Over 20 members of the Drinks Association Supply Chain & Logistics Forum came together for the second time this year for two days in Melbourne in mid-September. Treasury Wine Estates kindly hosted the opening day in the impressive Barrel Room of their Collins Street office.
Freight forwarder Hillebrand Gori gave the opening presentation with Johann Franzsen, Head of Sales - BWS Oceania, updating the forum on the current state of play regarding international shipping with an overview of the multi-faceted and ongoing challenges and freight supply issues being faced. He suggested that there is no end in sight expected until 2024 at the earliest and that the pain is expected to continue with increases in shipping rates, container shortages and route changes on the horizon in the coming months.
Next up Genevieve Hawkins, General Manager Transformation & Supply Chain, Coles Liquor, led an informative session on the exciting technology investment and transformations taking place at Coles Liquor with a particular focus on:
Refocus – Partnerships & flexibility in our supply chain
Capability – Upskilling for the future & building relationships
Transformation – Investing in technology & sustainable practices.
Steve Andrews, General Manager of the Advantage Group drilled down into the 2022 Advantage Survey focussing on the Supply Chain results of the survey, pointing to evidence that better engagement and collaboration with customers leads to better commercial results for suppliers. He added that best in class supply chain management is a whole lot more than Delivering In Full & On Time (DIFOT).
Sandra Gibbs, Head of Supply Chain, Asahi and Chair of the Drinks Association’s Embrace Difference Council and Angela Burgum, Senior Commercial Finance Partner, Treasury Wine Estates, and Embrace Difference councillor, presented the group with an update on the annual Gender Scorecard and the D&I Toolkit. The Scorecard data is available to all Drinks Association Category One member companies. It is an invaluable measurement tool for companies and the Toolkit provides practical steps to make positive change to improving diversity, equity and inclusivity at all levels of business.
Day One finished off a spectacular masterclass of the Penfolds Premium new releases led by the passionate and knowledgeable, Orazio Baldino. The Forum members had the privilege of tasting the amazing collection of Penfolds wines from South Australia and California.
Day Two kicked off with a tour of the Amazon fulfilment facility in western Melbourne where 22,000 packages can be dispatched in a day! Our thanks to Anna Reid, Senior Program Manager Innovation at Amazon, who not only provided a coffee van for us on arrival but the chance to experience the end-to-end fulfilment process at Amazon where products come in all various shapes and sizes, quantities and trading agreements.
The final stop was a tour of the Asahi Beverage manufacturing site in Tullamarine. The site has been operating since 1973 and relies on both manual and highly automated processes. The group found the PET bottling line particularly fascinating: it has the capacity to blow, fill and label 600 bottles per minute.
Thank you to everyone who joined us including Mark Alexander and Tim Green – AVL, Caroline Aspridis - Asahi, Paul Morris – Bacardi-Martini, Ljiljana Celic and Jorge Jiminez - Brown-Forman, Jeff Harper – William Grant & Sons, Jack O'Donnell – Metcash, Courtney Ribbons - Pernod Ricard Winemakers, Daryl Mustard, David Alpen and Rob Hefter – Treasury Wine Estates, Tim Molloy – Accolade Wines, Hayley Thompson-Pettitt and Tom Stock - Moët Hennessy, Hamish Cole and Kylie Nicol – BevChain, Brad Greer and Tinika Tipene – Mainfreight, Michael Davis, David Withington and Marcel Sieira – GS1.
The Drinks Association would also like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Co-Chairs of the Forum, Courtney Ribbons from Pernod-Ricard and Jorge Jiminez from Brown Forman, for their efforts over the past three years in helping to build the forum up to where it is today. The Association would also like to welcome in the new Co-Chairs, Jeff Harper from William Grant & Sons and Paul Morris from Bacardi-Martini who we look forward to working with to continue the forum’s ongoing success.
The next Supply Chain Forum will be held in March 2023.