Supply Chain
Supply Chain is a crucial part of the business that is responsible for producing the company's demand forecast to enable the sourcing of raw materials and services, that in turn are used to manufacture high quality products which ultimately get delivered to our customers. Our Supply Chain Director heads up this integrated function which, although split across various departments and sites, works as one team with efficient processes and streamlined structures to drive out unnecessary complexity and ensure we speedily bring our activity to the market:
Production
The objectives of the production team are to manufacture products which meet quality, cost and time objectives and to prepare our factories and people to meet future requirements.
We have seven factories, produce over 110 million cases every year and achieve our objectives primarily by motivating over 1000 people who work in our factory teams. This is a dynamic, fast moving, high velocity environment where achieving exacting quality standards from high speed production lines is uppermost in our minds.
We employ people with a variety of skills from engineering, through production, to science and finance, working in a variety of teams and with all other business functions to make sure our production operation:-
- adapts to meet future business requirements and product launches;
- flexes to meet a demand pattern that change with promotional activity, brand success and changes in weather patterns;
- produces products which meet our customers and consumers needs, delivering on our brand promise;
- and creates the right environment for health and safety for our employees and considerate of our neighbouring communities.
It is an exciting and demanding environment requiring people with a variety of skills to ensure delivery on a continually improving basis. Our people need to possess positive attitudes and team working skills to ensure success.
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Logistics
The overall objective of the Logistics team is to provide "unbeatable availability, delivered together". In order to achieve that objective we must build high quality plans working with our customers and suppliers and meet our customers' delivery schedules through a complex distribution network.
Our planning operation comprises of the Customer Logistics and Supply Logistics teams. Using our SAP based systems they forecast demand, liaising with our biggest customers, before processing the bulk orders they provide to us. The demand plan is then used to identify raw material requirements and plan the production schedules for our manufacturing colleagues.
Our Logistics Execution or Distribution operation is then responsible for ensuring the finished goods produced by our factories reach our customers when and where they want them. Using a fleet of over 300 vehicles, working from sites across the UK, we transport and deliver our products to 15,000 customers, making 500,000 deliveries every year. At the heart of the network is the National Distribution Centre. Based in Lutterworth, it is fully automated and can handle over 600 truck loads of soft drinks daily using a high bay warehouse, which holds up to 50,000 pallets of product. It's a complex operation that is constantly being honed - but it's essential that our sales efforts are backed up with first class service.
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Technical Development
New product development is the engine of growth for our business. The technical development team bring the blue sky thinking of our marketers into reality.
We manage complex product, packaging and engineering projects that are key to keeping Britvic ahead of the competition.
As the company grows it needs a carefully managed investment programme to meet the capacity requirements generated by the sales to our customers. The technical development team manage this process to get the best value for money out of an annual multi million pound investment.
We work tirelessly to beat the inflationary pressures that affect the bottom line of the business. Optimising our processes for highest efficiency and lowest cost.
Although we have dedicated teams of engineers and technicians operating at sites throughout the United Kingdom, it is our Technical Development team based at our Widford site that is responsible for the development and implementation of new products, processes and manufacturing facilities.
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Central Quality, Safety and Environmental
The Central Quality, Safety and Environmental team ensure that we have the systems in place to guarantee that we only produce products of the very highest quality, in the safest possible manner, while protecting the environment.
They are guardians of our product and material specifications, ensuring that our suppliers always provide us with the best quality materials, and laboratory testing raw materials and soft drinks to make sure that they meet these strict standards.
Based at Widford in Chelmsford, they work closely with all departments across the business in the development of new products and improvements to existing products. They also develop programmes to continuously improve our health and safety performance and reduce environmental impacts.
Department members work closely with all the relevant legal authorities (e.g. Environment Agency, Health and Safety Executive, Food Standards Agency and Local Authorities) to make sure that everything we do is compliant with the latest legislation and is best practice in the industry.
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Procurement
The procurement team have a critical role to play in working collaboratively with all areas of the business. We work in partnership in identifying the need for, correctly specifying, and ensuring that we successfully and reliably source materials, goods and services that meet our exacting standards for quality, customer service and innovation as well as helping to ensure we always gain value for money in everything we do.
Our role applies equally to the acquisition of ingredients and packaging which go to make up the products we sell, as to the diverse range of other activities which are required to support the company's offering such as advertising, transport, manufacturing equipment, IT and a vast array more.
As a professional team we are also proud of our contribution in establishing and maintaining strong relationships with suppliers across the world. Through this network we not only contribute to the success of the business today but ensure longer term stability in our supply chain for the future.
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