My Logistics Blog: May 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Material Flow vs. Information Flow

Logistics is the task of managing two key flows: material flow and information flow. The logistics task of managing material flow and information flow is a key part of the overall task of supply chain management.

In the last logistics class on 14/05/2010 we have talked about material and information flow.

I have found a book that gives a very comprehensive example on this topic.
Logistics Management and Strategy: Competing Through The Supply Chain
by

Alan Harrison, Cranfield School of Management

Remko Van Hoek, Professor of Supply Chain Management at The Cranfield Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management and Vice President Procurement at Nuon in the Netherlands

A preview on this book can be found here: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/academic/product/0,3110,0273712764,00.html

The example for material flow and information flow is described as follows:
The concept of a supply chain suggests a series of processes linked together to form a chain. A typical Tresco (UK's largest food retailer) supply chain is formed from five such links.

Mercadona - Our Personal Perception

We love to go shopping at Mercadona because of the excellent price policy (SPB) and the products from Hacendado, Deliplus and so on are of a great quality.

So far we have tried many different products from Mercadona’s suppliers and we have only been disappointed by one product, which is muesli. The other kinds of muesli, however are very tasty.

Also, it is noticeable that the fresh leche semidesnatada is often not available when we go shopping late. This is also a little disappointing.
Nevertheless we like Mercadona very much as a supermarket and for sure, we will miss Mercadona when we go back to Germany :-)

Mercadona's Logistics Blocks

Sina and I did some research on Mercadona and its logistics system. This post is about Mercadona's Logistics block in general.

A 620,000-square-metre network that supplies 1,264 supermarkets daily

Logistics Blocks

At the end of 2009 Mercadona had 1264 supermarkets that need to be supplied. In order to do this Mercadona uses a 620.000 square-metre logistical network.
One of Mercadona’s main goals is to reduce the impact of transportation on the price of products. They call this “transporting more for less” which also has the positive side effect of having a smaller impact on the environment.

In order to ensure the efficiency and optimization of its logistical network Mercadona plans to construct new facilities and to upgrade and improve existing structures during the following years. In order to do this more than 600 million euros are going to be invested.

Integrated Suppliers

Sina and I did some research on Mercadona and its logistics system. This a post about Mercadona's integrated suppliers.

The suppliers play a key role in Mercadona’s Total Quality Model.
Mercadona’s philosophy is to base their relationship with their partners (Mercadona has more than 100 of them) on trust, stability, constant work and joint commitment. Their common goal is to satisfy the needs of the customers by providing the best quality-price ratio on the market. They reach this goal by eliminating everything that does not provide any value.

Square olive oil bottle which optimizes logistical processes. Integrated supplier Sovena.

Wine bottle stack that increases palletizing capacity. Integrated supplier Bodegas Ontanón.

Concept Innovation - Stores by Ambience

Sina and I did some research on Mercadona and its logistics system. This a post about Mercadona's stores by ambience.

Concept innovation for Mercadona, involves incorporating everything that adds value to their customer’s shopping experience.

Therefore, in 2000, the most important component of concept innovation has been launched, Stores by Ambience.

The goal of Stores by Ambience is to provide Mercadona’s customers with more spacious stores that have a warmer ambience and a more logical product arrangement. In general, the intention is to optimize the customer’s purchases while making the experience more pleasurable.

By 2009 there were a total of 1184 Stores by Ambience.

If you want to learn more about Mercadona and it's activities during the year 2009 have a look at their annual report.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Austrian Company Provides Rolldocking for Mercadona Warehouses

Sina and I did some research on Mercadona and its logistics system. This post is about the Rolldocking system of Mercadona.

An Austrian company called TGW Logistics has developed a new system called Rolldocking for Mecadona. The company describes its solution in a document that is only available in German http://www.tgw.at/uploads/media/MERCADONA_DEU_02.pdf

In this blog, we have summarized the main facts about this new technology.

Mercadona's requirements:

Delivery of articles in single-origin truck loads using europallets or half pallets

Maximum weight per pallet: 1000 kg

Minimizing the employment of staff

Buffering at leat 1,5 truck loads per article

First in - first out

Loading up to 800 pallets daily

Mercadona Builds Kindergarten into Logistic Blocks

Sina and I did some research on Mercadona and its logistics system. This is the second post about Mercadona's kindergarten in the logistic blocks.

A German newspaper has reported that Mercadona makes place in its logistic blocks for kindergarten: http://www.lebensmittelzeitung.net/news/karriere/Mercadona-Ist-familienfreundlich_44749.html

In this block we have translated the most impressive facts:

In 2001 Mercadona inaugurates the first kindergarten in the logistics block in San Sadurní D'Anoia (Barcelona). Mercadona calls it also "nursurey". It is a place where trained personal looks for the children of employees for free. As it has been a successful venture, Mercadona concluded to build a kindergarten into all logistic blocks that are newly opened up.

The kindergarten of the logistics block in Albatera/ San Isidro (Alicante) provides 82 spaces per shift. A shift either takes from 6 to 2 or from 2 to 10 at night. To guarantee a proper child care, there are 14 educators with various qualifications (kindergartener, educator, pedagogue, and teacher) per logistic block.

Introducing Mercadona

Sina and I did some research on Mercadona and its logistics system. In total we have prepared 4 posts. This is the first one to introduce Mercadona.

Mercadona is a Spanish family-owned supermarket company whose objective is to fully satisfy the grocery, home cleaning, hygiene and pet products’ needs of its "Bosses". To this end the company has 1,264 local stores

averaging between 1,300 and 1,500 square meters of retail space,

representing a market share of 12.8% of the total food store retail space in Spain and

contributing to the business dynamics of the areas in which they are located.

Every one of these supermarkets has an ample and efﬁcient selection that includes up to 8,000 different items located within easy reach of the over 4.3 million households that place their trust in the company every year.

See: http://descargas.mercadona.com/memorias2009/ING/Report09.pdf

Jochen has found the "canción de Mercadona", which we can always hear when we go shopping at Mercadona (and which we still sing 3 hours after shopping):

SPB = Siempre precios bajos

Mercadona has a special business model that is called siempre precios bajos, it means always low price in English. It is a formula that allows Mercadona's customers ("The Bosses") to buy products of the highest quality at the lowest prices on the market. That strategy matches what has always been the company’s motto for over 16 years: "Quality doesn’t have to be more expensive".

In total Mercadona works with more than 2,000 trade suppliers and service providers, over 100 of which are integrated suppliers, manufacturers of th Hacendado, Bosque Verde, Deliplus and Compy brands. Mercadona has long-term mutual cooperation and commitment relationship regulated by way of a Sound Business Practices Framework Agreement. This results in "contracts for life" and all of them are committed to the total customer satisfaction philosophy that is so important to Mercadona and which applies to both quality services and products.

Total Quality

Since 1993, Mercadona’s management model has been one based on Total Quality. Through this method Mercadona satisﬁes the company’s ﬁve components with equal dedication: ‘The Boss’, The Employee, The Supplier, Society and Capital.

Comparing the Distribution Systems of Dia and Carrefour

This post compares the distribution systems of Dia and Carrefour, which have been introduced in the previous posts. The comparison is based on Sina's and Janina's own interpretation of the collected information.