Saúde materno-infantil em Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil: principais conclusões da comparação dos estudos das coortes de 1982 e 1993

Introduction

Fenix Logistic Services Ltd (FLS) is a third party logistics (3PL) company established in 1994. Their service scope ranges from the fashion and bag retailing industry to toys, cosmetic, wine, high technology product, health food, entertainment, education, textile, art and culture industries etc. FLS has 7 first-class warehouses located in Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan, and Shenzhen. The total area is over 120,000 square feet.
The organization structure for FLS is simple which comprises of four departments: Operation, Customer Service, Account and Inventory. Each department is closely interlinked in order to provide one stop service to their customers.

Before & After Comparison (JIT implementation)

Before applying JIT, the retail shop sales have to constantly stock-take before placing order. These customers of FLS need to invest a huge amount in their product inventory because inventory is the essential part of supply chain. Due to the non-accurate quantity (even over-ship or short ship), higher transportation fee is a must. The lack of a proper replenishment plan will lead to a waste in for storage space in warehouse and retail shop. Last but not least, it is difficult to monitor the overall quantity. The whole process from stock in to replenishment will take 5 to 14 days.
After implementing JIT, auto-replenishment is a convenient way to help the retailers with the inventory. JIT is a good way to reduce the quantity of inventory the client needs to keep on hand, which reduces the carrying costs as well. JIT inventory model reduces the waste of space in the shop premise and helps the client respond more quickly to what its customers need and guarantee the quantity of the stock available. The lead time for JIT takes around 4.5 to 9.5 days from stock in to replenishment.

Key factors for successful JIT
There are four key factors for successful JIT.
First is aligning major client system integration for enhance information sharing within FLS departments. Second, own transportation team is required. Third, should have well planning warehouse Utilization and manpower. Last, maintain the good relationship with client.

Information flow between FLS and client

FLS is the information centre which is link up the client and the retail shop. it creates a flow of information that precedes the goods, accompanies them and follows them. The tasks of order processing are divided into six phases: order transmission, preparation, routing, picking, shipment and invoicing

Daily operation breakdown

System automatically generates and sends replenishment report to the inventory team when the shop stock quantity meets the optimize stock and re-order level set by office. Inventory team on the other hand receives the replenishment reports and then raises order to transportation team. Transportation team will arrange pickup and delivery the next day upon the receipt of the order.


Best Practice: JIT and its advantage

JIT helps the stock to send in the afternoon and deliver in the next morning before the opening of business for the retail shops.
To conclude, it is easier to keep stock count at shop, less time is needed to manage shop stock, and less space for the storage at the shop while creating more space for business.