1886 In May, Coca-Cola first appeared in Jacob's drugstore in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and it has been nearly 1 15 years since then. As a leader and pioneer in the soft drink market, Coca-Cola Company sells well in more than 200 countries and regions around the world through its global distribution system, accounting for 48% of the global soft drink market. However, the huge sales volume cannot be separated from the logistics support behind it. In this issue, we interviewed Ms. Xu, the logistics director of Coca-Cola Asia bottling plant and sales company Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co., Ltd., and listened to her talk about the logistics myth of Coca-Cola in China.
Interviewer: Huang Miaofen, AMT public knowledge base
Can you briefly introduce some of your personal experiences? What experiences left a deep impression on you?
X: I think I am more suitable to work in a foreign company, because foreign companies can give me a big stage to display my talents. My first job in a foreign company was as a production manager and a purchasing manager in Shanghai Intel Nutrition Dairy Co., Ltd. Before joining Shenmei, I worked as a logistics manager in GE Industry and later as a logistics director in Shenmei. Shanghai Intel Nutrition Dairy Co., Ltd. is a European enterprise, and their working methods are very orderly and rigorous. Because it is the production of baby milk powder, the requirements for purchasing quality, quality and environment are very high. I think the training given by the first company is very important. These management experience, training mode and company culture will all affect their future work. In Shenmei, we advocate a passionate culture. Because of the huge scale of the company's operation, the pressure is often great, but I think there is no problem that can't be solved as long as I have a good attitude and optimism. When I first became the logistics director, the first outsourcing was unacceptable to everyone, which caused resistance. So I kept communicating and conveying my thoughts to them. And I also saw many wonderful places in everyone. We commute together in Daiyue. Although it is very hard, it is also very fulfilling. I feel that I have been applauded on my own stage, and my value has been reflected and witnessed.
As we all know, Coca-Cola Company is a global beverage company, with a daily consumption of about 654.38 billion cups. So what is the operation of Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co., Ltd. as its bottling plant and sales company in Asia?
X: I joined Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co., Ltd. on 200 1, and the company's business is in a rapid growth stage. Because coke products are heavy goods and the logistics cost is relatively high, basically every province has bottling plants. Our company's business is mainly concentrated in East China, such as Shanghai, Wuxi and Suzhou, with a sales distribution area of 250 kilometers. In 20001year, the company's sales volume was 66 million TEUs, and in 2005 it reached 65,438+0.5 billion TEUs, increasing by 20% almost every year. At the same time, coke products are labor-intensive and cheap, and logistics costs account for a large proportion. Therefore, how to keep up with the rapid growth of the company's business in modern channel MT and traditional channel GT (modern channel MT refers to hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc.). ; Traditional channels GT are mostly dealers, wholesalers and traditional shops. In addition, the rapid growth of the company's business includes not only carbonated drinks, but also non-carbonated drinks such as fruit juice and tea. From about 2003, non-carbonated drinks began to rise. For example, some domestic brands, such as Uni-President, Master Kong, Nongfu Spring and other non-carbonated drinks have increased, and Coca-Cola Company has successively developed a variety of non-carbonated drinks such as Queer, Fruit Orange, Tea Research Workshop, Nestle Lemon Tea and Nestle Ice Pole. Therefore, non-carbonated drinks are basically from scratch, growing at a rate of 50% every year; Although carbonated drinks have a history of 100 years abroad, they have been growing rapidly since they entered China, and now the growth rate is 8%- 10%. At present, carbonated drinks account for about 60% of our company's business, and non-carbonated drinks account for about 40%.
I heard that your company's logistics system has been outsourced, so what made you decide to outsource? What is your outsourcing model?
X: Because our business is very large, our business is divided into two parts: inside and outside the city. The city refers to the Shanghai area, and there are five areas outside the city: Wuxi, Suzhou, Nantong, Jiaxing and Changshu, and the sales volume inside and outside the city accounts for 50% respectively. In addition, we also have a large barrel of water business, that is, 5 gallons of water, which started from scratch around 2002 and reached the sales volume of 4.5 million barrels in 2005, and the business grew very rapidly.
Due to the particularity of the beverage industry, the sales difference between our products in the off-season and the peak season is very large, which is five times. In addition, the order volume of each day in the peak season is also very different, which is difficult to grasp. Our peak season is mainly concentrated in June, July, August, September and Spring Festival. In these five months, we are in full swing like a battlefield here, but the products are often shipped too late, and the pressure of logistics is very great. Our customers are: under normal circumstances, delivery within 24 hours in the city and 48 hours outside the city. Therefore, with the rapid growth of business, the company's logistics is bound to continue to follow up and develop through strategic adjustment and outsourcing mode.
