Gone are the days when logistics was seen as moving separate organisational units. Most companies have long understood this, making it a true virtuous model. For those who are still unable to put this into practice, we would like to tell you about a great integrated logistics partnership, which has been running for several years now, with Decathlon.
The partnership is with the sporting goods retailer that has made accessibility to sport its mission. The project we are referring to is the CAC Factory – Centro di Approvvigionamento Continentale (Continental Procurement Centre) – set up by Decathlon around the operations we carry out with them and for them, in collaboration with Telai Olagnero.
What is it and how does it work?
Founded in 1972, the Cuneo-based factory Telai Olagnero is the official supplier of Decathlon in Italy and Europe as well as the technical partner of this three-way collaboration. Using ‘Made in Italy’ production process technology, it produces steel frames and bicycles. This is where we stepped in, setting up a platform dedicated entirely to the storage of Decathlon-branded products: the CAC Factory. Dedicated vehicles and personnel are irreplaceable resources that allow us to guarantee fully customised requirements.
The warehouse is where the finished products are stored and is located a few metres from Telai Olagnero, the assembly plant, in order to reduce distances and shorten lead times. The depot designs the logistical procedures and flows of this ‘backstage’ route, which we help to optimise, thus ensuring that products reach sportsmen and sportswomen.
Now let’s get to the heart of the project.
CAC Factory’s workflows ensure that processes run smoothly, avoiding bottlenecks, and that the various stages are monitored: from storage of post-production goods to entry into the customer’s computer systems, from first in first out order preparation to optimising transport and integrating it with other flows. Synchronisation and control of inventory data are indispensable and continuous.
What benefits does the partnership provide?
The value we add is our ability to organise all activities revolving around transport based on a logic of reciprocity and exchange, while remaining completely independent.
The Torello – Decathlon – Telai Olagnero partnership was created to share a work process and know-how, allowing common goals to be achieved through strong collaboration and cooperation.
The glue that binds the three companies together is the important value of sustainability, one of the EU’s most significant objectives, and which is reflected in a process of growth and extends its benefits to the economic sector, the social sphere and can even involve an entire territory.
A concrete and sustainable future
Now let’s look in detail at how it was possible to pull off this great project.
Reducing distances between production, assembly and storage sites offers a number of mutual benefits.
The first major benefit is the drastic drop in harmful emissions resulting in greater economic efficiency.
Another point in favour of this proximity is the simplification of processes resulting in information efficiency and a strong market responsiveness, which are fundamental for e-commerce, where continuity and dynamism are cornerstones of the process.
The epitome of the above is the CAC Factory, based on integrated logistics, which becomes a springboard for endless growth prospects. This facility is a key link in uniting the physical production phase of the product with the distribution phase in order to meet consumer demands.
This allows all kinds of requirements, from the most common to the most complex requiring customised solutions, to be handled optimally.
This allows all kinds of requirements, from the most common to the most complex requiring customised solutions, to be handled optimally.
