Roaster Sara Lee and Molenbergnatie, the well known warehousing and logistics company, have signed a contract that will see Molenbergnatie manage green coffee supplies for almost all of Sara Lee’s 10 coffee facilities in Europe, a move that Sara Lee believes will save it millions of Euros in transportation costs and enable it to reduce the overall volume of green coffee it holds in warehouses around Europe, thus providing further cost savings.
January 2008 C&CI Sara Lee and Molenbergnatie sign the ECCT deal with, from left to right: Maarten Lemstra, CFO Decotrade; Francis Veldeman, CEO Molenbergnatie; Rudolf Schwab, Managing Director Decotrade.
The deal for the new ‘European Central Coffee Terminal (ECCT)’ concept was signed in November on behalf of Sara Lee by Rudolf Schwab, Managing Director Decotrade Switzerland (which is responsible for Sara Lee’s green coffee buying), and Francis Veldeman, CEO Molenbergnatie. They signed the contract at the Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
As Decotrade’s International Logistics Manager Theo Goutier explained, towards the end of 2006, Sara Lee issued a tender for a single contractor to manage its entire logistics chain for green coffee, seeking a more centralized process that would support its various facilities more efficiently and more cost effectively. Prior to the deal with Molenbergnatie, each of Sara Lee’s facilities co-ordinated its own supply, through 12 different ports in Europe, each with an inland terminal close by for container storage.
The idea for the ECCT concept arose during discussions with the short-listed candidates for the contract. Molenbergnatie, who had teamed with Paul Guse Transport & Logistik in Bremen, Germany, and Manuport in Antwerp in The Netherlands, offered Sara Lee a ‘single point of contact’ solution which it was evident could provide Sara Lee with significant cost savings.
At the request of Sara Lee, Barge Company Amsterdam (part of Ter Haak Group) was added to this line up in order to further optimize the concept, in order to further reduce the number of main ports that would be required. Antwerp (Manuport Container Terminal) and Amsterdam (Ter Haak) were selected as the central warehousing locations for containers. Implementation of the ECCT concept got under way in the spring of 2007 with Molenbergnatie, Sara Lee and Decotrade working closely with each facility, and all of the required logistics providers.
Vessels from South America, Asia and Africa were re-directed to the chosen main ports, and on July 3rd the first containers were shipped via the new set-up to Sara Lee’s three Benelux factories and one in Spain. The ECCT concept was rolled out progressively to include all of Sara Lee’s other roasting plants in Europe, a process that was completed by the end of 2007.
As Mr Goutier explained, even though the ECCT concept makes use of fewer ports, all of Sara Lee’s facilities can still be reached in 24 hours, even if changes need to be made to the supply plans, and Molenbergnatie can react quickly using stocks owned by Sara Lee in the ECCT logistics chain or using generic stocks of green coffee held in the Antwerp area or elsewhere in Europe, in order to supply the required quantity and quality to all of Sara Lee’s facilities.
Mr Goutier said Sara Lee believes that implementing the ECCT concept could reduce Sara Lee’s transportation costs by 20 per cent, and will take 20 million ton/kilometres per year off the road by end of 2007. "With average dwell time of containers significantly reduced, Sara Lee is now in a position to reduce its total stock by some 20-30 per cent during 2008," Mr Goutier concluded.
Source: C&CI january 2008