Read the case study below and answer the question that follows. The need for speed. 

The Foschini Retail Group (TFG), one of South Africa's leading fashion and lifestyle retail chains, consists of 14 trading formats dealing in products that range from fashion, jewelry, cosmetics, sporting and outdoor apparel and equipment to home wares. The group, which was formed in 1925 by George Rosenthal, a Russian immigrant, trades in over 1,650 stores, making it the foremost specialty retailer in South Africa. Today the business employs in excess of 15,000 staff and processes more than 40 million units of stock per year across its six distribution centers. The company has enjoyed a period of steady growth and the existing legacy system was struggling to cope with the sharp peaks in customer demand and the need to adapt to change in a short space of time. For example, each time an adjustment was made to a warehouse process, the existing system would require program development which could take several months. “It can be easy to identify areas where you can make improvements in a Distribution Centre (DC), environment, but if those changes take months to implement then you are losing out,” explained Jan Tukker, group logistics director, TFG. “We needed to upgrade to a system that offered us much more flexibility and could provide a template for a quick, effective roll-out across the remaining divisions.” Learning from Industry leader TFG's supply chain team realized that it had built systems and processes that enabled it to operate extremely efficiently. The challenge was that this efficiency didn't fully incorporate the dynamic needs of the trading divisions that it serviced and was related to one static way of operating. The approach taken was to gather as much information as possible and learn from best in class companies. “Rather than fight against the tide, we wanted to understand why our peers operated in a certain manner and how this made them leaders in their industry” explained Jan Tukker. “After all they must be operating in a certain manner and achieving the success that they have for a reason. Based on this we realized that one of the key components needed to improve our flexibility and capability was a leading Warehouse Management System (WMS)”. Due Diligence TFG conducted a thorough review of the market and short-listed three suppliers for consideration. Manhattan and Supply Chain Junction, a specialist supply chain consultancy focusing on the South African market, proved to be best in class and beat off the competition. “Manhattan's retail and domain expertise made it an obvious choice for us,” Jan Tukker explains. “The company is not only ranked highly by independent analysts, but has high caliber customer testimonies that gave us the proof we needed. We wanted a partner that we could learn from, and we also appreciated the opportunity to interact with similar businesses to share experiences. We choose Supply Chain Junction as our local partner as they had previously successfully implemented Manhattan's WMS in South Africa. They had a team of local industry experts encompassing not only the software expertise but strong business process knowledge which enabled us to significantly reduce our implementation cost and flexibility as a result of a local rate structure and resource availability”. The implementation at the first site was completed within 12 months, the team have however, produced a system template which can easily be dropped into the remaining sites. The second site was live after just two months with the remaining 3 DCs due for completing during 2011. “The joint collaboration of The Foschini Group, Manhattan and Supply Chain Junction cannot be faulted,” commented Jan Tukker. “The warehouse management system was delivered on time and under budget thanks to the commitment of the team. We have just completed the implementation at highest volume DC which accounts for approximately 40% of the group's revenue. This was our third go live and during this implementation we also upgraded to the latest version of the software. On the day we went live we shipped just under our full plan and within 2 days we were shipping in excess of our store distribution plan.” The Benefits “We have met one of our main objectives in that we have designed a series of system templates which can be dropped into the remaining sites. Whereas it may previously have taken us up to six months to deploy cross docking with our legacy system, we can now do the same thing in matter of days,” explained Jan Tukker. “Another key benefit has been the improved receiving process which has enabled not only ourselves but our suppliers to plan ahead with Advanced Shipment Notifications, thus enhancing our inbound reliability and accuracy and setting the foundation for improved cross-docking, faster DC throughput and fresher stock on our store shelves.” “As a result of the Manhattan system deployment and the process improvements we have made, we've been able to reduce logistics lead times from 17 to 4.9 days in the distribution centers; a DC stockholding reduction of 64 percent; an overall delivery conformance improvement of 11.5 percent and we've measured DC pick accuracy consistently at 99.9 percent. This and the other logistics enhancement initiatives we've undertaken have delivered a 10.1 percent reduction in the overall cost of logistics as a percentage of turnover, and this at a time when cost inflation has been running at around 6 percent.” Jan Tukker, TFG. Tukker continued, “Four years ago, TFG's Board identified supply chain improvement as a top priority. The improvements we have been able to achieve are testament to the hard work of our logistics team, to the strength of processes we have put into place, and to the quality of the people and technologies at our partners including Manhattan Associates and Supply Chain Junction. These processes, people and technologies have come together and enabled us to pursue a path of continuous innovation and improvement to meet the Board's objective.” TFG's phased deployment will see all six DCs running on Manhattan's software across the 14 trading formats. “Manhattan's warehouse management system is already providing the foundation for Foschini's supply chain transformation,” concluded Jan Tukker. “We are looking forward to developing our partnership and continuing to learn from and question our peers whilst being able to adapt quickly as we grow.”

QUESTION 

When a company improves supply chain flexibility, it is better placed strategically to achieve its operational objectives. Explain the concept of flexibility and this is utilized to address the risks that TFG faces.