panoply of services inside the DCs and promotions assembly facilities. From receiving
to storage and inventory control and from
packaging and labeling to shipping, the
provider would have its hands full.
In addition to the day-to-day activities in
the regional DCs, Kenco also would be
responsible for the special repackaging,
labeling, kitting and shipping of the promotional items.
GSK Consumer Healthcare markets
such products as Tums, Polident, Nytol,
Panadol, Aquafresh, Nicorette, Sensodyne
and Citrucel. When any of these or other
items are the subject of special promotions,
different packaging and shipping are called
for, Smith says. Additionally, displays may
need to be ordered, shipped and set up for
these promotions.
A small amount of the assembly services
for promotions takes place inside GSK’s
regional DC on the West Coast. “But 99 percent of promotional pack assembly work, for
all intents and purposes, occurs at the Northeast Assembly Facility located in Hanover,
Pa.,” says Ables. Assembly of promotional
goods at that site—108,000 square feet, with
240 employees—now accounts for 17. 4 percent of total U.S. cases shipped to customers.
Under their agreement, each DC has a
GSK manager who works in tandem with
an on-site Kenco general manager. All
orders are received by and managed
through GSK-owned systems. Kenco is
responsible for all operations inside the
facilities, while GSK maintains responsibility for contracting and auditing all inbound
and outbound transportation, Smith says.
Kenco took charge in January 2004. A
look at the numbers shows why the relationship is happy and enduring. According
to GSK, there has been:
• 18% improvement in throughput productivity
• 13% increase in customer case productivity
• 10% reduction in labor cost per case
• 46% reduction in case delivery errors
• 51% reduction in damaged cases
• 74% improvement in OSHA incident
rate
“Every year, the parties ‘re-baseline’ key
performance indicators,” Ables says, “and
Kenco’s cooperative spirit has everything to
do with the relationship’s success.”
A new development in the partnership
involves a GSK Consumer Healthcare
project to hire disabled workers. Ables
says her company took the proposal to
Kenco, which is employing the workers in
the initiative, and found the 3PL highly
receptive. That kind of business culture,
with a focus on people, is what Ables says
she values in a 3PL.
“I must tell you, [the transition to one
provider] was painless to me,” Ables says.
Of course there were conversations along
the way, but the important point was with
the nature of our relationship. “We were
able to openly communicate and focus on
better ways of working rather than what
specific language should be in the contract.
While the contract is very important, a relationship cannot be built into a contract.”
Kenco Logistic Services, www.kencogroup.com
Resource Link
SPOTLIGHT ON DICENTRAL
“Customer support at DiCentral is top-notch.”
“Two of the main benefits DiCentral delivered were time
savings and order accuracy in our processes.”
“We would recommend DiCentral to anyone
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“The solution has eliminated the manual task in our
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resources in our company.”
