong focus on the premium segment. It has several global and regional brands that are brewed in their respective regions and increasingly in the Netherlands. As a result, the company has a large export department that fulfils the orders of national organisations and international retailers. Management launched an initiative to optimise margins and improve customer loyalty through customer segmentation in product allocation and distribution.

The situation
The company’s central export department incorporates customer service and logistic teams that are responsible for worldwide distribution from the breweries to regional distribution centres and retailers. With several distribution channels, it was obvious that different approaches to improving profitability would be required. The management team asked Gwynt to handle the project.

The approach
Our first step was to carry out a deep-dive analysis of the requirements of each customer segment and sales channel to determine costs and margins. This enabled us to introduce an ABC costing methodology and establish service levels for each customer segment. We then analysed the processes and organisational structure of the company’s commercial and operational units so we could develop and introduce new processes. Systems were adapted to reflect these changes.

The result
The initiative led to a new organisational structure in the customer service and distribution departments as well as a clear improvement in the margins, availability and delivery performance of major (growth) segments:

  • Clear guidelines and service levels per segments and customer were established
  • The internal customer service organisation was harmonised with the selected segments
  • A 30% improvement in customer service KPIs was achieved

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