CUSTOMER CASE STUDYDSV Implements a
Single-Instance Control Tower
with a Global FootprintA “Slick Solution” for Connecting People, Systems, & Processes: Learn
how DSV eliminated information silos and mastered SLAs
About DSVDSV is one of the biggest names in transport and logistics, operating in over 90 countries with a global networkof over 75,000 employees. They recently opened a new warehouse in Johannesburg, strategically positioned
for freight shipments and courier services via air, road, or sea. The Gauteng facility is approximately 139 000m2
and the largest integrated logistics center on the continent. The park presents exciting opportunities for growththroughout the region: With a stronger supply chain network, businesses can increase their distribution area andexpand into new markets. The ambitious project would require extensive visibility and seamless coordination
across expansive and dynamic networks. As a customer of Kinaxis’ end-to-end logistics and transportation
management system, which is used at the DSV Solutions sites in Europe, they reached out to Kinaxis todevelop a supply chain control tower solution to meet those needs in South Africa.

One DSV, multiple divisions and third parties
To understand the challenge, it’s important to first also understand the business structure of DSV. DSV is amultinational business comprised of three distinct divisions or identities. There’s the freight forwarding and clearing
division, primarily responsible for international imports and exports, as well as all regulatory and compliance related
activities, such as customs and brokerage; the contract logistics division, which covers warehousing and all aspectsof storage (standard, regulated including high grade and high risk); and the road transport division, spanning thephysical movement of goods domestically and into Africa. Within this road division there are three subdivisions
that collectively comprise the greatest portion of DSV South Africa: Full-Truck-Load, General Courier Business, andSecure Division. Brett Sauerman, General Manager of Freight Management Solutions for DSV South Africa (SA),states that while the divisions represent a shared company vision and mission and integrated approach across the
supply chain, from an operational and cultural perspective - in terms of systems, people, and processes – they are
all unique. “It presented a challenge to us with a large, multi-national client in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods(FMCG) sector. Our services for this client were to be the first of its kind attempted in SA for DSV, and the client wascrystal clear about the need to have a single point of contact for the end-to-end supply chain.” In this case, end-toend referred to the inbound management of freight arriving into SA from other countries, outbound flows for bothfreight leaving SA and domestic distribution, as well as storage and value added services during storage.
At the time, all three business units were required to participate in that full transaction. However, they wereoperating three very different systems across those units (a global freight forwarding system, a global
warehousing system, and a new transport management system). The gap in continuous visibility, planning,and execution, was a challenge in the FMCG space for DSV. “ It meant that an order given to us by the customer
needed to be interpreted by these three systems and its people before we could actually start working on theorder,” explained Sauerman.
DSV wanted a solution that would retain the identity of the different business units in terms of who they are andwhat they do best, while still meeting the needs of the customer.

The Complex World of FMCG
Adding to the challenge was the highly complex
nature of the FMCG sector in which the customer
operated: Healthcare. “We are dealing with regulated
healthcare products, together with other general
goods all processed from the same facility. We
must maintain compliance and meet service level
expectations,” says Sauerman. In terms of execution,

The client was crystal clear
about the need to have asingle point of contact for theend-to-end supply chain

the customer had very particular requirements: “Inaddition to needing specific products at a specific2location at a very specific time, we had to coordinate“It’s difficult to describe what it feels like to think

a combination of internal and external resources to be

you know what you need, to not be certain, and topresent on site to assist with merchandizing duringfind a provider that is okay with that uncertainty.

delivery and simultaneously collect certain goods toIt’s a very peculiar conversation and process to go

return.”through,” explains Sauerman. “We needed a partner

Practically speaking, that is quite a complex thing to
execute and to do so at a cost that makes sense toboth the client and DSV.
“It requires a very slick solution that allows
people, systems, and processes to, in cohesion,
meet one demand. And that one demand is thecustomer service level agreement,” says Sauerman.
For DSV, on-time and in-full (OTIF) delivery would
mean contending with a new form of internal andexternal factors requiring the systematic coordinationfrom origin and across multiple modes of transportthat could be flexible with us as we grew from what
we knew then versus what we know now. We neededa provider able to absorb our learning journey andsometimes short notice requirements until we
stabilized.”
DSV turned down prospective solution providers who
insisted on rigid or fixed options that were claimed towork best in other geographies. “We needed to growby learning; to do that, we needed someone who
would listen to us, interpret the problem, and offer asolution that’s unique to us and works for us.”across all their divisions and external transport service

