With an investment of Rs.15 crores and spread over an area of 115,000 sq.ft, Future Supply Chain (FSC) Solutions Limited, India’s first fully integrated IT enabled end-to-end supply chain solutions provider launched its first food and FMGC distribution centre (DC) at Lonad in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra with an aim of attaining at least 95 per cent of fill rates and bringing down the shrinkage rate of products to zero in the food & FMCG category. The DC will handle all major brands like Staples, F&V, Future Group’s private brand products and other FMCG brands handled by Future Supply Chain’s own distribution services arm for modern trade.
The newly-integrated DC is not only well-equipped with latest technology but also clubbed with expertise of warehousing operations with swift and active transportation. With the new DC, FSC will also bring in optimum operational efficiency to boost up quality maintenance, accuracy and timely delivery of products to the particular retail stores. This will result in increasing in the sale figures of the brands and also popularising retail stores.
“The new DC demonstrates the best in supply chain management with new set of hardware and software integration. The new equipments and technology will address the need of improving efficiency resulting in the dynamic growth of retail sector in India. This first of a kind offering which integrates the supply chain from vendor to retailer furthers the mission of FSC to reduce uncertainty and manage variability for the purpose of increasing the sales and profitability of all our customers,” said Anshuman Singh, MD and CEO, Future Supply Chains Solutions Limited. He further added that the improvement in the technological field will now provide online real time visibility across all legs of ‘store’ and ‘move’ in the supply chain cycle that will help customers take informed decisions.
What is so unique about the DC? Unlike other DC’s, the our new DC will have the‘store’ leg at the centre itself. Several other technologies and software applications have been integrated to ensure highest accuracy in sorting of products and packaging them in a short span of time. A back-end ERP (enterprise resource planning) has also been integrated with a world class Warehouse Management System (WMS) that works seamlessly with ‘Put To Light’ (PTL) sortation system that is first of its kind in India. With the help of WMS, there will be complete visibility of inventory in the warehouse , thus improving the productivity and order fulfillment.
To ensure generation and availability of the right products of right quantity for the consignments given by stores, an automatic replenishment system (ARS) has been fixed so that the items can be put on the right shelves and when required can be acquired easily. Unlike traditional systems, ARS works on actual demand, considering shelf stock, base stock level and past sales trend. Instead of manual order generation, ARS triggers replenishment orders automatically to the nearest DC for stores. Other initiatives like stock aging analysis, increasing use of cross-docking and packaging standardisation will also improve the inventory turnover and reduce markdowns and stock-outs.
“We have even implemented a unique secure guaranteed on time in-full floor ready (SGOTIFF) practice. This ensures that the store personnel do not have to manage any supply chain at their end. As the goods reach a particular store, the store personnel should not face any kind of complexity in managing the products packed in boxes. In order to attain this, roll cages have been deployed to take the merchandise from the store to the racks where the goods need to be placed without causing any damage or pilferage during transit. The store personnel just needs to place the boxes or the products on the designated shelves,” added Singh. He further said that trucks have also been particularly designed with tail lifts for easy loading and unloading of roll cages at the centre and the stores.
A total of 10,000 cases are packed and transported to different outlets on a daily basis from FSC’s new distribution centre. FSC, now plans to come up with seven more distribution centres in the country within the next 12-15 months. The company expects to obtain a revenue of Rs.600-650 crores from their new launch by the end of the financial year.
– Nivedita Jayaram Pawar
