Tibbett & Britten Times #26 - Hayes Anderson Limited

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6 Technology Tibbett & Britten Times 2003 No.1 PkMS goes live at Debenhams Spectrum for Debenhams – the dedicated Tibbett & Britten UK operation providing logistics services to Debenhams, the country’s largest department store retailer – is implementing a radical change in warehouse management technology. The division is responsible for managing Debenhams' four regional distribution centres with a combined storage area of 120,000 sq m (1.3 million sq ft), and a dedicated transport fleet of 180 trailers. It is also partnering Debenhams in a drive to streamline the retailer's supply chains, including deploying Manhattan Associates' PkMS warehouse management system to improve efficiency and accuracy. This is being piloted at the dedicated Debenhams site located at Daventry in the English Midlands. To deliver a complex set of objectives, Spectrum for Debenhams formed a multi-discipline project team led by Paul Coli, Head of Business Systems. The team shared project management with the customer across a wide range of tasks, including providing high profile communication sessions to the Debenhams business and working with some of the retailer's key managers to ensure that everyone was 'on message'. As well as providing enhanced warehouse operations capability, the PkMS design had to take account of exacting requirements for interfacing to Debenhams' central merchandising system. "We set ourselves a tough target," says Phil Showering, Operations Director at Spectrum for Debenhams, "as we wanted a design that would not only give short term advantages but also provide the platform from which to grow volumes and services in a flexible way. We're happy to say that the Daventry pilot went 'live' right on schedule, with no service interruption at all. Now we're looking forward to rolling out the programme during 2003." Spectrum analysis Spectrum for Debenhams was set up in 1998 to manage logistics services for Debenhams Stores, following their demerger from the Burton Group. Initially Spectrum for Debenhams worked closely with Spectrum for Arcadia (the Burton Group was renamed Arcadia) but now the two Spectrum contracts are wholly separate operating business units within Tibbett & Britten Fashion UK & Ireland. Spectrum for Debenhams supports ’Britain’s favourite department store’ by providing exclusive warehousing and distribution to all 100 outlets in the UK and Ireland. The unit employs 700 people.
Chipping away at property crime Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags can not only boost supply chain efficiency but can also help reduce losses of goods. Already a leading innovator in the application of RFID technology to logistics, Tibbett & Britten worked closely during 2002 with longstanding major customer Unilever and supermarket retailer Safeway on a unique UK Government-sponsored trial that used RFID tags to track merchandise through the supply chain. The ’Chipping of Goods’ initiative, sponsored by the UK Home Office, involved the manufacturer applying tiny electronic chips equipped with aerials to product packaging to provide a permanent and unique identification of the product’s origins and status. Data on the chips may be read or written to using fixed or hand-held readers at strategic points in the supply chain. Encryption guards against counterfeiting, and the chips are resistant to physical damage and harsh environments. Ultimately the tags would be embedded permanently in the product packaging. As part of the initiative, Unilever’s UK home and personal care products company, Lever Fabergé, trial tagged six-packs of Lynx deodorant from its Leeds factory through to the shelves of three Safeway stores in Northern and Central England. The chipped product was monitored at every stage in the supply chain, including the Tibbett & Brittenoperated Unilever national distribution centre at Whitwood, Yorkshire. Web-based tracking, viewable by all parties via secure access screens, was trialled at both pallet level and pack level to the retail distribution centre, and at pack level to the store shelf. The ability to pin-point the location of product at any time is expected to allow even tighter inventory control and further stockholding reductions, boosting the overall efficiency of the supply chain. The Home Office also anticipates that the systematic chipping of goods will reduce the opportunities for theft or counterfeiting, even with small packs of merchandise. Chipping should prove a deterrent to criminals by increasing both the risk of being caught and the difficulty of onwardselling stolen merchandise. Technology Tibbett & Britten Times 2003 No.1 Above: Intelligent tagging meets intelligent logistics: Tibbett & Britten’s RFID trials involve the distribution of six-packs of Lynx deodorant by Lever Fabergé. Below: Palletised chipped product is automatically enrolled on to the system using fixed readers. 7
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Tibbett & Britten Times #26 - Hayes Anderson Limited

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