The success of DSV entities in other geographies

providers. “ The work instructions need to be clear,using Kinaxis played a large role in the selection

everyone involved in the process must understandprocess. “In other geographies, the technology has

exactly what they need to do, and when to do it inproven its ability to optimize the supply chain against

order to meet the ‘customer promise.’ That is a big ask.

service and cost,” says Sauerman. The platform’s ability

Even as one business, it’s as though we each reside in

to automate highly complex workflows and processes

our place upon a giant wheel, coordinating one push

made it a good fit for the project; in terms of theto make it turn.”

implementation and what DSV wanted to achieve,
Kinaxis’ flexibility, scalability, and willingness to give

What is yet unknown, and flexibility
to scale

DSV room to explore and innovate is what clinched

While determining the right solution for their needs,

Considering how trailblazing and complex theDSV recognized that they were treading new waters
with freight management services in the FMCG
space in SA. Therefore, they also acknowledged the
difficult truth that they didn’t yet know everything
they needed to know for running that operation as

the deal.

venture with their FMCG client was, Sauermanadds, “I was confident that had we selected theincorrect partner, we would not have managed tolearn, stabilize, and achieve what we have today.”effectively and efficiently as they aspired to do.

3

35,000 - 40,000
orders per annum, averaging
20mil units processed

15%
orders within the highly regulated
pharmaceutical sector

Coordinating business units
through smart automation
DSV would be managing 35,000 - 40,000 orders per
year, with varying order requirements for different
customers; some orders were highly regulated,others required white glove service, and others were
subject to location variability.* As such, they needed
to connect to a large carrier network. To keep costs

5%

low and ensure consistent and better delivery times,of the 15% are for exports and is acombination of pharma grade andstandard productorders and optimize flows between multidirectional

they needed a solution that could help consolidate
shipments, as they coordinate and orchestrate orders
between multiple parties.

40%

To accommodate this, the Kinaxis supply chainloads (deliveries) requires white
glove bookings and order management

disparate systems including third parties, so real-time

control tower would systematically connect the
information could be received through multiple

60%

pipelines and centralized across the complex multi-

automatically plannedlevel, allows us to receive complex instructions fromparty network. “The control tower, at its most basic
customers and, through the integration of multiple
internal and external service providers, determine

3,500

what exactly is required to meet that need. If accepted,

known delivery locations

their portion of the transaction,” explains Sauerman.

the control tower also contractually binds parties to“It ultimately allows us to act as one synchronized

5-10%
location variability monthover monthmachine. Having undergone minimal internal change
in systems, processes, and people, we’ve retained
our DNA but also gained the critical ability to work
together as one in a new and critical sector.”
Visibility was particularly important as, in thisinstance, a large part of the warehouse is dedicatedto consumer-based medical and pharmacologicalproducts, which have specific environmental andregulatory requirements.
*

Figures reflect order volumes and demands on
average per year for their multi-national FMCG client4Having undergone minimal internal change in systems, processes,
and people, we’ve retained our DNA but also gained the criticalability to work together as one in a new and critical sector.

Functional and not merely analytical
The control tower would also be functional and not merely analytical—offering in-app options for active andtimely planning, execution, control, and analytics. Since the initiative centered around fulfilling complex orderflows, DSV and Kinaxis focused on the following key capabilities:y Leveraging master data to calculate warehousey Automated carrier selection and assignment

activities and resourcing, shipping capacity andbased on the customer and order workflow

optimize space utilization–even taking into

requirements

consideration variables such as different pallety Connecting returns to outgoing deliveries,

and product types and whether a product can be

thereby providing pickups in the same area as

stacked securely.

their distribution service and minimizing trips.

y Integrations with existing WMS and legacy systems
for improved communication between business units
including expressing progress to their client.

