CGT Inside News - 2/1/2006

February 1, 2006 - In an effort to support its logistics operations and the associated storage complexity, Nestle USA partners with Tom Zosel Associates (TZA), the provider of cost-cutting solutions for distribution environments, to design a distribution best practices program. TZA began examining Nestle USA's operations at the start of January 2006 to develop recommendations aimed at sharpening operational efficiency. The implementation of the distribution best practices program is expected to enable Nestle to identify hidden operational costs and further improve service and accuracy.

"We carefully selected providers to find the best fit for our operational requirements. TZA has a strong track record in the food and beverage industry and we are confident that their considerable experience in multiple distribution environments will enable us to optimize our Distribution Centers without major capital expenditures" says Steve Papke, Director of Operations.

The program will kick off with a structured plan to compare processes in all warehousing stages of Nestle's distribution operations, including receiving, put-away and replenishment, case picking, pallet picking, loading and shipping. Leveraging identified workflow processes with industry practices, TZA will develop and implement a distribution optimization program focused on reducing equipment and labor costs while improving storage capacity and throughput. A review of the WMS functionality, including analysis of inventory levels and turns, SKU counts, order profile by product line, current layout and slotting methodologies will further minimize operational costs by improving productivity and order accuracy while reducing order fill times, cycle times and product damage.