ByBox Supply chain operations saves thousands of pounds

STREAMLINING SUPPLY CHAIN SAVES THOUSANDS OF HOURS

Increasing productivity by reviewing traditional supply chain operations and outsourcing more warehousing functions can save businesses thousands of pounds a week.

ByBox, the UK’s leading market leading supply chain solution specialist, has revealed that integrating its services into its clients’ operations has enabled them to save significant sums on stock holding, transportation costs, outgoings relating to stock holding such as warehousing and offices, and personnel costs due to decreased warehousing needs.

By analysing a number of recent projects for clients where they have helped modernise operational practices, increase productivity and lower overheads on outgoings, ByBox believes it could save up to 20,000 man hours per week across its customer base – or more than 1 million hours per year.

Equating that to a cost of £50 an hour for a customer’s engineer in the field, could result in more than £50 million being added to the bottom line of its customers each year.

ByBox operates with an unrivalled network of more than 18,000 secure drop-boxes at over 1,200 locations across the UK. It guarantees a pre-8am service for clients, ensuring their goods are delivered to the prescribed location in time for employees – often field operatives like engineers and salesmen – to collect them and get on with appointments rather than losing time waiting around for deliveries of vital parts and stock to arrive.

"Through working closely with our clients, getting under their skin as it were, to find out exactly how they operate, we can help identify where time and efficiency savings can be made in relation to stock holding and the order and distribution process," said ByBox CEO Stuart Miller.

"We are looking to save time for engineers or members of a sales team out in the field as well as increase overall productivity for a firm. Research we have done already through a number of recent projects of this nature has shown there are huge savings to be made through working with ByBox in this way, making the most of the services we can offer and allowing a client to cut back on some of their own operations. The investment pays for itself quickly. However, while we can help give the time back to a business, we cannot guarantee how that time is used to best effect."

Innovative projects for specific clients have included:

Providing engineers with a ByBox-hosted website so they can place an order, which is then picked and packed by the client and does not require any subsequent involvement by them in the supply chain process. It allows the engineers to specify where they are to be delivered and track and trace their movement through the supply chain to this point.

Integrating a web portal directly with the IT systems of a client’s suppliers to enhance efficiency, speed up delivery and reduce process duplication.

Integrating and adapting additional "plug-in" ByBox services into the supply chain, such as pick, pack, despatch and return details on a single document to save on paperwork

Box2Box™ – an advanced cost-saving exercise whereby shipment of goods takes place from one engineer’s box to another without going back through a client’s warehouse

ByBox BlackStripe™ – single label tracking which enables customers to track stock out and back. This solution is particularly useful for swap-out and warranty products.

Today, ByBox process around 1 million BlackStripe™ transactions per year, saving its customers millions of pounds through reducing stock loss and maximising warranty claims

Offering a text message service to notify recipients once an item is delivered into their box.

Undertaking a weekly health check to verify everything is running smoothly.

The resulting systems have helped boost productivity, reducing stock levels, increasing supply chain visibility and saving time in parts procurement.

Processes that previously all attracted a cost – storage, picking, packing, shipping and collection – have been streamlined. A client’s need to hold vast amounts of stock has been minimised by ByBox keeping its own supply of a clients goods so they can directly pick and dispatch them. This both speeds up the process and allows a customer to make use of smaller premises, again saving money.

And the full-visibility tracking system allows returned items to be followed in retail time so none are "lost" but can be reintegrated into the system from drop-boxes, cutting the risk of over-stocking. This has the added advantage of helping a customer comply with WEEE regulations to dispose responsibly of certain goods.

ByBox Ltd is the UK leader in-night parts distribution with an estimated two thirds market share representing around 20 million deliveries a year and a turnover in 2008 of £28 million.

Founded in 2000, ByBox specialises in the development, delivery and support of an extensive range of distribution platforms and supply chain solutions for organisations operating large mobile field teams.
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