Dock Scheduler at Dawn Foods

The last few years have been challenging for all participants in the supply chain in Europe and around the world. Most companies struggled to keep production and supplies liquidity during the coronavirus pandemic and in the face of international conflicts. How have you been able to strengthen supply chains at Dawn Foods during this time? Our questions were answered by Ronny Sauer, European Supply Chain Analyst at the company.

The fluidity of supply is a real challenge in these unstable times. How has dock scheduling been handled at Dawn Foods so far?

Ronny Sauer: The time slot booking process did not exist in our warehouses in Europe. It often happened that several trucks arrived at the warehouse at the same time, resulting in stress, long waiting times and rising demurrage costs. Other industries, such as automotive, are already accustomed to time slot management systems. In the food industry, such solutions are still in the in early stage, but they will soon become a common standard.

And how do you approach the transformation of logistics processes, especially digitalisation?

Dawn Foods is going digital globally, and Dawn Foods Europe is very much involved in this digital journey. We are aware that efficient logistics processes largely determine the success of the entire company and customer satisfaction. Our outbound logistics is fully automated and digital, and we are now focusing more and more on the inbound logistics process. During the pandemic, the market was very unstable, with a growing “bullwhip effect” causing general disruptions in our supply chains. (The “bullwhip effect” leads to excessive stockpiling due to the inability to accurately plan for demand.)

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• Ronny Sauer
• We have cut down on the number of cases in which all trucks arrived at the same time. Waiting time was reduced and the efficiency of the warehouse improved. Before the implementation, the planning department was very overloaded with deliveries, but the Dock Scheduler helped them organize work.

You are implementing the Dock Scheduler module in eight countries, and the booking system is already in place in three countries. Where you start first with the implementation?

We started our DS deployment with Germany, as that was the market where we felt the most disruption in the supply chain during the pandemic. As a pilot we implement the DS in Germany. We learned how this new software works for our users and after the successfully implementation we are rolling this step by step out to other countries.

What are the biggest changes you have seen since implementing Dock Scheduler in your company? What has been improved?

We have cut down on the number of cases in which all trucks arrived at the same time. Waiting time was reduced and the efficiency of the warehouse improved. Before the implementation, the planning department was very overloaded with deliveries, but the Dock Scheduler helped them organize the work. We have also reduced the number of phone calls coming into the company, as carriers used to call very frequently asking about loading and unloading.

How would you rate the use of the tool? How long did it take to train the warehouse staff?

The tool is very easy to use. It is so intuitive that an hour of training is enough. We didn’t have any problems or serious issues with the operation of the system.

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• About company
• Dawn Foods is a global leader in the confectionery industry. For more than a century, the company offers a wide range of products for confectioners and bakeries: from frying fat and doughnut mixes to packaging and sprinkles. Dawn Foods employs more than 3500 people in more than 70 countries.
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How long did the implementation process take?

Our teams quickly began working with the new system. The ability to configure the system yourself gives you a lot of flexibility, especially when customizing the system to meet the needs of Dawn Foods’ individual country branches. In addition, we can count on support from the CargoON team during the onboarding of our carriers and suppliers. It took some time to reach 100% implementation level, but after 3-6 months, all carriers and suppliers were sufficiently trained. There are many carriers and subcontractors working in our supply chain, which is why we also use a solution that allows you to send a link to book a time slot directly via email. This message can be forwarded to any carrier, even outside the platform. This makes communication much easier.