At last week’s 25th annual Logistics Achiever Awards, Imperial Logistics shared the spotlight with its clients as they collected kudos – in the form of one gold and three silver awards – for projects that are driving the competiveness of several of the country’s leading blue chip organisations. This event honours South African companies for logistics and supply chain excellence.
An intervention that solved problems in SA Breweries’ (SAB’s) below-the-line value chain netted the beer giant – together with Imperial Logistics group company Resolve – a gold award. Imperial Logistics chief integration officer Cobus Rossouw elaborates: “Increases in customer satisfaction, production and order fulfilment are just some of the benefits being reaped by SAB, since partnering with InSync Solutions, which is part of Resolve, to address shortcomings in its below-the-line value chain.”
The success of a new outbound logistics process developed for Sasol Oil by Resolve was recognised with a silver award for the project team. “This initiative has helped Sasol Oil to cut costs and boost efficiency, including achieving a 6% increase in payload utilisation, a 12% increase in trips per vehicle and a 54% decrease in primary distribution standing time claims,” Rossouw outlines.
Mining group Exxaro is reaping the rewards of a totally transformed Inyanda coal depot, following its appointment of Imperial Logistics to manage coal transport and loading operations at this facility near Witbank. A silver Logistics Achiever Award was presented to the Exxaro and Imperial Logistics partnership responsible for turning around the previously underutilised and inefficient depot. “Inyanda is now consistently achieving – and often exceeding – budgeted monthly coal volumes,” states Rossouw.
Shell SA, together with Imperial Logistics group company Tanker Services, won a silver award for the solution that addressed the escalating number of spillages and contaminations occurring at Shell’s fuel loading and off-loading points. Driver training and an innovative health and safety initiative formed part of this intervention, reveals Rossouw.
“We are delighted to share the limelight, and these prestigious awards, with valued clients whose competitiveness we continue to improve by customising our experience in outsourced value chain management,” he concludes.
This year’s Logistics Achiever Awards were presented at a gala event at Montecasino, in Fourways, Johannesburg. It was the culmination of a rigorous judging process during which nominees went through numerous rounds of submissions and site visits, as well as presentations to the judging panel that comprises representatives from major industry associations, including the SA Roundtable of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), Supply Chain Council (SCC) and the Association for Operations Management of Southern Africa (SAPICS).