The contract for Red Bull’s national warehousing, primary and secondary distribution services has been awarded to Imperial Retail Logistics, member company of Imperial Logistics.Operations director Friedel Spies outlines the scope of the Red Bull contract: “Imperial Retail Logistics will act as a single point of contact, to provide Red Bull Holdings with national warehousing and secondary distribution services of all its finished goods. This includes managing the organisation’s national distribution network in South Africa, where routes to market include retail, supermarkets, cash and carry, as well as wholesalers,” he explains.

“We needed a worldclass 3PL service provider who could further enhance and support our strategic objectives to enable future brand development and growth, specifically with regards to technology integration to increase visibility throughout the distribution and warehousing process,” says Deon Brummer, operations manager at Red Bull South Africa.

“With more than 35 years’ experience in providing warehousing and distribution services to various customers in the South African FMCG sector, Imperial Retail Logistics is in an excellent position to act as a strategic partner to Red Bull, and to assist the company on its journey to define and further upgrade its supply chain network capacity, to enable future business strategies,” Spies states.

Imperial Retail Logistics’ partnership with Red Bull started in 2010, and this contract is a renewal of the previous one, he reveals.

Among the factors that contributed to the successful contract renewal, he says, is Imperial Retail Logistics’ technical ability to provide Red Bull with a worldclass warehouse management system and ERP that can interface with its enterprise resource planning software, SAP. “It is also crucial for Imperial Retail Logistics to be able to provide an accurate view of inventory, batch integrity and order status, and to use a transport management system with expected time of arrivals, and timely proof of deliveries.” In addition, the company’s information management systems and business processes are critical elements of the new contract, he adds. “Red Bull’s longterm strategy incorporates state-of-the-art technologies which have made Imperial Retail Logistics a leading provider in southern Africa,” Spies concludes.