Knitted out for growth - manufacturer on the expansion path

Providing more than one million workers – from security to industry, construction, mining and everything in between – in South Africa with personal and protective work wear and equipment requires military-style logistics planning and execution, as well as very reliable supply chain partners. “We manufacture work wear, safety equipment such as hard hats, goggles, work boots as well as a bespoke range of corporate wear and we handle a lot of our logistics in-house. We therefore position ourselves as logistics and distribution specialists,” said the company’s newly appointed CEO, Andrew Robinson. Robinson was appointed by Kit Group founder and Group chairman, Joe Pereira, to drive the company’s next phase of local and international growth. “I started in my garage 25 years ago, but I am not the brand. The company’s brand lies in the strength of its management,” Pereira told FTW. Today the company has three off-site warehouses at its downtown Johannesburg premises where the clothing and equipment is designed and manufactured and where stock is packaged and distributed to the various on-site warehouses the Kit Group manages on behalf of its clients. “We manage and control the stock at our clients’ on-site warehouses as well and have designed an integrated IT platform that provides full visibility across the supply chain, allowing us to accurately monitor stock levels and manage our distribution schedule according to those levels,” commented Kit Group warehouse manager, Koos Breytenbach. He added that the clients could access their own on-site warehouses and draw stock whenever they needed it, as the warehousing system provided immediate updates and there was no need for manual updates. Breytenbach said the biggest challenge faced by the off-site warehouse was to get stock packaged and shipped on time to the client’s on-site facilities. “But we manage because all departments – from design to production to distribution – are in constant communication,” he said. Ensuring the security of stock at the manufacturing plant and the various warehouses is also of paramount importance due to the sensitive nature of some of the uniforms that are created. “We produce the majority of the security industry’s uniforms and we take every security measure we can to ensure that the stock is protected, including a 24-hour monitoring system, access cards and more,” said Breytenbach. The company has its own f leet of vehicles for national distribution, although it does make use of an express cargo service when required. However it outsources its transportation and clearing and forwarding responsibilities for cross-border Kit’s top logistics pain points Check list for logistics providers: • They need to ensure that the certification and paperwork is always up to date. This includes manufacturing and export documentation that is often subject to change. • They need to fully understand the manufacturing process. This means knowing what goes into a garment and being able to answer queries from customs officials during clearance at borders. • All clearing and forwarding transactions and procedures need to be completely aboveboard and above reproach. Integrity of doing business is therefore paramount • Transporters and clearing and forwarding agents need to stay up-to-date on any changes around legislation to ensure ongoing compliance. and international distribution. CAPTION Kit Group machinists hard at work ... supplying personal and protective work wear to more than one million workers. Photo: Shannon Van Zyl