Moving its warehousing operations in-house three years ago has resulted in significant benefits for Suzuki South Africa. Improved stock management and zero stock losses have resulted in a “significant” cut in its logistics costs and enhanced customer service in terms of delivery turnaround time. Berto van der Lith, Suzuki SA divisional manager: finance, administration and logistics, told FTW that Suzuki embraced the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen – which means continuous improvement – and was always on the look-out for innovative ways of optimising costs and efficiencies. He explained that the company had employed two industrial engineers to optimise the 2 500-sqm warehouse, which houses spare parts and accessories for the Suzuki motorcycles and vehicles as well as marine outboard motors for distribution nationally and into neighbouring countries. “Another automotive distributor moved out of the space we now occupy in Johannesburg because it needed a much larger warehouse. We have been able to work well with the space we have by introducing a few simple organisational changes,” Van Der Lith said. Wilton Dladla, logistics and warehouse manager, is one of those industrial engineers appointed in 2014. He explained that some of these changes included storing like for like parts together to ensure the fast-moving items were placed at the front of the warehouse for easy picking and packing. “We have had great success with the operational changes because we ensured we got the buy-in from staff,” he said, pointing out that all the warehouse processes and systems had been designed to support the global Suzuki stock management system. “Because we have much greater control over the in-and outf low of our stock, which helps us to do far better stock planning, we can also keep a much leaner stock complement,” Dladla added.
We have had great success with the operational changes because we ensured we got the buy-in from staff. – Wilton Dladla
