“ THE GOAL ISN’ T SIMPLY RESPONDING TO PROBLEMS. IT’ S PREVENTING THEM”
Andrew Mates Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Europe Americold
and the organisations doing best, Andrew says, are those“ designing supply chains that reduce unnecessary movement while maximising asset utilisation”.
Retailer fines for late or rejected deliveries mostly go back to inventory accuracy, production planning and fulfilment, with bad documentation, labelling errors and missed appointment windows the usual causes, Andrew says.“ The goal isn’ t simply responding to problems. It’ s preventing them,” he explains. The manufacturers with the strongest compliance records have standardised processes and clear accountability at every handoff, not just better trucks.
Build or outsource? On whether manufacturers should keep expanding their own cold storage, Andrew rejects the idea of a size threshold:“ I don’ t think there’ s a specific revenue threshold or company size where the answer changes.” The real question is whether the network still serves the business’ strategic goals, or whether that capital is better spent on production and innovation while a specialist partner handles the infrastructure.
The most expensive mistakes, in Andrew’ s experience, do not show up on just one invoice, but between functions optimised in isolation. The manufacturers gaining ground are the ones designing around the customer.
manufacturingdigital. com 95