awards & CASE STUDIES
awards
2009
- Logistics Achievers Awards 2009: Gold Award – Klipstone Transport - Safety: My Choice.
2008
- Focus on Excellence Awards – Best Transporter of the Year 2008.
- Logistics Achievers Awards 2008: Gold Award – Unitrans/Goldfields Surface Logistics Optimisation.
2007
- Focus on Excellence Awards – Best Transporter of the Year 2007.
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2007: Gold Award – Unitrans Sugar and Agriculture/Açurareira de Moçambique operation at Mafambisse in Mozambique.
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2007: Silver Award – Unitrans/BP Contract in Durban at River Horse Valley for ‘outstanding achievement in logistics in distribution network, management and optimisation’.
- Road Freight Association Award: Operator with the Best Safety Programme 2007
- BP Transcon HSSE (SHEQ) Award 2007 - for the innovative Blueprints concept at the Unitrans BP Durban Distribution Centre.
- Engen Depot Award presented to Unitrans Secunda Depot – Customer Service 2007.
- Rainbow Chickens Awards presented to Unitrans Rustenburg Depot – Loyal Service Award 2007.
2006
- Focus on Excellence Awards – Best Transporter of the Year 2006.
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2006: Gold Award – Unitrans and African Explosives Limited for ‘excellence in distribution strategy’.
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2006: Silver Award - Unitrans and Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation for ‘outstanding achievement in materials management and optimisation’
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2006: Bronze Award – Unitrans and Mittal Steel for ‘value creation beyond outsourcing’.
- Holcim (now Afrisam) Transporter of the Year Award and Corporate Identity Award 2006 – to Klipstone Roodepoort Depot.
- Caltex : Unitrans Namibia : Award for Safest Carrier Africa/Pakistan Region 2006.
2005
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2008: Silver Award – Unitrans/OPSI Systems/NPC project for ‘excellence in distribution strategy’.
- Holcim (now Afrisam) Transporter of the Year Award 2005 – to Klipstone Brakpan Depot.
- BP Top 5 Best Performing Depot in Africa 2005 : Walvis Bay Depot was ranked as one of the Top 5 in Africa.
- Caltex : Central/Southern Africa Region Top Manager Award 2005 : ‘Safety, stability, reliability and application of SHEQ’
2004
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2004: Gold Award – Unitrans/Gold Fields project for ‘excellence in logistics’.
- Logistics Achiever Awards 2004: Silver Award – Unitrans/African Explosives for ‘excellence in logistics’.
- Shell Batho Pele Award – Road Transport HSSE Contractor 2004
2003
- Shell Southern Africa HSSE Awards 2003 Health
Case studies
The Logistics Achievers Awards, hosted annually by Logistics News, with the objective of recognising professionalism and excellence in the effective application of strategic, tactical and operational logistics and supply chain management principles, concepts and practices in southern Africa.
2009
KLipstone transport gold award winner for safety: My choice
UNITRANS BRINGS HOME ANOTHER GOLD AWARD
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A Blueprint Methodology to Make Safety a Lifestyle
The Blu-Prints programme now entrenched at Klipstone Transport (Pty) Ltd (Klipstone) was designed to address the operational and financial impact from road transport accidents, to change Klipstone employees’ behaviour by significantly improving safety and operational performance, whilst meeting the strict standards demanded by the company and its customer’s approach to health and safety issues.
The Beginning
The initiation of a lifestyle-changing programme came about during a contract renewal negotiation, when customer Holcim (now Afrisam) insisted that Klipstone Transport had to demonstrate a number of service attributes to secure the renewal. Monwabisi Vika, former MD of Klipstone, was aware of a similar programme in operation at one of Unitrans’ other contracts, and so he set in motion the wheels that led to the creation and implementation of a powerful, innovative and sustainable solution to galvanise the company’s existing and future safety initiatives.
By identifying the importance of human intervention within the supply chain, Unitrans, Klipstone and Blu-Print introduced a programme – to become known as Safety: My Choice – to address a key area of operational and financial impact from road transport accidents.
A unique methodology was implemented to involve all staff at all levels in a sustainable safety programme that was to become a lifestyle commitment. The results and behaviour from this programme significantly improved the levels of safety and operational performance for Klipstone Transport, as well as meeting the strict standards demanded by the customer in the company’s approach to health and safety issues.
The success of the programme has resulted in the LAA 2009 Gold Award for excellence in logistics for the creation of a safety culture within the transport industry.
The programme is based on the premise that the choice to make safety a lifestyle decision has to start with each individual; in a 24-hour day, organisational systems can only cover a fraction of the time that an individual has to adhere to safety policy and procedure.
The process was inclusive and enabled every member of the organisation to contribute towards creating a mathematical formula, expressed as an art gallery, that defines the factors, behaviours, practices and principles that have to be maximised, as well as the factors, behaviours, practices and principles that have to be eradicated, to enable the staff to choose safety as a lifestyle choice rather than merely comply with safety policies and procedures. The use of art embeds the safety philosophy, consciously and sub-consciously in the minds of all in its visual form, on a permanent basis.
