External Expertise Provides Exceptional Supply Chain Efficiencies
In 2015 Premier Foods identified that they required support for optimising their end to end Supply Chain operations including Warehousing, Logistics, and Distribution Network Operations and have worked with the specialists at Gideon Hillman Consulting since 2008 making them the obvious choice for this major supply chain transformation which was an 18-month project from beginning to end.
Premier Foods manufactures some of the nation’s favourite foods including Ambrosia, Atora, Batchelors, Cadbury cakes, Homepride, Loyd Grossman, Mr. Kipling, OXO and Sharwood’s. Other Premier Foods Group brands include Angel Delight, Be-Ro, Birds, McDougalls, and Paxo; production of which, is categorised into three trading divisions: Grocery, Sweet Treats, and International.
Premier Foods’ objective was to review their Logistics and Supply Chain Operations, in order to assess the consolidation of the sweet treats and grocery businesses warehousing and distribution operations into a single centralised operation.
With the return of food inflation and changing retailer promotional strategies, Premier Foods wished to update their strategy to give an equal focus to revenue growth, cost efficiencies and cash generation; whilst simultaneously working on continuous improvement programmes within their manufacturing processes.
With the support of the Logistics and Supply Chain Consultants at Gideon Hillman Consulting, Premier Foods were successfully provided with a fully integrated and seamless solution to support their manufacturing and distribution operations.
“Gideon Hillman Consulting were approached by Premier Foods initially to deliver a proof of concept exercise to establish the viability of a logistics consolidation plan. The data driven practicality checks and guideline costings were completed diligently and proved to be incredibly accurate in terms of the projected costs vs. the eventual contracts awarded. This served as a credible bench mark against which to evaluate tender responses and solutions. Having completed the first phase we engaged Gideon and his team to develop and manage a tender process which was comprehensive, transparent and time bound.” Head of Strategic Projects – Premier Foods.
The consultants carried out a detailed centre of gravity and location analysis and modelled various scenarios to establish the optimal logistics network in terms of pallet mileage minimisation and overall cost optimisation. The result of the detailed analysis determined that a single site National Distribution Centre was the most appropriate solution and the full analysis and results were presented to the Premier main board for approval of the recommendations made.
The next step for Gideon Hillman Consulting, was to translate the recommendations and preferred network into a scope for tender, which the consultants then subsequently managed the full process and analysed the results. Global provider of transportation and logistics services, XPO Logistics, won the contract with Premier foods, covering inbound transport, warehousing and outbound distribution to customers throughout the UK and Ireland.
Through successful completion of this project Premier Foods occupy a new 650,000 square foot site provided and managed by XPO which employs circa 170 operators and is equipped with XPO’s state-of-the-art warehouse management system, with transport services to be handled with a bespoke distribution fleet of approximately 70 vehicles and 200 trailers; with XPO customising its transport management software to enable Premier Foods to continually and consistently achieve optimal fleet utilisation.
Previous projects carried out by Gideon Hillman Consulting for Premier Foods include; a Full design, development, and implementation of Warehouse “end to end” process SOP’s for new ERP WMS module implementation and review of pick face layouts and MHE requirements; MHE operational and commercial strategy review & recommendations for Hovis (the former Bakery Division of Premier Foods); Supporting the commercial and service level negotiations and implementation of the outsourced frozen logistics tender operations for Quorn (Marlow Foods meat free product division of Premier Foods); and Tender scope development and tender process management for 35,000 pallet bulk warehouse facility.
In addition to Premier Foods, Gideon Hillman Consulting have proudly completed projects for an assortment of Food Processing and Food Manufacturing companies, including but not limited to: Diageo – a global leader in beverage alcohol with iconic brands in spirits, beer and wine; Beam Suntory – one of the world’s leading premium spirits companies; Quorn – the sustainable nutrition brand; Kerry Group – leader in global food ingredients, bringing technology leadership and sustainable growth to the food and beverage industries; NISA – a brand and buying group of independent retailers and wholesalers in the United Kingdom; British Sugar – the leading producer of sugar for the British and Irish food and beverage markets; and Bernard Matthews – renowned producer of turkey meat products; ARLA – an international cooperative based in Viby, Denmark, and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia; Britvic – British producer of soft drinks; and Refresco – a market leading juice manufacturer and contract packing provider with one of the most comprehensive logistics infrastructures in Europe; to name but a few.
Projects for these companies consisted of Warehouse Design, project management, strategic logistics network review, and a Distribution Centre Design and Optimisation.
Gideon Hillman Consulting’s full range of range of services include all aspects of Supply Chain and Logistics Operations; Distribution Network Strategy; Warehousing Operations, e-commerce Logistics and Warehouse and Distribution Centre Design.
For more information, please contact Gideon Hillman Consulting on 01926 430 883 or info@hillman-consulting.co.uk or visit www.hillman-consulting.co.uk
