FANUC opened a new Customisation and Distribution Center (CDC) in Contern, Luxembourg
FANUC Europe Corporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers in factory automation for CNC control systems, robots and production machinery is revealing its latest strategic move: the centralisation of European product customisation and logistics in the new CDC in Contern, Luxembourg.
Since the unification of the three business divisions FANUC FA, FANUC Robotics and FANUC Robomachines and the subsequent successful integration of the three different ERP systems into a single one, FANUC could undertake studies to determine the best location for centralising European product customisation. The analyses using the centre of gravity method showed that the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was the optimal solution due to its central European location and the ideal balance between factors such as customer locations, volume of goods shipped, transportation, labour and warehouse costs. Andrea Scammacca, Head of European Supply Chain, was interviewed to provide further insight.
Interviewer: Which activities will be undertaken in the new CDC in Contern?
Andrea Scammacca: The core activity will consist of applying standard customisations to products according to European customer needs. In terms of European operations design, this activity will be centralised in Contern, although we will leave subsidiaries the flexibility to also locally undertake case-specific customisations in the face of pressing needs expressed by customers. Other activities of primary importance will be the European Stock Management as well as the distribution of more than 10,000 robots and robomachines per annum.
Interviewer: How does the CDC fit into FANUC’s supply chain and what value does it add?
Andrea Scammacca: Through this reorganisation, European customers will benefit from extraordinary service. The core function of the CDC is to perform standard customisations for European customers, which are predictively calculated by our forecasting system.
By undertaking capacity levelling, stock management operations will be designed in a way to ensure that our supply matches demand fluctuations in a timely manner. Even during seasonal peaks such as summer time or the end of the year, demand can be met more efficiently. Another important factor is standardisation. Dedicated full-time employees will ensure consistency in the handling of European orders by following standardised processes ranging from packaging to documentation. In short: customers will experience the same product quality level across Europe because European orders will mainly be processed by a single team.
On a side note, I personally believe that this activity will never be 100% centralised because although it yields several significant advantages, we prioritise offering flexible service in terms of being locally responsive if it is required by customers. Furthermore, I would like to put emphasis on the fact that each of our local offices has a parts inventory, which again ensures fast service.
Interviewer: Will you be able to guarantee consistent delivery and supply across all product categories?
Andrea Scammacca: Thanks to our outstanding forecasting system and the fact that significant functions, namely product customisation, inventory management and order dispatch, are centralised in Contern, we will be able to standardise delivery across all product ranges. We strongly encourage our customers to request to become part of our forecasting system- you will see for yourself how much we can reduce the delivery time of FANUC products. In some cases, we are already able to deliver the main standard high runner robots within a timeframe of less than 4 weeks- and we will be able to do it even faster in the future.
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