To ensure all employees strive to meet the commitments made in the Safety: My Choice formula, a number of criteria have to be met: leadership team members have to create and circulate transparent personal commitments to the programme; all employees must select their programme champions, who are then trained and accredited; the champions represent employees’ commitments and guide management and employees on progress; and all employees are issued with a Safety: My Choice passport and ‘dictionary’.
An alignment workshop was held with representatives of all employees, and produced an alignment document that spells out the agreements that govern all employees in this programme. This set of agreements outlines the permissions and obligations granted to all employees. The objective is to ensure that all possibilities of conflict among employees and between first line management and employees are eliminated.
Not only has there been a marked improvement in safety statistics, but there has also been a significant improvement in Klipstone’s ability to deliver against the service level agreement that it has entered into with Afrisam. Since the deployment of the Safety: My Choice programme, Klipstone has exceeded Afrisam’s expected performance level of 95 percent every month.
Congratulations on this Gold Award to everyone involved in the inception of Safety : My Choice.
2008
GOLD FIELDS
THE GOLD AWARD FOR THE GOLD FIELDS/UNITRANS SURFACE LOGISTICS OPTIMISATION
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The Challenge
As the fourth largest gold producer in the world, Gold Fields has successfully strived to extract gold at an optimal production cost. Core mining activities have had continuous focus, using internal skills but non-core activities, such as Surface Transport Operations (STO). These have had little focus and Gold Fields came to realise that this operation was running inefficiently due to limited visibility and management information systems.With very limited internal skill in surface logistics management within the supply chain, Gold Fields selected Unitrans as its strategic partner. Unitrans has been providing sustainable and optimal logistic solutions in Gold Field’s non-core mining operations over the last five years. Following the success of the Logistics Achievers’ Gold Award for their Shared Services optimisation in 2004, the partnership further developed and looked at STO across the South African operations.
Surface Logistics was defined as follows:- Three geographically diverse mines, namely, Kloof, Driefontein (Carltonville) and Beatrix (Free State).
- Seventeen active shafts with over 750 vehicles performing a variety of complex functions.
- Moving 45 000 people daily on time sensitive deadlines to their workplaces.
- Five hundred staff operating the transport departments.
- R77m annual operating costs.
The Solution
Unitrans and Gold Fields completed a comprehensive study in 2005 highlighting the various inefficiencies and proposed the roadmap and business case to achieve the identified benefits. This was tabled to the Gold Fields P100 executive forum who approved the implementation of three streams:- Fleet management and tracking systems
- Process re-engineering and training
- Change management as well as control and measurement tools
The Implementation
The implementation incorporated two distinct phases, which firstly involved the mapping of the current processes and operations and, secondly, the customisation, re-engineering, training and actual implementation of the leading surface logistic processes and systems across the three mines. In an extremely sensitive and tough environment, project and change management were critical in ensuring each individual mine operation experienced a successful, sustainable implementation. A stringent change management process was followed from stakeholder to communication strategies, including individual training and process impact analysis and workshops for each job category for each mine. The staggered rollout of the systems across the mines included IT integrations between the SAP, Axapta and Netstar systems.The Results
In two-and-a-half years the project caused no industrial action but significantly developed current staff from basic IT skills to the principles of supply chain management. The end result was total visibility of operations, enabling pro-active management, detailed asset registers, accurate cost control and utilisations per vehicle. The solution deliberately created a platform which could easily be replicated and accommodated flexibility to operational changes within the mining environment.Health and safety, fair driver management, service levels and vehicle workshop turnaround times were improved and for the first time operations could precisely plan and budget for the future, and look for continuous improvement opportunities.
The team was now able to undertake detailed analyses, looking at mine and group level, of all operations including procurement, asset standardisation, inventory management and transportation services. Various vehicle reduction strategies were identified, which reduced the fleet by 11%. Passenger transport, workshop operations and milk run services were either implemented or optimised. A major success was the refinement of the parts ordering process, including the introduction of the on-site parts vendor, which reduced order to delivery times from around three weeks to four hours.
These and other efficiency improvements led to a total annual first year cost saving of R11,74 million (17%) whilst ensuring sustainability of the current operations.
The Way Forward
The long term relationship between the companies continues to grow and strengthen, with additional efficiency opportunities in downstream operations being identified as a result of the above success. The operational improvements and savings achieved here provide Gold Fields with the comfort that this process is integral to the overall operations and its aim of extracting gold at an optimal production cost.2007
Acurareira de Moçambique (ADM)
the Gold Award for the Unitrans/ADM operation at Mafambisse in Mozambique.
(Managed by Unitrans Sugar and Agriculture) |
During the late 1990s, Tongaat-Hulett Sugar (THS), registered in Mozambique as Açucareira de Moçambique (ADM), was growing sugarcane and hauling it to the Mafambisse mill. It became apparent to ADM that there was a need to outsource its logistics operations to focus on the company’s core business.
Unitrans, seeking expansion opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and already a key service provider to THS in South Africa, grasped the opportunity. A loading and haulage contract in 2000 saw an exciting partnership launched.