PURCHASING

CRM

ERP

ECOMMERCEOPTIMIZATIONCOLLABORATIONVISIBILITY
SUPPLYDELIVERREPAIR

SUPPLIERS

RETURN

MULTI-LEVELORDERMANAGEMENT

SUPPLIERS

WAREHOUSESMULTI-TIER
INVENTORYMANAGEMENTCUSTOMS

MULTI-MODE
TRANSPORTATIONMANAGEMENTCARRIERSCUSTOMERSSTORES

It was critical for us to be able to optimize the supply chain very
quickly after implementation. Information had been sitting in
isolated sectors of the supply chain; Kinaxis allowed us to aggregatethat data in a meaningful way on a single-view platform. We wereable to interpret instructions and give feedback across several
service providers and have that be visible on what we call an ‘orderlifecycle view’ – at a transactional level as well as at a group level.
Leveraging intelligence empowered us to make informed decisions
that helped stabilize and mature our value offering and get to thepoint where we enabled our customer’s growth. It also allowed us to
improve productivity on average by 17%.

OTIF

Sustainability
Pick up

ExportTransport

ImportDelivery

Costs

Shipment orders
Inventory

Service orders

Advanced capacity planning and inventory management
Capacity planning was another critical success factor for this solution. Accurately resourcing shifts per order activity
proved challenging considering the complexity, creating unnecessary overtime expenses and, in other cases, lessthan optimal productivities in picking and packing. Physical flows coupled with sophisticated information flows
involving different product types—including, for example, standard and pharmaceutical—need to be tightly
controlled and monitored with unique environmental constraints. DSV needed a control tower solution that would
aggregate and compile real-time information about order requirements and incorporate those insights into shiftplanning supply chain and order management.
One of Kinaxis’ greatest assets when it comes to capacity planning is the extensive master data they’ve
accumulated through their network of platform users and simulation exercises. With global and granular views of
the supply chain landscape, patterns can emerge that may yield valuable insights— for example, by improving
replicability and automating manual tasks.
In this instance, the Kinaxis control tower incorporated a number of variables into shift (wave) planning, including:y Three categories of picking: full-pallet pick, carton pick, and fine pick. These distinctions provide insight into
how much labour, time, and product will be needed.
y Managing varying order parameters, such as Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery for core products and warehouse storage
for other inventory.
y Creating recurring service orders for warehousing and transportation with capacities that have already been
calculated and accounted for.
y Scalable functions for changing capacity requirements as needed, depending on long-term or short-term
parameters (holidays or new operational hours, for example).
The control tower also provided a flexible option to overrule capacity in unexpected events, such as notableunplanned volume variations, pandemics, or any external factors. As a result, DSV was able to increaseautomated order planning from manual bookings, including warehouse and transit needs, by 14%.
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Having eliminated information silos, DSV masters SLAS
A large portion of the DSV Park Gauteng was dedicated to the FMCG client, an industry giant with a reputation
for reliability and service. Complete order visibility and delivery notifications were critical to building a successful
relationship with the client, but segmentation across the supply chain, including external service providers, madethis meaningful visibility challenging. Separate enterprises and business units each used their own systems, set ofstandards and processes, creating information silos.
Data quality and integrity are critical to integrating across systems successfully, so the first step toward end-toend visibility is to collect data, verify it, and then apply the same standards across units. Once there is a centralized
repository of reliable, standardized data, it becomes much easier to collaborate and generate synergies between
systems and partners’ capabilities alike. An ordercentric approach is like creating separate supply chains for every
order—thereby allowing greater visibility and control.
“With mountains and mountains of data coming in, Kinaxis made it possible for us to start with the basics first:
Understand where this data comes from, how to interpret it, and how to use this information to improve the value
chain for customers,” says Sauerman.

The key objective is to ensure customers get the best possible
service at the best possible rate. Kinaxis is helping us do that.

8To create transparency with stakeholders and highlight performance value, the control tower solution provided:y End-to-end visibility at every transaction point and integration across systems into one platform, eliminating
the need for separate carrier portals, forexample, and streamlining communications.
y Individual order tracking through EDI, API, and/or Web service technology, which is more precise than bulk
shipment tracking and allows for exception events, like shipment expedites.
y Delivery notifications and shipment updates in real-time to all stakeholders in the supply chain.
y Comprehensive dashboarding to support planningand analytics, in addition to presenting data in a clear andcompelling format for stakeholders.
Visibility, in this example, serves both an executive function (via improved coordination between parties) andanalytical function (via performance monitoring and insights). This resulted in a 22% improvement in vehicle
utilization on direct, retail for consumer, FTL, and LTL. Greater visibility, and the ability to take immediate action
within the application, also resulted in an astounding 76% decrease in resolution response times for multisupplier queries.
“The Kinaxis platform allows us to orchestrate across different service providers with different systems andcapabilities, to fulfill certain service instructions, regardless of how complex they are – be it operationally or IT orprocess-wise,” says Sauerman. He explains that the key objective is to ensure for their customers the best possible
service at the best possible rate. “Kinaxis is helping us do that.”

