Johannesburg, 14 Sep 2009
Opsi, a provider of logistics software, today announced that British American Tobacco (BAT) had adopted its FieldForce software for its field personnel optimisation, and that DHL had implemented its PLATO software to handle the dynamic routing that is required for BAT.
Back in 2007, British American Tobacco South Africa (BAT), South Africa's leading manufacturer of cigarettes, began exploring ways to improve delivery to clients by offering direct store sales (DSS) in addition to the existing wholesale service network in South Africa.
The goal of the project was to provide qualifying retailers with a choice of whether to purchase products directly from BAT or to continue to buy products from their existing supplier. Should retailers choose to utilise the DSS service, they would deal directly with a BAT South Africa sales representative, one of a large and established sales force.
BAT spent extensive time and resources researching the various field personnel optimisation solutions that existed in both the local and global marketplaces, with the primary criteria being an extremely stable solution that was easy to use, easy to manage and easy to deploy.
After completing its research, BAT found that Opsi's FieldForce system was ideally suited to handle its requirements, as it met all the criteria that had been laid down by BAT. The system creates routes for the 300+ BAT sales reps nationwide that service the 50 000+ outlets, each of which is visited with a different service frequency.
The routes are planned a month in advance and the results uploaded to the V3 system, which BAT uses to monitor rep calls. FieldForce balances the workload for a rep over a three-month period, while also accommodating compulsory weekly meetings and adhering to nominated order days for certain outlets. FieldForce's reporting engine enables quick access to a variety of important management and statistical information.
DHL is contracted to handle the deliveries and warehouse picking for the DSS service. BAT, together with DHL, selected Opsi's PLATO system to handle the planning, scheduling and routing for this part of the operation.
For example, after the sales reps visit the stores on a Monday (routed via Opsi's FieldForce), they place an order, which is sent to DHL's SAP system and then imported into PLATO to ensure that the deliveries are then made on a Wednesday, a 48-hour turnaround time.
PLATO handles the dynamic routing for DHL's six depots and seven cross-dock locations. Currently, the system is servicing approximately 15 000 stores, although it will eventually service almost 19 000.
Four factors made the original process of aligning the sales rep routes with the DHL routes quite challenging:
* The DHL store universe was smaller than the rep visit universe;
* The time spent at an outlet by a delivery truck and a rep are different;
* DHL had an extra parameter to consider ie, delivery volumes; and
* Rep routes begin at their homes while DHL routes start at a depot.
Opsi was able to complete a nationwide implementation of both FieldForce and PLATO throughout BAT and DHL's national DSS and wholesale service and distribution network in a few months. The platform was integrated in a short time with a number of back-end systems, including the V3 monitoring system on the BAT side, and the SAP ERP system, C-Track tracking system and ZA OPS remote security system on the DHL side.
“With BAT's adoption of FieldForce and DHL's use of PLATO for BAT's distribution optimisation, BAT has been able to overhaul their entire sales and distribution process and offer its products directly to its customers,” commented David Lubinsky, Managing Director of Opsi. “This process has provided stores with more predictable visits and more efficient deliveries of the BAT products.
“The project has enabled both BAT and DHL to streamline their distribution processes; including more efficient routing and more accountability from sales reps. In addition, it has enabled BAT to provide its customers with much better service, and allowed DHL to realise real cost savings through more optimal routing and utilisation of its fleet.”
“The most reassuring part of our relationship with Opsi is its after sales service and support,” concluded Khalil Haddad, Trade Systems Support Manager at BAT. “It is second to none on my list of software providers as a whole. The level of expertise and subject knowledge it has brought to the table to help us on our journey since 2007 has been outstanding and honest.”
FieldForce is Opsi's suite of software that ensures services such as sales and promotions happen on time, that workload is balanced among field marketers, and that the fewest kilometres are travelled in the process.
The PLATO (Planning Logistics and Transport Optimiser) suite of next-generation logistics software is Opsi's enterprise solution for transport planning.
For further information, please contact David Lubinsky: tel 011 880-7951, fax 011 880-2424, e-mail david@opsi.co.za.
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