The purpose of my presentation this afternoon is to give you a brief idea about what goes on in the Warehouse. I must warn you, the last time I gave a presentation about Warehouse and Logistics was to Justin DeWinter and Paul Clifford in February 2006. I was my second interview for the position I’m in now. The feedback I received some 3 months later over a pint of beer in The Bear was that it was “the most boring presentation ever” & you very nearly sent us to sleep! There a few compliments afterwards though !! You all know the purpose – so we’ll crack on! We’ll talk about Logistics – what it means. Talk about the volumes / demands that are asked of us. The day to day warehouse challenges. A brief look back on what the Warehouse was like 3 years ago and where we are today.
Origin is from the French word “ logistique ”. Today I’ve used the version from Wikipedia “Operations are focused on Consumers / Consumption” Most people probably envision warehouses as boxes being moved by fork lift trucks and people moving and picking stock, and of trucks laden with stock delivering to other warehouses. To some degree, this is probably correct………but the fun begins in the tracking of goods, accurate picking of orders, returns processed on time, being flexible and adaptable to the needs of the business. If the warehouse picker, picks the wrong size or wrong colour, and it’s not spotted during packing, then subsequently has to request a replacement, this adds to our costs and it also creates a negative impression of the brand to the customer.
395,000 km is equal to 245,000 miles. Royal Mail delivers 99% of all licensed mail in the UK – still a huge amount considering there are 25 licensed operators! 87% of all Mail is from Businesses. Only 13% is from friends and family. This explains why most of the post receive we receive is a bill of some sort !! Royal Mail Delivers 65% of all Long Tall Sally Parcels some I believe that Logistics is 50% of the order, in terms of both control and convenience. In today’s untra competitive retail environment, being the first choice shop for Tall women all over the world is great! Being first, fast and fantastic is surely a winning combination and one that’ll make them shop more frequently and with confidence.
Warehouse Throughput: Intake, Dispatches to Direct and Retail, Customer Returns and Repackaging. Packing Notes include customer exchanges backorders. Intake Units – 445,000 Dispatches – 313,000 direct, 234,000 Retail units 10,000 replen parcels, 124,000 direct parcels. That’s 35 miles of brown parcel tape !! Customer Returns – 62,000
Day to Day Operations consists of 6 core tasks. We are the only fulfilment centre in the company. In terms of Goods In – Peaks and Troughs – Ranging from 27,000 in a peak week to 250 in a quiet week. We aim for Perfect Receipt every time – Every delivery is booked in, thus we try and avoid no surprises! If you fail to receipt stock correctly, the rest of the Warehouse process is essentially floored !! In correct qty, in the wrong location means you can’t find the stock to pick and so on !! We aim for a dock to stock time of 1 working Day, 24hrs max. 3 years ago in 2006, things were a lot different – To name a few: Stock was being booked on blind – store advice notes were often created a number of days after the stock had arrived. Deliveries into the Warehouse were unorganised, with now stock deliveries arriving at anytime. We had a stock consolidation process happening at DTS which was adding days into the supply chain lead time. … .and we had far less stock !! So starting at number 1 - We always strive to achieve minimal dock to stock cycle time. The best example of this is where we have backorders on a particular product. The dock to stock time is less than 1 hours from initial receipt, we are then able to process & ship the order on the same day! Number 2: A customer placing an order results creates an expectation that it will be delivered accurate and in full….to the exact address she wants it. In my opinion, taking orders is the easy task, fulfilling and delivering the order in a convenient package direct to her doorstep is rather more difficult ! I’ll touch on delivery of parcels in a minute. An average of 45% of all available warehouse resources is focused on picking / packing customer orders. Always working to reduce the order cycle time! Stock accuracy on the web site is consistently over 99%. We aim for perfect shipping! But don’t always get it right all the time. Our packing accuracy average is 99.975%. 1 in every 2600 units dispatched is incorrect. Number 3: Replen – As it sounds, admittedly we don’t always get in right. I think we’ve picked a few incorrect sizes for Bath Store in the last couple of days……sorry !! Number 4; Direct returns. – As it sounds, each garment being returned needs to be thoroughly checked before it’s re-packaged for sale, likewise for the stock returned to the warehouse for direct backorders. 6 we endeavour complete twice weekly with the Replen to Direct transfer. Because all these tasks are very variable, all members of the Warehouse Team are Trained to complete all of the Tasks , albeit most male member of the team don’t get involved with returns / repackaging! Number 7 – which isn’t mentioned on screen – is our ability to adapt and respond to special situations, especially when I receive and e-mail from Michelle and in the subject heading says PR Sample for Yellow Door! Likewise when Sandra or Emma send us a e-mailing with the heading – error on swing ticket ! Credit to a fantastic, flexible & adaptable Warehouse Team!
First and foremost, our distribution strategy is to deliver the best possible service at the lowest cost !! In 2008 we dispatched 134,000 parcels. … .you may not recognise PODS. PODS – we use to send parcels to the USA and Canada and also Rest of World – 3% of all Parcels - 4000 We pass to Royal Mail 65% of all UK direct parcels. – in 2008 that was some 82,000! We also use Royal Mail to deliver to parcels in the EU – 3% of all parcels -Parcel Force – UK domestic Next Day service and Worldwide – 8000 parcels in 2008 – 8% of all direct dispatches HDN – 21% of the parcel volume - 32,000 parcels in 2008 TNT – 12,000 cartons and sets to stores. That ends this part of my presentation regarding our operation Croydon.
1 st Mezz floor was installed in October 2008 with the Shelving arriving in November. Hanging racking under the Mezz Floor was installed in Jan 2009. Before any works were undertaken, the original warehouse capacity was 125k units – totally rammed full !! The 1 st Mezz gave us additional capacity of 15,000 units from 8% of the floor space. 6k Shelving, 9k Hanging.
Before 1 st Mezz 125k full !! Priority is not only ensuring the contractors complete the job on time, but also to keep the operation moving so the business sees no real difference. 1 st Mezz – 15,000 extra capacity – 98sq meters 2 nd Mezz – 30,000 extra capacity. - 207sq meters. During the 1week build, we lost 40% of our storage capacity. Re-located about 200 styles, 10,000 units in terms of clearing the shelving to be dismantled. From the 2 new mezzanine floors, we’ve gained 40% Extra capacity from 25% of the floor space. So we are looking at crica 170,000 units of stock. In terms of the future in dealing with the increase in volume - Ability to Hold more stock – this has most certainly been delivered !! Working a longer day 7am to 8pm. Essentially we are looking to increase the working day by ending at 8pm, rather than 5pm. Any Questions?
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