1. Among all experiences I had in my career,
from employee to entrepreneur, the setup
of the 1st
cross docking platform in
Malaysia for my employer is, for me, one
of the most interesting and relevant.
It is at the conjunction of employment and
entrepreneurship.
Early 2000, my employer wanted to optimize the
supply of goods to its stores. At that time all suppliers
were delivering directly goods to the stores. It was
messy, inaccurate and time consuming for everybody
in the logistics chain.
The company gave me the opportunity and freedom to
set-up a new logistic platform where goods will have to
transit from suppliers to stores. We had to start from
blank page. Nothing similar had been done for this
retailer in Malaysia or other direct competitors. My
employer gave me all the necessary time to study and
prepare a detailed action plan.
My first approach had been to study implementations
of cross docking solutions in other countries in the
region. I visited other platforms and quickly noted the
pros and cons of their solutions. Basically points that
had to be improved if we wanted to succeed were:
- Detailed supply chain procedure;
- Paperless organization with use of electronic data
exchange;
- Total cost control;
Working out supply chain
procedure for this new
organization was not the most
difficult. As a matter of fact we
already had some receiving and
delivery procedures in our
store. I had to extrapolate those
procedures; make them compatible with the new
external warehouse where we will operate and test
them. The point is that all procedures and logistics
scenario were written down precisely : procedures
with the logistics contractor as well as procedures with
stores. We also had to cover deliveries and returning
of goods.
The main innovation that I
wanted to bring in this project
was the use of electronic data
transmission and computerize
logistics system. This had a
double objective: improve
operation speed and increase
security of stock in transit. I
had no specific budget for that and could not rely on
existing logistics solutions that may have been
available at that time (we were just after the Y2K bug,
right?). So we started developing our in-house solution
with our internal IT department. We built a server
based solution using Microsoft Access for database
and custom programs to interface barcode scanners
we had. The application would receive electronic
copies of orders sent to suppliers; we had to match
those orders against actual physical deliveries by
scanning items in the cross docking; We could then
edit and print directly our delivery orders based on
actual quantities received immediately after checking.
As security procedure, the system allowed us not to
give this document to the driver sending the goods to
stores. Instead the delivery notice with detailed items
and quantities was sent electronically to the stores.
Therefore, the transporter did not know exactly the
details of items in transit and only the store could
match the delivery note against what they received
and detect discrpancies. That was a security feature.
To control the operation cost, my strategy was to build
a detailed database of logistics cost per item category.
For all the items that would ultimately transit into the

2. cross docking, I checked one by one the cost of
transportation per volume. Fortunately, I had access to
lot of statistics per supplier regarding their delivery
quantities and value per month. On the other hand,
we knew the average cost per pallet in transit from our
logistic contractor negotiation. My job was then to
built a detailed database per item type (I.e. canned
food, detergents, drinks, etc…) showing the minimum
percentage we would have to invoice the suppliers in
order to cover our cost. These implied taking into
account the average number of cartons received per
delivery, the cartons sizes to convert into pallets units
and the unit price per item.
After more than one month of work (and particularly
measuring all suppliers cartons sizes one by one) I had
a very detailed database of cost per item. These had
been very useful to negotiate later with our suppliers.
We knew exactly the minimum percentage we had to
charge them for the service. That was fair and safe.
Studying and drafting the action plan took me 3
months. This time given to me was a real support from
my company. It helped us prepare and anticipate all
possible difficulties. Everything was planned for at
least the next 12 months: from suppliers negotiations,
budget and revenue, trial periods, full scale
implementation to further growth and integration.
Everything had been written in an action plan report
that was the synthesis of those 3 months work.
Fortunately almost all of anticipated actions and
financial forecast had been accurate.
After launching the platform, I managed it for the
following 3 years. All the background work proved to
be very useful and particularly when it came to cost
control. We quickly became the No 1 cross docking
platform in the region in terms of cost efficiency within
the group that was measuring management ratios. To
me it was due to multiple factors as described above,
but also other concepts that I tried to introduce. One
of them was that I considered the company suppliers
as our cross docking clients since we invoiced them for
the service to cover our cost. Thus I focused on
satisfying them as much as possible. One objective to
achieve that was to set appointments for delivery to
the warehouse in order to avoid queues and
congestion. Time being money, it was very important.
So we had to struggle in building schedules that would
fit all deliveries and keep up with our efficiency at
receiving point. With the same idea, I was also doing
client satisfaction surveys with the suppliers where I
asked them to rate our service. That was something
really new for them, coming from a major retailer, and
they appreciated it.
Overall I would say that experience was very
rewarding. Somehow, it was like a start-up. It was
combining many of the things I like: creativity,
innovation, systems and organization, forecast and
analysis, autonomy. Later when I left, my assistant took
over the project and made it even more successful,
proving that this setup was a real profit center for the
company and a real success.