Famous Brands
Famous Brands Limited is one of the country’s leading franchised quick service restaurant (QSR) organizations. The Group operates three distinct divisions: franchising, logistics and manufacturing. The Franchising Division comprises the group’s brands, namely Steers, Wimpy, Debonairs Pizza, House of Coffees, Brazilian and FishAways. The Manufacturing Division is comprised of a butchery, bakery, sauce plant, and an ice cream ( Baltimore) plant in Gauteng, as well as two ice cream plants and a fruit juice factory in KZN. Currently, the production units in Gauteng each have their own distribution channels with separate fleet operations.
A study was done, by OPSI Systems, to investigate the impact of different alternative distribution channels on the distribution costs of Famous Brands, as well as on the optimal fleet configurations for each of the different distribution channels analysed. Optimal fleet configuration involves determining the correct number and type of vehicles that would lead to efficient and effective logistics activities. Incorrect fleet size and mix leads to under-utilised vehicles, additional costs and sub optimal operations.
The current operation with four distribution channels was analysed to determine an optimal fleet configuration for each of the Famous Brands production units. An overall summary of the fleet structure indicated that vehicle utilisation could be increased from 51.72% to 81.15% by utilising a better configuration of fleet mix and that the number of vehicles used per day could be decreased by approximately 10%.
The next alternative simulated combined the four distribution channels to create one channel. The bakery, butchery, warehouse and Baltimore fleets were combined to form one consolidated fleet, which can service the demand for all goods. In this alternative, the impact of not only combining the four distribution channels into one but also the impact of allowing certain products to be delivered together, was investigated. Through combining the four distribution channels, cost and kilometres driven were greatly reduced, as well as the size of the fleet.
Allowing any product to be transported with any other product can lead to great savings and higher vehicle utilisation levels. This next alternative distribution channel simulated investigated the use of multi-temp vehicles and the impact that using these vehicles have on the optimal fleet configuration as well as the cost of distribution. Through the utilisation of multi-temp vehicles, the size of the fleet could be reduced to between 15% and 20% per day. The total distance travelled could be reduced by roughly 30% and a cost savings of 15% - 20% could be incurred.
OPSI’s routing and scheduling program, FLO, was utilised during this study and is currently being implemented at the Famous Brands Midrand depot.
