Specific time deliveries: logistics top sport
10 January 2018 – author: Jeroen van Duuren
I think that many professionals who are passionate about what they do know the feeling: It is fine when you are tested to the limit of your experience and knowledge. At moments like that you can really show what your value is to your clients. Take for example the collaboration in our logistics business with our major retail partners.
These partners include Hunkemöller, Foot Locker and HEMA. For some chain stores in specific regions we deliver stock to dozens of shops. For example, we have a major client for whom we service 60 stores every day in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where we are committed to make the deliveries at a time that best meets the client’s wishes.
If in the preparatory phase you set up the schedule in the best possible manner you can actually add value for the client. In some instances this added value is very simple. Agreeing the times at which we will make the deliveries to the shop means, for example, that they do not have to have three personnel members on standby to receive the goods, but instead can have this done by two. In this way the client is relieved of some of the burden of staffing problems, and cost savings can be made.
Retail chains also want to have the guarantee that after a certain time their personnel are not interrupted in their normal work on the shop floor. When deliveries are made at the right moment they can then concentrate their efforts entirely on sales and contact with their customers.
And, last but not least: We go and examine the situation on site. We visit the stores where the goods are to be delivered, we have discussions with the shop manager and we examine what specific factors can be of influence to the deliveries to that specific store. You can probably imagine that making deliveries to each location within the busy city centres of Madrid, Glasgow or Paris can present their own unique challenges. Do we deliver to the front door or a back door? Would it be handy to supply the driver with a key to the store? Would we need two people to deliver goods to the third floor?
On the basis of all this information we plan deliveries to the stores within a delivery route structure in a manner that does not result in additional costs for the client.
Providing a client with top-notch performance is just like top-class sport: You need a strong set of skills. But on the basis of those skills it is principally a matter of working hard, thoroughly and devotedly to achieve the very best result.
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