Customers honoured at Awards Event

Hosting the day-long programme of top-level seminars and demonstrations culminating in the presentation of awards for outstanding results stemming from use of the Solihull-based company’s CAST and Optimiza tools, Barloworld Optimus MD Kevin Boake told delegates from more than 50 major manufacturing and logistics companies that the annual awards initiative is ‘a treasured opportunity’ to highlight just a few of its clients’ successes.

“It’s our way of giving something back to you, and our way of saying how honoured we are in playing some part in your success” he said.

Tarmac was judged winner of the CAST Impact Award after seven high-success projects over the past 21/2 years involving the advanced network optimisation tool.

Outlining details of recent schemes including concrete block plant optimisation and rationalisation, and formulation of the group’s transportation strategy scenario, Barloworld Optimus Project leader Mark Fogerty said that as Tarmac’s applications and projects have developed, CAST has become a significant driving force, being applied in ‘a very mature manner’ to identify opportunities and direct decisions.

“On seven separate occasions, we and Tarmac have jointly engaged with the process of establishing project teams to focus efforts and really challenge the status quo, to analyse the results and then to translate them into tangible benefits on implementation”.

A major recent project, he told delegates, involved 130 different supply sources, supplying 182 plants delivering to 5500 customer locations in 3 months…

“It is the tenacity and maturity of the project teams to work through these challenges, where many organisations might simply abandon the project in favour of more rudimentary approaches, that I believe has delivered the impact for Tarmac. Each of the projects has demonstrated real business impact” he said.

Aggregates Products’ Head of Business Development Paul Cottrell received the CAST Impact Award for Tarmac.

One of Barloworld Optimus’ longest-standing associations was recognized when Consultant Graham Orr told delegates that Brammer – originally BSL – was the software and consultancy firm’s earliest client in the UK.

Awarding the Optimiza User Award to Ron Daff via Gillian Holmes, Brammer’s Head of UK Supply Chain, he said the two companies have worked together through more incarnations of Optimiza than any other.

Hailing Brammer as ‘one of the most stalwart users of Optimiza’ he said that it was 18 years ‘almost to the day’ since the companies first began collaborating, and that Brammer continues to provide first-class feedback on software functionality and development issues.

“For most of this period we have had a monthly service contract with Brammer which means that we remain intimately involved in the business planning process and continue to provide a solution appropriate for evolving needs” he said.

AgustaWestland’s Senior Asset Manager Martin Shiner was presented with the Optimiza Performance Award for providing ‘vision and focus’ in the use of the advanced inventory optimisation application.

Highlighting AgustaWestland’s migration from ‘make-to-order’ to ‘service availability’ in the critical arena of helicopter spares and R&O materials, Consultant Jonathan Tucker said that despite complex supply and demand chains involving multiple systems and integration of numerous distinct functional areas, the project resulted in 40% reduction on legacy stock holdings and 8% increase in availability.

“The success of this endeavour has lead to a succession of support contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide a cost-effective through life Integrated Operational Support solution for all variants of the Sea King and Merlin rotary wing fleet.

“By making the most of the people and Optimiza in the development, training and support of more than 100 users, the result in their own words is ‘a lean, mean inventory team!” he said.

Barloworld Optimus’ Customer Day was recently held at Ardencote Manor near Warwick and was attended by 100 delegates from companies including Air Products, Apollo Metals, Belron, BOC, Brammer UK, Bridgestone, Carlsberg UK, CAT Logistics, CEVA Logistics, Christian Salvesen Logistics UK, DHL Exel Supply Chain, H & R Johnson Tiles, IBM, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ricoh, Tarmac Ltd, The Book Service, Unipart, and NHS Supply Chain.

The company also previewed its major new software tool CINO to the 100 delegates at the invitation-only Customer Day.

Unlikely to be formally unveiled until next year, Barloworld Optimus’ new-look Combined Inventory Network Optimisation tool has been specifically developed to combat the potentially fatal downside of multi-sourcing and multi-echelon inventory flow.

Guest speaker at the event, Gartner Research Director Tim Payne, told delegates that with logistics growth up by 7% over last year, today’s supply chain professionals are being asked to do more than ever before…

Highlighting the ‘killer’ of supply chain performance as ‘variability’ he said that the industry is going to need to focus more on eliminating variability out of the equation - a task, he warned, that will prove virtually impossible without harnessing the right technology…

“There’s a lot going on with the state-of-the-art developers, and technology will have a very significant impact on you. So it is crucial that you as managers have a no-strings dialogue with your IT departments about what’s available and what it can do for you, starting NOW!” he said.