A mainstream eye-care retailer with 400+ outlets nationwide needed to transform its
supply chain to reduce costs and increase reliability.
Without expertise in-house, they asked Alium to help them find an
interim Logistics Director to review existing manufacturing, procurement, warehousing, and service stocking levels and locations. The
interim management executive quickly discovered a number of issues: too many products, too much stock being held and suppliers being sourced across the business. He recommended shrinking the warehouse so that it focused solely on sorting and distribution, rather than acting as a major storage facility. This reduced stocking capacity by 50%, cut the need to sub-let space (resulting in a saving of £600,000 pa) and reduced inventory gradually by up to £4 million. He focused on forming partnerships with preferred suppliers negotiated at CEO level, while product marketing assumed responsibility for the purchasing function and inventory of supplied products.