| Imagine
you are a building contractor and in front of you is a RM
200-million construction project that you need to make sure
completes on-time. You need to source for cement. Which manufacturer
do you choose to purchase from?
You will consider price. Next, good quality cement is a must.
After all, you don’t want cracks in your walls 6 months
down the road.
Beyond these two basic requirements, how about delivery reliability?
If you ask for cement tomorrow, will you get it on time? This
is a critical question for you. If you don’t get your
cement delivery on-time, you still will have to pay your constructions
workers, even if they have no work to do. Or even worse, construction
may have to be halted and schedules delayed. All in all, this
is going to cost you. You need to be sure your cement delivery
takes place on time, so you call your cement distributor for
confirmation of your delivery. If you get a quick answer and
a clear commitment, you know you have just received good customer
service. If you get sustained commitment from your cement
distributor, that makes you a loyal purchaser.
CIMA'S CHALLENGE
CIMA commands a strong market presence with two strategically
located plants in Peninsular Malaysia. The marketing activities
on its two brand names, the 'Blue Lion' brand and the 'NS
Cement' brand are made more efficient in reaching the consumers
through its extensively developed distribution networks of
marketing offices and packing depots throughout the country.
A customer-driven company, CIMA recognized that distribution
logistics can be a crucial differentiator in the market. For
this reason, CIMA took a deep look at its operations, and
decided to improve customer
service and delivery reliability for a greater competitive
advantage compared to other cement manufacturers.
CIMA also had an existing distribution management system which
provided transactional-level information. This was useful
to query or update the status of a transaction such as a delivery
order. However, it did not provide adequate real-time business
intelligence critical for CIMA to be able to make the right
business decisions at the right time. For this reason, CIMA
was also looking for a solution that would readily complement
its existing systems.
THE SOLUTION
In order to realize the vision of improving customer service
levels and delivery reliability, CIMA decided to invest in
a solution that would effectively and efficiently power its
new supply chain structure. After an extensive review of supply
chain management solutions on the market, CIMA selected Maestro
Solutions to deploy its flagship product, the optimalOne™
Supply Chain Management suite of solutions.
CIMA required real-time visibility into the entire order fulfillment
cycle. From order-entry through to inventory visibility, sourcing,
allocation and delivery scheduling, CIMA needed the right
tools to quickly adapt to market conditions, product demand,
and operational disruptions.
Maestro’s focus on supply chain visibility, collaboration
and optimization, was a perfect fit for CIMA.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
CIMA decided to have optimalOne implemented across
its operations through a phased rollout approach, which included
the integration of optimalOne with CIMA’s existing systems.
CIMA’s endeavour to increase collaboration and visibility
between all participants of the supply chain, was also coupled
by CIMA's willingness to share critical information with their
partners. This meant connecting together CIMA’s network
of distributor and transporter partners, with internal operations
such as the Central Command unit, factories, depots and sales
& marketing offices onto optimalOne, across vast geographical
locations.
The first step taken by CIMA in the implementation, was the
organisational switch from regional-based order-processing
to centralised order-processing. The new Central Command unit
was the first part of CIMA’s operations to utilize optimalOne,
for orders to be more effectively distributed from CIMA’s
factories to various depots and customers.
optimalOne was subsequently rolled out on a weekly basis to
each of the factories, depots, and through to CIMA’s
transporter and distributor partners.
The rollout of optimalOne across 60 geographical locations
to over 400 active users was rapid and seamless for CIMA.
The entire project was completed and rolled out in under 10
months, and optimalOne was able to quickly empower the right
people, with the right information, at the right time.
THE BENEFITS
The benefits quickly became apparent. Order processing time
was reduced significantly. Orders were more effectively distributed
to the various depots, taking into account not only the traditional
consideration of distance to the customer, but also order
urgency, stock-levels, depot congestion and transportation
availability. CIMA could also react much quicker to changing
market conditions and disruptions such as silo breakdown.
The critical information shared between CIMA and its network
of distributors, transporters extended benefits of optimalOne
beyond CIMA and through to CIMA’s supply chain. Benefits
included significant reduction in phone calls, increased delivery
reliability, and greater customer service.
“After the introduction of optimalOne, phone calls were
really eliminated” – Pn. Nor Hayati Abdul Hamid,
Finance Manager, Aroma Zaman Sdn Bhd.
“We saw the delivery system become more efficient, and
we realized everyone was acting on information from optimalOne”
– Chua See Hing, General Manager, Perniagaan & Pengangkutan
Chin Hin Sdn Bhd.
CIMA’s distributors can now submit orders electronically
via the web, and receive real-time status updates regarding
their orders. They now know to-the-minute when their order
is approved, assigned to a depot, and delivered. This enables
them to provide delivery commitments with confidence to their
customers.
“We can monitor when the delivery leaves the factory.
With this information we can commit to our clients. This kind
of commitment is very crucial in the construction business,
because the laborers are paid by the hour. If you can commit
that kind of precise timing, this will actually save these
people a lot of money.” - Mansor Mohd Kassim, Managing
Director, Aroma Zaman Sdn Bhd.
Transporters can now instantly see when orders are available
for pick-up by their lorries and the lorry destinations. This
enables them to plan their fleet much more effectively, saving
time and money for them and CIMA.
As for CIMA, planners now have unprecedented visibility into
their operations. This means a CIMA distribution planner in
Petaling Jaya can see graphically the factory situation in
Bukit Ketri, Perlis, or anywhere else for that matter. Silo-inventory,
available lorries, depot congestion and available lorries
are a click-and-view away. Real-time reports further enrich
the quality of information available to CIMA planners. All
this greatly improves CIMA’s ability to meet their goal
of cement delivery on-time, every time.
THE FUTURE
“When we chose Maestro
Solutions and optimalOne, we knew it was the best solution,
and we are proud of the results." Dato' Rosli Sharif,
Managing Director, CIMA
Since the successful completion of this first project, CIMA
is presently implementing additional products from the optimalOne
SCM suite to other areas of its operations.
CIMA will continue to embark on value-added activities with
Maestro Solutions, and is confident that optimalOne will provide
CIMA and its partners with the winning edge in the cement
industry.
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