Astracast is a subsidiary of Jacuzzi UK plc. a leading brand name in bathroom and kitchen equipment and accessories.

Astracast manufactured and distributed kitchen sinks and accessories from their plant at Birstall [near Leeds] with key customers being household names in DIY retail and trade outlets.

In early 2005 a new Warehouse Management System [WMS] was introduced following a year long project but serious customer service and staff morale problems had arisen when flaws in the new processes were revealed under live conditions.

G L Edwards Ltd. were approached to provide solutions to these problems and Gwilym Edwards provided expertise and experience to the daily management of the warehouse and distribution activities.

The key requirements were to get the operation to focus on resolving all customer service issues and for the warehouse to function effectively. 

Priority was given to
 
Bringing customer service levels into line with the agreed KPI's.
Resolving the issues relating to the flaws in the methodology supporting the WMS.
Reconfiguring the warehouse racking layout and storage of product.
Re-establishing staff morale and effective communication with other departments.

With the customer service and other issues back under control the remit was reviewed and Gwilym was asked to develop a Head of Logistics role with the key task of improving the internal supply chain for components to the manufacturing plant.

Working closely with the supply chain manager and manufacturing manager Gwilym developed new procedures that resulted in a tighter control of the flow of components into manufacturing and improved stock control for completed manufactures.

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In 2008 G L Edwards Ltd was re-engaged by Jacuzzi UK to plan and execute the project to relocate the Astracast operation from the Birstall facility to the main Jacuzzi UK warehouse in Bradford.

The MD and Operations Director for Jacuzzi UK were tasked by the Parent board in the USA to deliver a significant reorganisation and rationalisation strategy programme.

The key objectives of the business plan were,

• To dovetail the Astracast relocation plan with the layout reconfiguration project that was to take place at the Bradford manufacturing and distribution plant.
  
  Ensure that there was no interruption to daily operations.

The relocation project covered the co-ordination of dismantling and reconstruction of the APR, transfer of > 4k pallets of stock and components, all MHE & packing equipment and 50 plus staff.

All objectives were met in full, on time and on budget.

Case study HMV

HMV Guernsey is the e-commerce division of global music, DVD and games retailing giant HMV Group plc.

In 2005 HMV responded to the growth in popularity of online retailing for home entertainment products by opening a new fulfilment centre on Guernsey.

Opening in August the new fulfilment centre began to struggle to keep up with demand. This was due to a combination of inexperienced local management and staff, and some fundamental flaws in the core operating processes.

As the peak season got underway Gwilym Edwards of G L Edwards Ltd was approached to provide managerial expertise to eliminate the backlog of orders and ensure that all customer orders were despatched in line with industry standards.

Gwilym brought organisational experience to the fulfilment operation. By applying effective management and supervisory practices, target driven activity measurement, and reorganising the daily routines and supervisory tasks the backlog was eliminated.

Once the operation had achieved its primary goal [on time / in full despatches] Gwilym convened a series of workshops with heads of departments and key people from

IT
Web marketing
Group purchasing
Bought Ledger
Retail stores Logistics
Reverse Logistics

to ensure that an effective change programme was planned that would ensure that forecast higher volumes of demand could be met.

The E commerce director had been tasked by the board to massively increase the capacity at the Guernsey site over a three to five year period.

The workshops that Gwilym chaired and the outputs from them were the foundation for the development required to ensure that the challenging business target could be delivered.

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In the Autumn of 2006 G L Edwards Ltd. was re-engaged by HMV and Gwilym provided oversight to the daily operation of the fulfilment centre and the CRM department [London based offices partly in house / partly sub contracted] for a six month period.

The various improvement projects that Gwilym had previously instigated for that year had been brought into effect, or in some cases were WIP [e.g. the installation of automated packing machines, a postal sorter and ongoing software changes].  Gwilym ensured that effective project management was delivered for these and other smaller aspects of that years' package of improvement projects.

Throughout that peak season records for daily output [volume and value] were repeatedly broken. 

Post Christmas the next phase of the long term development programme was readied and Gwilym advised on the appointment of specialist consultants and advised on the development of a detailed, significant capital expenditure programme.

In addition he planned and delivered a full mentoring programme for the incoming head of e-commerce operations.

All objectives were met in full, on time and on budget. 

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