OPSI Products Power BAT and DHL in South Africa
BAT is using FieldForce for field
personnel optimization and
DHL is using PLATO to handle
the dynamic routing for BAT
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – 10 January, 2009 : 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 utilize 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 optimization solutions that exist in both the local and global marketplaces. The primary criteria they were looking for was an extremely stable solution that is easy to use, easy to manage and easy to deploy.
After completing their research, BAT found that OPSI Systems' FieldForce system was ideally suited to handle their requirements. The primary criteria they required was for a system that:
Optimally schedules and routes BAT's entire DSS sales force,
defines areas and territories and balances the workload between representatives, routes and schedules using the balanced workload per territory, iImproves customer service levels through on-time service and fewer missed appointments, is extremely stable, easy to use, easy to manage and easy to deploy.
BAT found that OPSI Systems' FieldForce met all of the above criteria. This combined with the winning business model and professionalism offered by OPSI Systems made OPSI Systems along with their FieldForce system the obvious choice to power BAT's DSS supply chain.”
FieldForce creates routes for the BAT sales reps nationwide. There are over 300 reps servicing in excess of 50000 outlets. Each outlet 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 work for a rep over a 3 month period while also fitting in 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 Systems' PLATO to handle the planning, scheduling and routing for this part of the operation.
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 by PLATO. The deliveries are then made by DHL on a Wednesday (a 48-hour turnaround time).
PLATO handles the dynamic routing for DHL's 6 depots and 7 cross-dock locations. Currently, the system is servicing approximately 15,000 stores and will eventually service approximately 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 delivery volumes,
- 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's 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 optimization, BAT has been able to overhaul their entire sales and distribution process and offer its products directly to its customers. 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. All of this has enabled BAT to provide its customers with much better service, and has allowed DHL to realize real cost savings through more optimal routing and utilization of its fleet.
For more information, please contact:
www.opsisystems.com
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About OPSI Systems
Opsi provides a complete transport optimization solution through its suite of platforms, enabling companies to more efficiently design and manage their supply chains. Opsi enables enterprises from a variety of markets, with varying fleet sizes, to manage their vehicle logistics including the planning, scheduling, routing, management and auditing of their fleets with GPS tracking. Opsi’s transport optimization and management solutions have been proven across the globe in real world implementations by leading innovators such as SAB Miller, Coca Cola, Parmalat, DHL, Air Liquide, Diageo, Reckitt Benckiser, Clover, Barloworld, British American Tobacco (BAT), British Petroleum (BP), and many more.
