WAREHOUSING FIT FOR THE FUTURE
RABEN GROUP
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“ We ' re building some profiles already ; the behaviour of customers , the risk of traffic jams or changing the routes of the trucks , all based on historical data . But this is still only a pilot . Based on information we ' re already collecting we can build more and more effective way of making deliveries and we have made investment in this area , but we ’ re probably still one or two years away .”
WAREHOUSING FIT FOR THE FUTURE
Raben Group boasts more than 1,150,000 m2 of diversified warehousing space , which are adjusted to suit specific requirements . Some 83 of its warehouses are designed for food and non-food products , ADR goods , goods from the automotive sector , electronics ( white goods ) and oils . The company has stated that long-term , the objective is to implement the RedPrairie software ( a JDA product ) at all its locations
On the organisation ’ s warehousing operations , Pawlak says : “ Flexibility is hugely important ; we have to be able to control our warehouses and be able to accommodate a wide variety of goods . So , for example , we take big consignments of motorbikes from BMW in Berlin directly into our warehouses and distribute them to customers both inside and outside of Europe . That is certainly one of our strengths .
“ We would also consider food to be a real specialism of ours , which is really strictly controlled . We have a company called Fresh Logistics that is dedicated to the food logistics , so that ’ s the supply chain , temperature control , storage , etc . We have to be really efficient because a lot of food has quite a short product life . A day might not seem like a long time , but if a product only has a shelf life of seven to 10 days , then it ’ s a significant percentage , so the system and delivery have to be 100 % right .”
In the short-term , Pawlak says the business and , indeed , the industry faces two-real challenges – the ongoing effort to recruit the right talent and adhering to new legislation . But with a richly experienced team backed by a $ 1bn organisation , Raben Group is in a great position to continue to thrive in the logistics space .
JULY 2018