Brewer goes live with new optimisation system to integrate seven sites in supply chain
November 17, 2009
Brewing giant Lion Nathan has gone live with a new optimisation system it says will greatly reduce the complexity of its supply chain across seven sites in Australia.
The company has rolled out advanced planning optimisation software from Infor across its network of breweries, while deploying Infor’s advanced scheduler at six main sites to integrated uniform scheduling processes.
The tool simultaneously schedules all operations on all product lines, including any interdependencies, as part of an integrated enterprise resource planning system.
George Bearzot, Logistics Director at Lion Nathan Australia, says the company needed more sophistication in its planning and scheduling to continue to grow.
“Our logistics operation is hugely complex. We have multiple breweries, multiple distribution hubs, global imports, hundreds of product lines and produce close to a billion litres of beer for thousands of customers each year,” he says.
“Rolling out Infor scheduling tools across each operation and linking each one back to an overarching Infor planning tool at head office has streamlined the process and given us the visibility to effectively plan and forecast supply months in advance.”
Following a period of acquisition, Lion Nathan now operates seven breweries across Australia. Previously each brewery was operating as its own company with its own planning and distribution process, priorities and technology.
The disconnected network meant planning difficulty in introducing new product lines and promotions, the company says.
Bearzot says the new system has also increased team engagement.
“Our planning team now has more time to add real value, as the low level repetitive tasks have been largely eliminated. We have great people and now they have the best tools to do their jobs. Our employee engagement scores have lifted considerably.”
Customer service has also improved, he says, with DIFOT (delivery in-fully and on-time) scores at record levels.