o C
putting your technical products together. By bringing
it in-house, I've ensured that everyone has a technical
training. Because of this they can spot errors or defects
from a mile away. In other words, we spot them before
the customer spots them. Apart from protecting our
reputation, this also prevents additional costs of putting
things right.
"By bringing things in-house, we also significantly
reduce overheads. You immediately remove the need for
account managers, contract managers and a whole host
of additional support staff who never physically handle
the product. Third parties are usually contracted for a
limited number of years, so there's limited incentive to
invest in tailor-made solutions that can save time and
money. For example, in our warehouse right now, we're
reconfiguring racking which will enable us to fit the new
David XL Green in as little space as possible. At the end
Configurating warehouse space
allows innovative product
designs to be stored more
efficiently
of the day, space is not only expensive, but the system
uses valuable resources to heat and light it."
Maintaining a minimum amount of stock has been key
to meeting more than 98% of their delivery deadlines. If
stock had to be delivered directly from the manufacturer,
lead times would be more than 20 weeks. "In an ideal
world, with accurate forecasts, this would work fine,"
explains Ton. "Take the David Green draught system
for example. Sales are very dependent on things like
the weather. As soon as the first sunshine appears in
a country, customers start thinking about setting up
terraces. In these situations, they want their new draught
installation tomorrow and not in six months. We can
now react to this demand and, in turn, help customers to
maximise their sales."
Reduced Stock Holding
"Because of the globally centralised stock holding, our
stock levels can be kept to a real minimum. Taking the
climate example, if the warm weather comes early in
one country and orders unexpectedly exceed forecasts
unexpectedly, it is just as probable that in another
country, the warm weather is delayed and people don't
order. So more often than not, overall demand stays
quite constant, which means centralised holding enables
us to control our stock more effectively."
With so many different branded versions of HEINEKEN's
draught equipment, this wouldn't work if the David Green
system arrived complete. Every single brand combined
with different variants, such as different voltage
compressors for different markets, would have to be
stocked. To solve this, there is a small assembly area in
the warehouse to put the final installation together with
18 World of HEINEKEN Edition 1 2013
Bringing operations in-house
allows errors to be spotted
easily and early, preventing
them reaching customers
