The Supply Chain Consulting Group Completes Warehouse and DC Optimisation Project For Happy Pet
Established in 1930, inspired by the simplicity of the rubber ball, Happy Pet is now a respected market leader and widely acclaimed innovator of pet products for cats, dogs, small animals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
The extensive range of products Happy Pet offer includes toys, collars and leads, treats, grooming products, beds and bedding, clothing and fashion, hygiene and health, travel and safety, housing; and foods and supplements. Happy Pet design and manufacture over 2,000 products, which are sold and distributed to a combination of over 10,000 pet stores, online retailers, garden centres, DIY, home stores, and grocery chains worldwide, from its warehouse and distribution centre (DC) in Syston, Leicestershire.
80% of Happy Pets’ new products are imported from Asian suppliers with the balance from Europe and the UK. The company introduces approximately 300 to 400 new products per annum with about 50% of that number being delisted per annum, which generates a yearly net growth of 150 to 200 new products.
Over forty years of international pet trade experience has earned Happy Pet a well-deserved reputation as one of the most reliable and customer focused companies in the industry. Responsible for the design and manufacture, over 2,000 high quality products, are sold and distributed by Happy Pet, to over 10,000 pet stores, online retailers, garden centres, DIY stores, home stores, and grocery chains worldwide.
The Happy Pet management team identified the need for external expertise to support them in the optimisation of their warehouse and DC operations, through the development and implementation of a strategy to ensure growth targets would be met and improve the overall logistics performance.
The Happy Pet management team, engaged the Specialist Logistics and Warehouse Consultants at The Supply Chain Consulting Group (SCCG), due to their expertise in warehouse and distribution centre design and optimisation.
The key objectives for the SCCG team included, but were not limited to: improving the efficiency of product handling and picking; determining the operational requirements for the optimised facility; providing optimised picking strategies, shift patterns, staff resource plan and warehouse management team structure; and increasing capacity and floor space whilst simultaneously defining the capacity of the optimised DC against future growth projections.
In order for the SCCG team to determine the facility capacity, and properly develop optimised layouts workflows and operational procedures, the consultants required to review the current operations to understand the requirements to develop the future state; of which included: product flows, profiles and volumes, picking, packing and despatch procedures, stock and inventory management process, and growth projections for the agreed planning horizon.
The SCCG specialist consultant team proceeded to conduct observations of all activity and conduct interactions with relevant operational and commercial personnel to understand all activities and processes carried out within the Happy Pet distribution centre.
Following their reviews and observations, The Supply Chain Consulting Group conducted capacity assessments, which allowed them to detail SOPs (standard operating procedures) and optimised picking strategies; for which they provided detailed scale CAD drawings of current and future volumes at capacity, showing rack and equipment layouts and defined work areas.
Once complete, the SCCG team provided a final presentation of deliverables, alongside their recommendations and implementation plan for the Happy Pet optimised distribution centre, to the Happy Pet management team.
