Spotlight on quicker supply chain for retailers

This year, e-Logics, a subsidiary of Imperial Logistics, is focusing on making demand-driven supply chain networks a reality in Africa.

It is heralding a system that has become best practice in the US by implementing cost-efficiencies from point of manufacture to the replenishment of retail goods on the shelf. Late last year, e-Logics became the official hosting and solutions provider to US company One Network Enterprise's software in Africa.

Johann van der Westhuizen, MD of e-Logics, says the One Network solution is an open-transactional, data-shared, cloud-based system which can be used by the entire supply-chain community.

"We are looking for something that truly integrates from demand, to supply, to logistics," he said on Friday.

"We partnered with One Network and signed an Africa hosting agreement in the latter part of last year," he said, which has been running live since early this year on Vodacom's network.

Van der Westhuizen said the system was based on a "near real-time execution model", combining intelligent demand, supply and logistics modules. This allowed large retailers to have higher in-store availability of products, while reducing inventory levels and costs. The concept is similar to the Japanese-inspired just-in-time supply chain for the automotive industry.

Supply chain expert from the US, David Allen, a nonexecutive director of Network One, was in Johannesburg to "evangelise" the product in his keynote address at the Sun City conference. He said the product gave manufacturers the "visibility of true demand", from production to shelf stacking, through combining back-office networks and hand-held devices.

"What we have proven in other markets is that we can get in-store availability of products up to 99%, with much lower inventory costs." This provides retailers with "daily sales and inventory data at each store", enabling better efficiencies in the supply of everything from dairy foods to dry groceries.

SA's big retailers are shifting to centralised distribution, supplying stores from a central point instead of trucking product from manufacturer to individual outlets.

With the entry of Walmart and the opening up of African markets, SA's retail environment is changing. "The US supply chain is five to 10 years ahead of ours," Van der Westhuizen said.

Source: Business Day