The first commitment by Unitrans was to purchase and refurbish the ADM tractor-trailer fleet. For the first year, this fleet was operated using ADM staff. A consultant designed a mechanisation plan that saw Unitrans acquiring a fleet of vehicles more suited to the prevailing tasks and conditions. These included productivity-enhancing units such as land-train tractor-trailers and high-capacity cane loaders.
The 2007 sugarcane fleet comprises five loaders and 17 haulage vehicles that transport about 400 000 tons of cane to the mill – double the volume using the same number of vehicles. Expansion into a broader range of services followed, including land preparation, strategic labour transport, fertiliser application, road and canal maintenance, refuse removal and grass mowing. The greater fleet is now 200 units strong. This full outsourcing policy enables estate management to concentrate on its demanding primary concern, the growing and milling of sugarcane.
Professionalism, tenacity and a will to deliver, have entrenched Unitrans as a reliable, dependable and proactive partner to ADM. Not only has Unitrans succeeded on the operational front, but the company has also been involved in upliftment of the community.
BP LUBRICANTS SA (BP)
The Silver Award was presented to Unitrans Freight and Logistics, together with Unitrans Customer Solution Development, for the Unitrans/BP contract in Durban at River Horse Valley, for ‘creating an integrated outsourced supply chain’.
(Managed by Unitrans Freight and Logistics Warehousing and Distribution)
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BP, one of the world's largest energy companies, recognised that its network had become fragmented, with resultant health and safety issues marked by increased serious incidents, too-low service levels, reflected by high levels of back orders and too-high costs. The network also did not support the required BEE strategy.
Through a robust selection process, USCS was appointed as the single third party logistics partner to work towards a fully integrated network, and the entire previous network was outsourced. Key supply chain innovations and areas of change resulted.
The single facility located in Durban is known as ‘The Hub’ and includes world-class Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) features, which separate the flow of people and vehicles, and includes environmentally robust spill containment design and technology. Particular SHEQ focus was given to all types of fleet vehicles to improve the safe operating environment for the operator and public at large.
Operational efficiencies have improved significantly with BP’s customers now receiving more reliable delivery service. On-Time and In-Full (OTIF) has improved from 65 to 93 percent.
BP now oversees a much more simplified operation with the focus changing from crisis management to relationship management. Unitrans provides visibility of true cost-to- serve on a customer level through open-book costing. The contractual and operational structures have become BP BEE ‘friendly’.
BP Transcon HSSE Award
The Warehousing and Distribution operation of Unitrans Freight and Logistics has been awarded the BP Transcon HSSE (SHEQ) awards for its innovative Blueprints concept. The concept was introduced to the BP Durban distribution centre, designed, built and managed by Unitrans, and provides the tools have installed a cultural approach towards health, safety and environmental awareness. The Transcon Award for HSSE innovation is made annually and entries are submitted from BP operations within the Transcon region covering Africa, India, the Middle East and Turkey.
2006
African Explosives (AEL)
Gold Award winner in conjunction with AEL for ‘excellence in distribution strategy’.
(Managed by Unitrans Freight and Logistics Mining Services) |
Unitrans has implemented the new distribution schedules for the direct deliveries to clients and the replenishment between the plant and depots at an estimated additional operating cost of 5,35% and has been able to maintain the overall service levels at greater than 99,6%. The main benefit to AEL is the release of large tracks of land valued at R2 billion.
Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC)
THE Silver Award for the Unitrans/RSSC partnership recognising ‘outstanding achievement in materials management and optimistion’.
(Managed by Unitrans Freight and Logistics Warehousing and Distribution) |
By the middle of 2005, RSSC Materials Management held a record high inventory value in stock, despite falling service levels. Some of the main causes were that leading materials management processes were not being followed. Over 90% of stock items were improperly classified and the discrepancies existed between physical and BAAN stock quantities. Unitrans had been working in close conjunction with stores to custom design and implement a formal framework of best industry processes, modelling and planning initiatives in support of the inventory disciplines. Results to 2006 were summarised as:
- 27,9% reduction in working capital;
- 7,1% increase in service levels; and
- R1,3m obsolete stock removed from inventory.
MITTAL STEEL SA (MITTAL)
the Bronze Award for the Unitrans/Mittal solution recognising ‘value creation beyond outsourcing’.
(Managed by Unitrans Freight and Logistics Warehousing and Distribution). |
Mittal Steel SA’s core competency is not logistics but logistics is core to the success of the business. Supply chain optimisation is needed to help improve market responsiveness and the bottom line. The total solution is based on an integrated partnership approach. It includes full sub-contracting of all Bar, Billet and Rod Mill warehousing and despatch functions, outsourced labour savings, as well as continuous improvement initiatives. Value added service forms part of the services after contracting. A continuous improvement methodology has been jointly identified between Unitrans and Mittal Steel SA. The outsourcing contract allowed Unitrans the opportunity to identify and release any value in Mittal Steel SA’s Newcastle supply chain. Results to 2006 were:
- 15% reduction in operating cost;
- Continuous improvement savings of R7,5m;
- Additional hidden savings to Mittal of R2,9m; and
- Internal fleet outsourcing savings of R13,9m.