When 0 1 joined, it was found that there were often problems such as lack of cars and insufficient loading channels in the peak season, which led to the failure to send orders on time. So two 10000 square meters of new warehouses and two fast loading lanes have increased the loading capacity of the original 120000- 150000 boxes/day to the current 400000 boxes/day. And the loading efficiency is greatly improved. At the same time, the difference between off-season and peak season also caused a lot of management costs and labor costs, so I decided to outsource logistics. Have you encountered any difficulties and challenges during your trip?
Xu: At first, I planned to outsource all the logistics of the company to a logistics supplier, so I made a bid. At that time, many large logistics companies bid. Although their bidding is very good, these third-party logistics companies can't meet our very high requirements in terms of product delivery time, quick response, receiving requirements, cost management, etc. In the end, the bidding ended in failure.
Then I decided to change my strategy and implement a decentralized outsourcing strategy. Outside the city, we choose local transporters to bid and train them in business operation. Because our business is very large, we will find a carrier in each region and share the logistics pressure with these five carriers. Not only that, because the transporters are familiar with their local markets, we outsource the local urban distribution, inventory management and trunk transportation to them, sell their local cars to them, and give them specific training in the operation methods of warehouse management, local urban distribution and trunk transportation, so that they can implement them according to Coca-Cola's process and healthy environment indicators, and even let them use our company's information management system to make information transparent, and the central government will control orders in various regions.
On the other hand, in terms of logistics distribution in Shanghai, I can proudly say that we are basically one of the largest logistics distribution companies in Shanghai. The company has 65,438+000 Iveco cars with Coca-Cola advertisements. These vehicles are mainly used to transport more than 8,000 customers such as supermarkets, restaurants, Internet cafes and schools. Because these customers have small orders and high order frequency, a car should run at least 3-4 cars a day in the peak season. Besides Jinqiao, we also have a 28,000-square-meter warehouse and two loading lanes. There are three warehouses in the city for distribution, forming a very dense distribution network to better meet the needs of Coca-Cola customers.
For the whole vehicle business, Shenmei's own vehicles are mainly configured according to the off-season sales, so in the peak season, we outsource the redundant business to ten transporters to reduce costs and meet the transportation capacity.
In a word, our outsourcing model is still very successful. Its own labor cost and management cost are also greatly reduced. Over the years, I feel that the cooperation between the two sides is very pleasant. Everyone complements each other. They cherish their cooperation with us, and I always feel that their success is also our success.
After logistics outsourcing, how do you evaluate the outsourcer?
X: Since the implementation of the outsourcing model, we have been evaluating external contractors every month. The evaluation indexes are: timely loading rate, timely receiving rate and timely return rate. And we will rank according to the evaluation results, so that outsourcers can compete with each other and learn from each other.
You mentioned before that Shenmei manages orders, customers and products through IT system, so can you talk about the informationization of your company?
Xu: With the continuous growth of the company's business, in order to improve the management efficiency, the company has established BASIS system, which implements centralized control and updates every hour for 24 hours. All data and information are transparent and constantly improved during operation. The system is designed by Coca-Cola for bottling plants all over the world, and is suitable for internal use in each bottling plant. It is very flexible and powerful. The system includes customer management, credit status, collection status, price management and channel management. Among them, logistics mainly includes inventory management, order delivery and completion. In addition, we also have an automatic dispatching module combined with electronic map, and the system will automatically give the most reasonable delivery route, the shortest time, the most suitable weight and the shortest distance according to the position of the order. And the distribution efficiency is greatly improved.
Of course, when informatization went online, we also encountered some resistance because employees were not used to it. However, with the gradual increase of business, employees also feel the advantage of quick results of the system.
With the gradual maturity of this outsourcing model, what are your plans for the future?
X: Indeed, our framework has been set up at present, and I will focus on internal management next. Rely on management to improve work efficiency and enrich and improve our framework.
Take the bonus system as an example. After I joined the company, I set up a bonus system for drivers, and assessed the driver's work efficiency through indicators such as delivery volume, number of customers and kilometers. After each trip, the driver's workload will be input into the system, and the system will conduct statistical accounting according to the corresponding proportion to determine the driver's monthly bonus income. After the implementation, our drivers' initiative and work efficiency have been greatly improved. We are also constantly improving according to the actual situation.
Under your strategy and management, Shenmei's logistics model can be said to be very successful, so what do you think of the development of logistics outsourcing in China?
Xu: At present, China's aviation, shipping and railway transportation are relatively mature, but the inland automobile transportation industry is relatively immature. Due to vicious competition, the profit of this industry is getting lower and lower, and the overload situation is serious. I think an industry standard and a unified management department are needed to restrain and manage this industry.