Results
Major Improvements in Productivity, Efficiency, and Problem Resolution
in service provider
17% Increase
productivity

in vehicle utilization
22% Improvementfor direct, retail for consumer, FTL,
and LTL

Order planning automation increase
14% (frommanual bookings) including
for warehouse and transit needs

in resolution response
76% Decrease
times for multisupplier queries

What’s next for DSV South Africa?
Freight management services was a concept initially employed to meet DSV’s integrated contract multi-nationalcustomer’s requirements. It was new territory for DSV in this geography, but they were able to meet theircustomer’s expectations and strengthened their expertise in this area. According to Sauerman, “Kinaxis’ flexible
approach allowed us to scale and connect complex networks of systems, people and processes. We’ve now
reached a point in our journey where we feel confident commercializing Freight Management Services andbringing similar success to other customers.” This next step in their journey is an ambitious one, and not without its
challenges. The ultimate objective is to aggregate the demands of their customers through FMS using Kinaxis, sothey can use collective intelligence toward forecasting and employing the knowledge they’ve gathered to improvetheir services offering. Sauerman admits that while great strides have been made in eliminating silos, “we haveexisting integrated contracts in other sectors which still operate in their separate structures, in some cases from thesame geographical location but with limited knowledge share on how to execute that same work or demand ina better way.” In a sense, what prompted this initial journey and indeed its current success reflects DSV’s ongoingstrategy. “ By breaking down silos to harvest as much information as we can, we will learn from our data anddiscover the gaps between what we presume and what is known - and scale that collectively across our national
network in favor of our clients and their shareholders.”

We’ve now reached a point in our journey where we feel
confident commercializing Freight Management Services andbringing similar success to other customers.

10

Supply chain management on a global scale
DSV has several facilities in SA that all service different sectors and markets. Though they all run off the same
warehouse management system (WMS) and are all managed by the same division, Sauerman says that the next
step is building up strategic operations. “From my experience in the direct to consumer, direct and indirect retailthe next logical short term goal would be to focus on connecting our clients with more options in terms of service
flexibility. “ The FMS division will make this possible through leveraging the Kinaxis control tower platform to safely
and securely aggregate client demands, understand the data, and put it to work unlocking value spanning service,cost-to-service, and improvement initiatives,” says Sauerman. “Continuous improvement is a really big part of ourculture. We’ve been relying mostly on the expertise of those involved in specific operations. We’d like to make theprocess more automated, data-driven, and intelligent to understand what needs to be prioritized, how best to
manage and execute it, and whether our actions are creating our desired impact.” In some ways, the challenges oforchestrating a project of this scale were commensurate with the size of its ambition. DSV had to fulfill orders fora number of customers, each with their own service level agreements (SLAs) and constraints; develop efficiencies

11for order consolidation and shift planning; and connect business units and systems through an integrated data
flow platform with end-to end visibility. The Kinaxis control tower platform for supply chain orchestration revealed
itself to be uniquely positioned to address these needs because of the solution’s flexibility and end-to-end visibility.
Kinaxis adapted the processes and system landscape that had proven successful in Europe and applied them to
the Plumbago project in South Africa. The system’s parameters can be changed to suit the user’s evolving needs,
whether that means building on a new continent or expanding into a new market. DSV Solutions FMS has proventhat supply chain control tower technology can be scaled to intercontinental global operation.

About Kinaxis Inc.
Navigating supply chain volatility takes agility. Why? Because plans are never perfect. Kinaxis® is the authority
in empowering fast, confident decision-making across the supply chain so people plan better, live better andchange the world. Trusted by top brands, we combine human intelligence with AI and concurrent planning to help
companies plan for any future, monitor risks and opportunities and respond at the pace of change. Powered by anextensible, cloud-based platform, only Kinaxis delivers industry-proven applications so everyone can know sooner,
act faster and remove waste. Don’t believe us? Ask us to prove it. Learn more at Kinaxis.com.

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