Historically, outsourcing truck transport to third-party logistics fleets has proved to be a viable business strategy allowing organisations to focus on their core operations. But what happens when a company’s supply chain and transport functions involve multiple independent transporters? Italtile is proving that an integrated supply chain and truck transport management ICT system can leverage impressive business efficiencies.
Italtile manufactures one out of every two tiles, baths and toilets purchased in South Africa. The organisation’s seven factories ship over 2 900 tons per day across South Africa using external transport providers. An integrated supply chain solution was needed for better visibility across all of the group’s operations.
“Supply chain is an organisation’s strength, but it can also be their Achilles heel if it is not managed efficiently,” says James Mason, group IT executive at Italtile Limited.
Italtile recently replaced its traditional, silo-based transport planning with an integrated network planning solution from Inhance Supply Chain Solutions. To date, the solution has helped deliver a turnover increase for Italtile of more than 80% and transport cost savings of more than 20%, states Mason.
At the SAPICS 2024 supply chain management conference, Mason shared the speaker stage with Inhance director Chad Kilian, describing Italtile’s supply chain journey and the eye-opening results being achieved with the help of Inhance’s ICT system.
“In addition to revenue growth, customer service, experience and satisfaction have been enhanced by logistics efficiency,” adds Kilian. “The group’s turnaround time for trucks has been reduced by 53%, improving delivery lead times. Average weight utilisation has been cut by 97.3%.”
Improvements in production and inventory at Italtile since the implementation process of the Inhance solution include a stock turn boost and improved stock demand forecasting and planning with Italtile’s retail stores, plus a reduction in stock-holding and improved stock turns on raw materials, Mason reveals.
“Historically, order planning, load building and transport planning have been treated as separate, independent processes, often approached with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy. However, traditional supply chain models often fall short in addressing the unique complexities of different organisations,” Kilian says.
“Integrated network distribution planning focuses on dismantling the silos between order planning, replenishment, load building and primary and secondary planning. It encompasses the implementation of smart, integrated solutions in multi-drop, less than truckload line-haul operations, leading to more efficient and responsive supply chain networks,” he explains.
The Inhance solution provides business-wide visibility of Italtile’s operations through a logistics control tower that intelligently manages orders from the point of placement through to delivery at the customer. It can dynamically build, plan and allocate least-cost transport routes against service level agreements (SLAs) and manage the order through to delivery. The real-time yard management solution manages the order from the transporter’s arrival through to dispatch, ensuring constant visibility of an order against plan, says Mason.
“In an environment where we are servicing an ever-increasing and splintered customer network, this solution has empowered our staff with the tools they need, enabling the business to further increase throughput to the end customer while reducing our cost to serve,” Mason adds.
Baking in efficiencies and ESG compliance
Italtile’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) improvements have also been achieved as a result of the supply chain integration, says Mason. “Italtile has seen its transporter pool grow by 56%, including black-owned small and medium enterprises. Transporter satisfaction, security and sustainability have been enhanced. With the new systems, staff have been up-skilled and empowered.
“As an organisation committed to minimising its impact on the environment, we are pleased to have reduced carbon emissions as a result of trip optimisation. Furthermore, manual processes and the paper associated with them have also been reduced.”
Continuous improvement is a critical aspect of Italtile’s supply chain journey. “Working with Inhance, the group plans to add auto allocation, electronic proofs of delivery and automated invoicing for a truly autonomous supply chain that will benefit Italtile, its customers, transporters and all stakeholders in its supply chain,” Mason concludes.
FleetWatch readers will no doubt join us in a robust “bravo!” for Italtile and Inhance’s impressive fleet management optimisation initiative. As business information systems advance and supply chains expand globally with enhanced technology-driven management processes, truck fleet operators will have to be fully aligned with rapidly transforming tech and new transformational business operating protocols.
