One-Stop Liquid Operation

Consolidation of supply chain operations by Logiwiz for leading lubricants manufacturer

When Logiwiz took over the management of the ground logistics of the leading lubricant manufacturer in Sri Lanka, it managed its distribution operations from a stand-alone conventional warehouse, with another intermediate warehouse at the factory premises which acted as the bulk warehouse from where the distribution centre was replenished.

After a detailed study, Logiwiz proposed to the client to relocate the distribution operation to the state of the art Logiwiz Distribution Centre, to benefit from the economies of scale that a large, multi user facility will provide as well as to make the warehousing costs variable, as against the fixed costs associated with managing a stand alone facility. Once the client agreed to this relocation, the task was to ensure the cargo transfer was managed efficiently from the existing warehouse to the new Logiwiz Distribution, while ensuring that market deliveries happened un interrupted. The high storage volumes that the client maintained made the task even more difficult.

In order to efficiently handle the relocation, a dedicated project based team was put together by Logiwiz to focus on key operational areas including infrastructure set up at the new warehouse, vehicle deployment, loading, unloading operations at locations, documentation and to effect a smooth product transfer operation without hampering the client’s main product distribution to Depots. A transfer schedule was in place to monitor strict compliance to agreed time lines, whilst co-coordinating with the client in order to keep a continuous, uninterrupted flow of products to the market. The regular distribution operations were managed by a separate Logiwiz team, and they were responsible to service the market in full, at the right cost while ensuring the right products were collected from both the old warehouse, the new warehouse (Logiwiz Distribution Centre) and the intermediate bulk warehouse at the production plant.

Logiwiz had to design a customized storage racking system and formulate a storage lay out design for racking and yard to accommodate the transition of the client’s existing warehouse module in SAP.

The lubricant products were categorized based on volume movement before the onset of operation to facilitate the stock issuing policy and a final stock reconciliation was performed to verify transferred stock accuracy.

The operational staff needed for transfer operation was placed strategically, to co-ordinate and consolidate product transfers from production floor, intermediary warehouse, finished goods warehouse and Logiwiz DC.

By moving the entire outbound operation to Logiwiz the intermediate warehouse at the production plant became redundant which led to resources and cost scale down in the entire supply chain operation for the client.

To date Logiwiz act as the single logistics service provider to the client in Sri Lanka, and the mutually beneficial relationship is now in its 8th successful year.