Colruyt, Belgium's leading food retailer, engaged Ortec to expand its logistics for its French subsidiary by optimizing its supply chain for growth in France. The collaboration resulted in a well-informed location choice for a new depot and clarified the logistics impact of separating two commercial networks. Ultimately, the study's findings enabled Colruyt to align its depot strategy with long-term goals and enhance its understanding of supply chain costs.

1. Colruyt, Belgium’s number 1 food retailer, consulted ORTEC on the expansion of the logistics organisation of its
French subsidiary Colruyt France. To realize its ambitions for growth on the French market, a number of strategic
choices needed to be made in the design of its supply chain. Due to its many years of experience in Strategic Supply
Chain Redesign, ORTEC was selected as the partner to advise Colruyt in the decision-making process.
Casesheet
Challenges in the world of Colruyt France
 How to find the ideal location and capacity for
a new depot.
 How to fit the short-term decisions in with the
company’s optimum supply chain strategy in
the long term.
 How to analyze and clarify the impact on the
logistics organization of separating Colruyt
France’s two existing commercial networks:
- the 50 actual Colruyt stores located in
the Northeast of France;
- the network of independent stores
located all over France.
How Colruyt France aimed to optimize
its world
 Investigate the best options for expansion in
the near future in the large Northeastern region
of France.
 Transform the available statistics into models
so that the strategic choices could be made in
an objective and well-reasoned manner.
The solution
 Network study by ORTEC using ORTEC
Supply Chain Design
The results
+ Well-informed choice of location for the new
depot, based on accurate and objective
arguments.
+ Location of the new depot also ideal within
the long-term strategy.
+ Improved understanding of relationship
between depot costs and transport costs.
+ The logistic impact of separating the two
commercial networks has been quantified.
+ Based on the research results, Colruyt started
a focused search for new premises in the
region proposed by ORTEC.
+ The decision to completely separate the
network of independent stores from the
network of Colruyt stores in France.
Industry
Transport, retail and logistics
About Colruyt
 Colruyt Group is active in
the distribution of food and
non-food in Belgium, France
and Luxemburg
 25,000 employees
 Turnover: 7.8 billion
 More than 400 Colruyt
stores and more than 500
affiliated stores
 Belgium and Luxembourg:
227 Colruyt stores, 85 Okay
stores, 7 Bio-Planets and
48 non-food stores
 France: 61 stores
Colruyt France
“We make strategic supply chain choices
based on ORTEC’s recommendations”

2. Long-term ambitions
The original depot of Colruyt France is located in Rochefort-
sur-Nenon in the French Jura region. Because of the
considerable distance between this depot and the stores,
it was questionable whether expansion of the existing depot
was the best solution. The remote location and the limited
size of the depot prompted Colruyt to investigate the best
options for expansion in the near future in the large north-
eastern region of France. With ORTEC Colruyt aimed to
transform the available statistics into models so that the
strategic choices could be made in an objective and
well-reasoned manner.
Geert Roels, Expansion Director at Colruyt France, explains
the situation. “The most urgent question was what step
Colruyt needed to take to open a new depot and what the
ideal surface area for this site would be. We also wondered
where the depots would need to be located if Colruyt should
wish to cover the whole of France in due course. So we
wanted to be sure that the next depot we opened would
fit in with our long-term ambitions.”
ORTEC solution
“ORTEC had already carried out a study for Colruyt Belgium
in the past,” Geert Roels continues, “and in the selection
procedure for a partner for this project, it quickly became
clear again that ORTEC’s no-nonsense and down-to-earth
approach was ideal for Colruyt. The action plan presented by
ORTEC and their personal style suited us well. The business
consultant who had proposed the action plan and the project
remained closely involved with the implementation of the
study. ORTEC’s in-depth knowledge of the world of logistics
was clearly visible and very important to us. The efficient
working methods and the effective communication with the
Colruyt project group made it possible to deliver an attractive
price/value ratio for this project.
ORTEC was also very flexible in adapting the direction of
the research during the project within the specified limits,
without this immediately leading to extra costs.” On the
basis of the data provided by Colruyt, ORTEC was able
to map the information geographically using the ORTEC
Supply Chain Design tool and then analyze the transport
flows, each with their own characteristics with respect
to temperature, cost structure, packaging and delivery
frequency. This made it easy to allow for the multichannel
supply chain that is typical of the food retail sector. It was
crucial to analyze the current cost structure in detail to obtain
a clear picture of the impact that the various scenarios would
have on these costs. Besides analyzing these quantitative
statistics, ORTEC therefore also carried out several qualitative
analyses and calculations for alternative scenarios, including
analyses of the operational processes and activities, the
main CRM aspects, such as the number of deliveries per
product category, and the sustainability aspects. The most
interesting strategic growth options were presented to and
discussed with the Management Team of Colruyt France. The
intensive collaboration has also improved Colruyt’s insight
into benchmarks within the sector and alternative business
models.
Implementation of the results
According to Geert Roels, the most valuable result of the
total analysis is the fact that Colruyt made a well-informed
choice of location for the new depot based on accurate and
objective arguments and that this location was also the best
choice for the long-term strategy. In addition, Colruyt has
acquired a better understanding of the relationship between
depot costs and transport costs.
The logistic impact of separating the two commercial
networks were made clear as well. Shortly after the results
were presented to the Management Team, Colruyt started
a focused search for new premises in the region proposed
by ORTEC. It has also now decided to separate the network
of independent stores completely from its own network of
Colruyt stores.
Want to learn more about our solutions? Contact us at: info@ortec.com www.ortec.com