Warehouse Assessment for Frozen Specialties Producer to Reduce Costs
Client
The client is a major producer of specialty frozen food products. They supply their product to major grocery retailers, chain stores and warehouse clubs. The product assortment consists of approximately 400 items produced and sold in high volumes, generating significant throughput within their freezer.
Executive Summary
In an effort to achieve improved space utilization and productivity, the client asked The Revere Group to assess their warehouse operations. Revere conducted a thorough analysis and issued a four part action plan to reduce cost and improve productivity. The action plan targeted:
- Process Design & Improvement
- Space Utilization
- Productivity
- Facility Layout & Design
Actions led to near term savings of $150,000, while eliminating the cost and complexity of outside storage and enabling the implementation of a warehouse management system.
Business Challenge
The client operates two major production facilities. The highest volume plant maintains an attached frozen warehouse, a smaller cooler for raw food materials and a dry warehouse for other production materials. The client found itself regularly using a third-party warehouse to accommodate additional product. The warehouse was plagued by a space utilization of only 72 percent.
Solution
The Revere Group led an effort to identify and assess all existing warehouse processes. The Revere Group dedicated a senior logistics resource to tracking and measuring all functions within the warehouse. This analysis led to the creation of detailed process maps indicating potential areas for improvement. The Revere Group then recommended specific improvements and determined the financial impact of executing those solutions. The deliverables to the client included:
- Detailed process maps with critical evaluation
- Specific recommendations to optimize those processes, including warehouse flows as well as layout & design features
- Return on Investment analysis detailing the savings accruing from implemented solutions
- Formal warehouse procedures for all key warehouse functions
Results
The Revere Group along with the client’s core team successfully completed a detailed warehouse assessment. The client achieved immediate savings of $150,000 in improved productivity, while initiating a successful Warehouse Management System implementation. Additionally, the client received:
- Documented warehouse procedures, leading to the development of clear metrics for each department and employee
- Recommended warehouse layout changes that included specific vendor information and costs, as well as design specifications