Global Supply Chain Strategy Case Study: Global Logistics

 

Our firm evaluated the use of supply chain best practices in each business unit and on each continent to identify the opportunities for improvements.

 

Our firm was engaged by a multibillion dollar global chemical manufacturer to evaluate the practices of logistics activities worldwide and identify the opportunities for cost reduction as a part of an overall financial revitalization of the corporation.

The manufacturing company produced a variety of unique products for use in industry. Raw material was sourced throughout the world from agricultural and other natural resources, then transported and processed in multiple stages at plants on multiple continents.

The corporate supply chain was a complicated business process including planning systems and procedures along with the transport, management and storage of inventories of raw material, work in process and finished goods. As with many corporations, this process was not designed as an ideal method, but rather had evolved over many years as the result of individual suboptimal improvements.

Our firm evaluated the use of supply chain best practices in each business unit and on each continent to identify the opportunities for improvements:

  • In some businesses, the network of stocking facilities (plant warehouses, distribution centers and branch warehouses) needed to be rationalized and redesigned resulting in facility closures and consolidations, as well as the establishment of new owned or third-party facilities.

  • In other businesses, the supporting systems needed to be strengthened in order to better control and reduce inventory investment.

  • In yet other businesses, the transportation modes, routes, carriers, and rates needed to be renegotiated.

  • Corporate synergy between businesses was possible in the form of combining volumes for maximum leverage with logistics vendors – including ocean, land and air freight carriers; material storage and handling companies, and systems providers.

The corporation took over management and pursuit of the opportunities and the implementation of the improvements. We were re-engaged following this assignment to work on specific tasks of improvement as well as other corporate level savings efforts.