working life - Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics

is a vision of possibility for WWL. In fact, so successful
has the company been in delivering innovative
logistics solutions that Ford Australia recently gave
WWL membership of its family of elite suppliers.
ThE FOrD mOTOr COmpANy in Australia awarded
WWL a 2006 Ford Supplier Excellence Silver Award
that recognises “suppliers who not only achieve the
highest levels of cost, quality and delivery, but also
who embrace the vision to build on Ford’s legacy and
drive innovation to new heights”.
Sam Casabene, Vice President Purchasing, Ford
Motor Company Australia explains that WWL won the
prestigious accolade because it had been proactive in
the technological and planning aspects of sea transportation
and during 2006 piloted a key supply chain
program with Ford Australia.
“During 2006 Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics
saving FoRd time and money
“Ford immediately liked the look of
the ‘Right Car, Right Port’ proposal
so much they asked us to implement
a pilot programme.”
piloted a programme with Ford Australia called ‘Right
Car, Right Port’,” says Casabene. “This programme
provides the ability to change destination at origin or
in transit and reduces land-based transfer costs within
Australia. This obviously reduces logistics costs and
provides flexibility for Ford and its dealers to meet
changing vehicle supply and demand in Australia.”
Designed to build some flexibility into the Ford supply
chain after a vehicle has left production, the ‘Right
Car, Right Port’ logistics solution directly tackles the
problem that once a car is manufactured it is immediately
assigned to a discharge port. Currently, should
the final point of sale of a vehicle differ to its discharge
port, logistics time and money is lost by trucking vehicles
by road across Australia to the final point of sale.
ThE ‘rIghT CAr, rIghT pOrT’ solution instead monitors
the progress of a vehicle through the supply chain
from the time it leaves the factory in South Africa
(and in the future potentially Asia and Europe), right
through to the port of discharge and arrival in Australia.
The solution assigns the correct port of discharge,
should this differ from the original instruction, just
prior to the vessel arriving in Australia.
The innovative approach allows WWL to coordinate
the discharge of other shipping lines servicing Ford
Australia, to potentially discharge vehicles earlier or
later than first intended – helping to reduce the need
and cost of inland transportation.
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has been a Ford
supplier for many years, offering its full range of
logistics capabilities and moving tens of thousands
of vehicles for Ford Australia such as imports from
Europe to all major Australian ports. However, the
prestigious supplier excellence award was the direct
result of a request from Ford Australia for WWL to act
as consultants in a supply chain evaluation project.
“We recommended several changes and Ford immediately
liked the look of the ‘Right Car, Right Port’ proposal
so much they asked us to implement a pilot programme
together with them,” recalls Craig Heron, Business Development
Manager at the time, who headed the project.
He underlines the project has been a joint effort
between Ford Australia and the WWL Oceania Commercial
and Logistics team, supported by IS&T.
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