Montego Pet Nutrition (Montego), Africa’s largest privately owned pet care manufacturer, has recently acquired nine independent depots across the country, and has appoint over 100 new staff members in May 2022. This aligns with the company’s strategic objectives to have more control over supply chain and addresses the rapid growth and customer demand experienced over the last 18 months. 

Montego takes ownership of the various depots on a national scale, aiming to improve the efficiency of the last mile delivery process and give value back to its customers. Warehouses found in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha, East London, Bloemfontein, Barkley East, Naboomspruit and Ermelo will all be absorbed and fall under the ownership of Montego Pet Nutrition. The Pretoria depot will be moved to Centurion, where the construction of the company’s own depot and new Gauteng production facilities/offices will be situated. 

‘The depots are found in strategic locations – with central points in each province to maximise the efficiency of deliveries’ says Johann Kotze, Supply Chain Executive for Montego.

These storage and distribution facilities receive bulk product from the Graaff-Reinet and Gauteng production facilities and deliver orders according to customer needs all over the country. The new depots, along with the 110-vehicle fleet, enables 100 000 tons of pet food produced per year to reach customers safely and efficiently.

“By optimizing our fleet and standardizing our business processes across all depots, we will constantly strive to achieve our goal of delivering complete orders at a reduced time-frame”, Kotze says. 

In addition to the facilities, Montego has also acquired all staff members that fell under the previous ownership, with over 100 new employees joining the Montego team. These steps were necessary for the company to continue seamless production and delivery to retailers.  

Montego has invested over R90 million toward factory upgrades over the last five years, with the depot takeovers being the next step in its growth strategy to meet local and international demand. 

‘We want to create a standard operating model to ensure consistency in our service delivery, giving value back to our customers by controlling our distribution costs’, Johann Kotze, Supply Chain Manager for Montego.