Successful DC Migration for High Street Fashion Retailer
CHALLENGE
Our client was a household name in the UK fashion retail sector. They had appointed a new third-party logistics operator to take control of their UK distribution operations meaning they needed to exit their existing facility in a timely and controlled way.
In order to exit the current site in a cost effective manner, a deal had been agreed with a new tenant for the existing site that meant they needed to occupy the facility precisely in line with the timescales for our client exiting, making for a very time sensitive transition programme. There was also a requirement to oversee change in business operating systems as the in-house operation was operated with a different IT system from the third-party logistics operator. In addition, the process needed to be managed with sensitivity as it meant existing colleagues’ jobs were at risk.
APPROACH
Our approach to this task was to provide a great mix of operational and solution expertise aligned to highly organised project planning methodologies. We set about ensuring that stakeholder management was carried out effectively, and this was to be a fundamental tenet of our activity through the programme. Project stakeholders came from a broad spectrum of departmental areas including Operations; IT; Legal; HR; Purchasing; Inventory, QA and Finance.
We set out to ensure that within both the in-house operation and the contractor that the right people were engaged at the right time, to seamlessly deliver this migration.
ACTIONS
We took strong control of the project from word go. We put in place tried and tested, robust project control methodologies to ensure that all necessary stakeholders and team members were involved in the process from the outset. We set in place regular communication processes and timely meeting schedules to ensure the right people we’re doing the right things at the right time, keeping a tight grip on working schedules.
We reviewed the operational proposals from the third-party operator, challenged them and tested them to ensure that they were fit for purpose and will deliver the expected results for the client. We also added significant value to the process by developing clear operational guidelines for both the existing and new sites.
RESULT
The operational migration from the existing in-house site to the new third party operator was delivered precisely to schedule. The new operation was stocked and tested ready for go live and all e-commerce and retail orders were picked and dispatched from day one with no delays or impact to store or customer service. The client achieved its objectives to minimise its liabilities on its existing building as well as optimise it inventory and processes whilst going through transition.
As a result of the success of this programme our were then subsequently retained to manage the implementation of three discrete additional new facilities in our client’s network and allwere delivered successfully on time to expectation.