Ex works sourcing trend spawns ‘Just in Sequence’ service

EASTERN CAPE manufacturers are benefiting from the latest logistics technology and systems, says Robert Schmidt, branch manager of Birkart Globistics. Since the beginning of 2004, Birkart Globistics has been providing a full Just in Sequence service to one of the province’s motor manufacturers. The Birkart team is integrated with components manufacturer Grupo Antolin, which assembles headliner units to order, with Birkart ensuring that they arrive on the line at the right time and in the right sequence. Birkart is also responsible for ensuring that the components for the headliner are delivered to Grupo Antolin on time. “Through our international network, we have milk runs from plants all over Europe to our hub in Hamburg, where containers are packed,” he says. This service has been introduced to meet a growing demand for assemblers to source components “ex works”. “Manufacturers and assemblers are finding that it is much better to buy ex works. They have better control of the shipment and there are usually significant cost savings,” he says. Birkart’s systems are designed to control the flow of goods throughout the logistics chain. All components are scanned and labelled as they are packed, and this information is transferred electronically to South Africa before the containers arrive. “When the components arrive in South Africa, they are already scanned. When we receive the container, the contents are again scanned and checked. A variance report is generated automatically,” he says. While the European hub is in Hamburg, Birkart has the capacity to “create a hub anywhere in the world,” says Schmidt. This is helping open up new markets for manufacturers in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere in South Africa. “We have been able to speed up imports and exports to and from China through being granted an ‘A’ licence, which makes it possible for goods to be consigned directly to Birkart’s facilities on the mainland, instead of an intermediary,” he says. Traffic to China is growing, as is the Japanese market and the rest of the East. “We are also moving goods into Russia, while Africa is opening up. Three months ago we moved 80 tons of freight into Botswana, and we are now getting requests from Malawi,” he says.