Make or Buy?
 
Optimisation or service provider!
 
The company Schlafhorst, established in 1884 in Mönchengladbach, today belongs to the SaurerGroup of Switzerland. As a leading manufacturer of industrial appliances the specialist for rotor spinning and winding systems exports to customers in the textile industry across the world. Besides their headquarters in Mönchengladbach Schlafhorst run a production plant in Übach-Palenberg as well as two plants in the Czech Republic.

The Schlafhorst aftersales logistics
 
The company’s network spans the entire globe. Over 95% of Schlafhorst’s turnover is produced abroad. Schlafhorst machines spin and wind in approximately 5,000 textile businesses in over 100 countries. Essential to the success of the customer support is an efficient spare parts logistics. The central depot for spare parts in Mönchengladbach provides worldwide with a 24-hour after sales service.

The viaLog assignment and performance
 
viaLog was assigned to answer the classic „make or buy“ question: Is outsourcing preferable to an optimised internal handling?
A detailed call for tender was required for the outsourcing considerations and this was to be discussed and negotiated with competent bidders.
This was to be compared, after some fine tuning, with the internal handling of the logistics.

The solution

Firstly viaLog conceived a solution for the optimised internal handling of business:

• Investment in a vertical lift system
• Introduction of radio data transmission support for the order picking trucks
• Intensified support fort he warehouse management system

Also evident: the employment of compact warehouse technology would lead to a substantial reduction in the handling areas and thus release space for new activities.

By comparison, the call for tender for the outsourcing and the negotiations with possible service providers demonstrated that: The delegation of duties to a logistics service provider would, on the whole, bring no economic advantage over an improved internal handling of business.

Schlafhorst therefore decided to continue to run the warehouse internally - and to implement the above mentioned proposals for fine tuning with the support of viaLog.
 
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