As Chilé’s largest brewery, Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (CCU) strives to optimize its warehouse operations so it can combine high service levels with profitability. The company delivers beer, soft drinks, wine and liquor to approximately 115,000 customers across Chilé. About 70% of these orders are fulfilled by CCU’s distribution center (DC) in Curauma.
Success Story
Compañía Cervecerías Unidas
Warehouse Management
Brewing up efficiency at CCU Chilé
The company
The business challenge
CCU Chilé was anticipating a 30% growth in order volume which would flow through their main DC in Curauma. They wanted to accommodate this growth with existing facilities and personnel. CCU Chilé wanted full control over all warehousing operations through a single technology solution to drive greater efficiency and throughput. CCU Chilé wanted to optimize its processes and use of personnel in order to improve its delivery speed and customer service.
The solution
The company embarked on a strategic initiative to make operations in this key warehouse more efficient. With support from Blue Yonder partner Southern Technology Group (STG Chilé), CCU implemented Blue Yonder’s warehouse management solution to manage all the day-to-day tasks being accomplished in this facility.
“We were looking for a technology solution that would give us full control of the Curauma DC, everything from reception of products to warehousing, picking and the deployment of trucks. Today, Blue Yonder’s solution is the heart of our operations in Curauma. It enables us to deliver the right product at the right time every day.”
–Planification and Projects Manager
Supporting growth
CCU Chilé has been able to maintain high customer service levels while managing a 30% increase in order volume. While many businesses would have added new personnel and new space to accommodate a 30% increase, CCU was able to maintain its previous resource investments and is currently utilizing more than 95% of its Curauma DC. Thanks to the new warehouse management capabilities, the company can focus on leveraging its resources to meet their customers’ needs and deliver products in the most efficient manner.
Optimizing resources
As part of the implementation, CCU sought to maximize resource optimization in the facility. In order to maintain or improve its delivery speed while supporting the increased volume of business that flows through the Curauma warehouse, the company needed to ensure it was getting the most out of its people and processes.
Expansion
The implementation of warehouse management at the Curauma facility has proven so successful that CCU is now rolling the solution out to other DCs. “Currently, we are implementing the solution in all of our facilities in Chilé and Argentina and anticipate having all of the information from the DCs available online.”
Solution benefits
Managed a 30% increasein order volume with existing facilities and personnel. Achieved a utilization rate of 95% in their main DC in Curauma. Increased control over all DC functions and gained visibility to all stock across the facility, soon to include stock across all facilities. Optimized investments in people, space and other resources.
Blue Yonder’s expertise
CCU chose Blue Yonder because of its proven expertise and success in South America. “We were able to talk to some of Blue Yonder’s customers and learn about their experiences before we implemented the solution in our own operations. We realized that Blue Yonder has a lot of expertise in our industry and understands supply chain problems at a very deep level.”
CCU relied on both Blue Yonder and its partner, STG Chilé, to deliver education and training services during the implementation. “Educating and training our employees represented a core component of the software implementation.”
“Blue Yonder is now a strategic partner to our business. We want to keep improving in our use of the solution, and Blue Yonder is right there to help.”
“The speed and quality of delivery is very important to us. We implemented solutions from Blue Yonder in order to reach a world-class level of excellence in our operations.”
–Planification and Projects Manager
