Case Study

Westland Milk Products

The Client

Westland Milk Products is New Zealand’s second largest Dairy co-operative and they achieve over US $250 million in revenue annually.  They manufacture milk powder at their Hokitika plant and have a warehousing facility in Christchurch which handles dispatch of product for export.  In just six years since the deregulation of the dairy industry in New Zealand Westland Milk Products have built themselves into an internationally recognized dairy company.

Manufacturing and Logistics Issues

Prior to decentralization of the dairy industry in 2001 Westland Milk Products sent their product to the New Zealand Dairy Board for all stock control and marketing.  Following their decision to continue independently in the dairy industry Westland were faced with

considerable problems resulting from manual processes in a very

complex environment.  They were producing 18 pallets of product every hour on a 24/7 basis and each pallet required a manually written

 information sheet which was duplicated up to four times.  Truck and train dockets had to be written up for every transferred pallet and  product was continuously moving between their two facilities based in Hokitika and Christchurch.

Westland identified some key area’s of concern as being double, triple and quadruple handling of documentation; the paper based nature of their records resulted in outdated information; manual recording mistakes were costing valuable hours in correcting mistakes; “double selling” of product; short or incorrect shipments being delivered to customers and reporting was extremely limited.

The Label and Track Solution

Westland Milk Products recognized the need for urgent change and approached Sato, the developers of Label & Track.  Sato implemented an early version of Label and Track across both facilities.  Upon production, product is now labelled with a barcode and scanned.  This scan transports information via a wireless network that resides in both facilities, and immediately updates Westland’s inventory records.  All movements of product are also tracked by a simple scan – whether they are between different locations in a warehouse or between

physical facilities. Now dispatch records, product damage records and inventory management are all driven by hand held scanning.

The Result

Westland have implemented a tool that accurately reflects their focused, nimble and personal business philosophy.  They can now instantly access production and stock level information, and have achieved an easily accessible internal traceability trail.  Paper based records are minimal, resulting in elimination of errors and complete internal integration within and across facilities.  Product is automatically allocated to orders, and stock rotation is easily managed to suit their requirements.  Westland have managed to improve their efficiency and bottom line profitability considerably through the use of Label & Track.

• All product movement of product now driven by scanning of barcodes
• Wireless networks mean instant information updates
• Improved efficiency in locating and dispatching product
• Improved profitability
• Instant access to production and stock level information
• Easily accessible internal traceability trail
• Minimal paperwork resulting in reduced errors