Customer Service
WINNING WITH CUSTOMERS
Doesn't Have to
Cost the Earth
Over the last decade companies have looked to increase their competitiveness
through, among other things, outsourcing. Despite this, there's a distribution
team at HEIN EKEN that's proving that doing things 'in-house' can be
cheaper, greener, faster and more flexible. But, most importantly, over 98% of
customers are receiving their orders accurately and on time.
T
he distribution team in question is part
of HEINEKEN's Export Global Duty Free
OpCo. As well as handling HEINEKEN
exports to other markets, with full accounts, marketing
and operational support, they are also responsible for
delivering to duty-free stores, airlines, cruise liners and
armed forces around the world. These deliveries are
handled separately as they require complex customs
paperwork, special bonded warehouses, and often
smaller volumes of mixed products with a short lead time.
Bringing Logistics In-House
It was precisely this distribution expertise that led Ton
Oostrum, Customer Service Logistic Manager for
Export Global Duty Free to challenge the benefits of
outsourcing the logistics for technical equipment and
installations such as the David Green draught systems
and Heineken® Extra Cold tap. "Bringing logistics in-
house really goes against all of the business lessons of
the last decades," says Ton. "But with our proven export
logistics operations already in place, it was easy to take
this model and apply it to technical equipment and
installations with just a few minor alterations." Ton's
team has been successfully running logistics in-house
since 2011.
Spotting Errors
The advantages of running logistics in-house are clear
to Ton: "Firstly, nobody knows our products better than
we do. By outsourcing to a third party, you have limited
control over the knowledge of the people who are
Edition 1 2013 World of HEINEKEN
