the distribution center. That reduction came about in large part
because Hays invested in material
handling automation to expedite
handling and save on labor.
Both Kimberly-Clark’s and
Unilever’s customers want to receive
mixed-case pallets, but assembling
them is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly. To speed up
that process at the Raamsdonksveer
distribution center, Hays invested in
layer-picker equipment, which was
furnished by Univeyor, according to
Anthonissen. This type of equipment uses vacuum suction to lift a
layer of cases from a pallet and
transfer those boxes to another pallet. Switching from a manual
process to an automated one produced notable savings. “By combining the two [companies’] volumes,
we were able to automate to take
out 16 percent of the handling
costs,” Surtees says.
TRUST AND RAPPORT
After the Netherlands operation
had validated the concept of a
shared supply chain, it was a few
years before Kimberly-Clark repli-
cated its success elsewhere in
Europe. The main reason the com-
pany waited so long was that it
wanted to be sure it selected the
right manufacturer to partner with.
“We talked to other companies in
the United Kingdom, Spain, and
Italy … and it took us a long time to
find the right partner,” Surtees says.
“The right partner is not just some-
body with the right volumes. It’s
also [a matter of] finding a compa-
ny with the right culture—some-
body you can work with, somebody
you actually trust. This is a bit like
getting married, in some respects.”
Finally, in 2006, Kimberly-Clark
began collaborating with the cereal
manufacturer Kellogg Co. in some
parts of England and Scotland.
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Kimberly-Clark believed that Kellogg was a
good match and that the two had the right
“trust and rapport,” Surtees says.
Kimberly-Clark operates distribution
centers in the north and south of England,
while Kellogg manufactures in the north. In
a test run, Kellogg started shipping to a
Kimberly-Clark distribution facility located in Northfleet, which is east of London.
There, Kellogg’s products were cross-docked and mixed in with Kimberly-Clark’s goods, and then both companies’
products were loaded onto a truck for
delivery to small customers in London and
southeastern England.
That trial worked so well that it has
become a permanent arrangement, and
Kellogg now reciprocates for Kimberly-Clark’s deliveries north of the city of
Birmingham, located in the center of the
country. Kimberly-Clark stores its products
in Kellogg’s distribution center in Trafford
Park, near Manchester. Just as in the southeast, the two partners assemble and move
full truckloads to small retailers in that
region.
Getting the program started with Kellogg
in England was somewhat easier than
establishing the shared supply chain in the
Netherlands because both companies were
already working with the same third-party
logistics company, TDG. That meant that
both manufacturers already had the necessary capabilities for electronically sharing
information with the 3PL. “Setting this up
was relatively straightforward with both of
us being [TDG] customers,” Surtees says.
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EXPANSION INTO FRANCE
The successful arrangement between
Kimberly-Clark and Kellogg led to another
shared supply chain initiative, this time in
France. The partners launched a program
in 2009 to serve the large French retailer
Carrefour, which was looking for opportu-
nities to improve operations and reduce
costs. “Carrefour is going down a similar
journey of reducing cycle time and inven-
tory,” says Surtees. “Carrefour does not
want to hold inventory at all.”
There are two major differences between
the shared supply chain operation in
England and the one in France. First,
Kimberly-Clark and Kellogg use different
third-party logistics companies in
