Diagnostic Company
SITUATION
Large diagnostic company needed to develop a distribution strategy to support the needs of the business and significantly reduce its worldwide Distribution and Logistics cost.
DRIVER GOAL
- Reduce Distribution costs by at least 10%.
- Enable superior customer service levels of at least 96% full-order shipments.
- Reduce inventory turns by 10%.
RESULT
- Identified $6 million in savings (20%) from improvements to Distribution practices and policies.
- Identified $7 million in savings from improvements to planning, forecasting and supplier mgmt.
Case Study
Optimize Distribution & Logistics
Issue
With customers in over 100 countries, one of the largest diagnostic businesses in the world was confronted with the need to develop a distribution strategy to support the needs of the business and significantly reduce its worldwide Distribution and Logistics cost. The client asked The Highland Group to help them design and implement a flexible and robust distribution strategy to meet their business goals.
Highland Approach
The Highland Group worked with client leadership to develop high-level Driver Goals to serve as the target for initiative. Then the team designed a market requirements survey to gather customer feedback. Concurrently, the team analyzed the operation to identify improvement opportunities and develop targeted corrective actions.
Actions Taken
- Designed and administered a market requirements survey to 100 customers in the U.S. and Europe.
- Proposed improvements and modifications to the company’s distribution policies, practices and overall strategy based on customer feedback gathered with the survey.
- Developed a System For Managing to provide the Distribution and Logistics management team with a single-source report summarizing the key operating indicators of the business.
- Designed a new process for managing all proposed process improvement opportunities under one central authority.
- Re-engineered the planning and forecasting process. Through centralization and streamlining, the company will benefit in the areas of inventory management, scrap management, supplier management and productivity.
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