FODI Press Release
3rd March 2005
Since issue dated Monday 10th January, the Focus On Distribution Initiative (FODI) group, has been implementing a Monday to Friday trial in an attempt to give better service to three wholesale territories. The intention of this trial is to improve the number of retailers’ Required Delivery Times (RDTs) hit and also to convert as many Scheduled Delivery Times as possible to RDTs.
Publishers and wholesalers have worked with the NFRN and invested in improving delivery times to three test houses at MD Grays, WHS Stoke and DN Coventry in an attempt to improve service to customers and the retailers that serve them – the ongoing aim of the FODI group.
In addition to the 3 trial wholesalers, 22 other branches were identified as being vulnerable to a ‘ripple effect’ that could cause deterioration in service as a result of the rescheduled deliveries to the trial wholesalers.
The group are delighted with the results so far, the highlights of which are as follows:
- We have so far achieved an increase of over 20% in the number of Required Delivery Times (RDTs) hit.
- This represents an improvement of over 300 retailers per day receiving their supplies on time.
- There has been no noticeable adverse effect on the ‘ripple houses’.
- Early indications are that there is some sales benefit from the trial, which we hope continued service improvements will be able to grow.
The test is scheduled to finish in June and we are extremely hopeful, given the results to date, of a very positive outcome. The proposed next steps are to roll this scheme out to cover Saturday and Sunday issues and also to identify wholesale areas that could benefit from similar investment.
