Our business engaged Helium Performance Services to support a review of our outbound transport operations, with the desire to identify opportunities for optimisation in how we fulfill orders to our Australian Customers. Helium’s principal, Andrew Swain, impressed us from day one.
Post a genuine and engaging introduction, Helium were appointed to support a desktop benchmarking exercise. Andrew’s tireless and methodical approach to data analytics, coupled with extensive understanding of the Australian logistics marketplace, generated outputs which greatly surpassed our expectations. Through these insights, we engaged Helium to lead a marketplace procurement event, and subsequently, the commissioning of a new transportation system, designed to optimise our approach to customer fulfilment.
Our engagement with Helium, significantly improved our capabilities towards both performance and cost management – Highly recommend.
Brent Gittus, Head of Distribution ANZ - Merck Life Science
Helium was engaged to conduct a comprehensive solution diagnostic on the client's national distribution model. The initial objective was to benchmark the existing network and identify opportunities for cost and service optimisation. The findings of this diagnostic were so compelling that it provided the business case for a full network distribution study and procurement event, which Helium was retained to lead and implement
Overview
Challenge
Margin Pressure: A high and un-optimised baseline logistics spend with limited visibility of true cost drivers
Mismatched Profile: Existing commercial model was not aligned with the company's evolving freight profile, leading to margin leakage
Governance: Sub optimal governance framework to manage supplier performance SLAs
Process Misalignment: Internal team was not set up to manage a complex network tender or validate the commercial and operational viability of proposed solutions
Solution
helium supported Merck Life Science by:
Conducted a deep-dive diagnostic and benchmarking exercise to identify and quantify improvement areas
Managed a full, end-to-end procurement event (RFP) for the client's national freight requirements
Re-engineered Merck’s commercial model, introducing new rating structures to better suit their unique profile
Outcome
Business case for a >20% reduction in total network spend
Secured immediate cost recovery for the client by identifying material offset areas for with the existing supplier
Successfully commissioned a new, optimised freight distribution network with improved supplier performance and governance
