Complexity and challenges
To analyze the transportations done during a time period to obtain KPI for transport efficiency is valuable to determine how to better plan for future improvements, identifying inefficiencies and where to allocate resource to reduce costs. SCA is Europe’s largest private forest owner with 2.6 million hectares of forest in northern Sweden. With this resource, SCA has developed an industry that can refine the forest in several stages. SCA therefore has control over the entire supply chain. The supply chain includes their own sawmills, paper and pulp mills. As a mean to enhance its processes, SCA wants to evaluate transportation efficiency and create a KPI for better understanding and basis for improvement in logistics structure.
Solution
By actively using the Woodflow Analyzer, SCA can evaluate and analyze transports performed over a certain period of time on a weekly basis. Using information on loading and unloading, delivery date, assortment and quantity, Woodflow Analyzer calculates a theoretically optimal logistics solution that is compared with the actual transports performed. The difference between reality and optimum is the only way to calculate transport efficiency because the conditions for the real transports are constantly changing. Comparing average transport distances or average cost between weeks for example, does not give a relevant key figure because the reality differs between the weeks. On the other hand, comparing the actual outcome with what is theoretically optimal for the same period makes it possible to create a key figure that is comparable over time. The percentage difference between reality and the theoretically optimal is a valuable KPI to use in comparisons between different time periods and regions. Woodflow Analyzer is also an excellent analysis tool for identifying potential improvements in planning and decision making.
“We have integrated Woodflow Analyzer into our business system so that every week we easily and automatically get key figures for the previous week’s transport efficiency. This means that we can constantly not only monitor the efficiency of our deliveries but can also work actively with improvements.”
Henrik Sakari, SCA
More about Woodflow Analyzer
Woodflow Analyzer is an advanced tool for transport follow up. By using information on real transports and comparing them with an optimal solution of the same volumes, Analyzer calculates the transport efficiency. Analyzer calculates the theoretical savings potential under given conditions and allows companies to create key performance indicators for transport efficiency. The flexibility of Analyzer is high with e.g. selectable period aggregation (day, week, month, quarter and year) and geographical aggregation for supply-areas (grid 1 km, grid 5 km and grid 10 km) and optional considerations for bucked timber and more.
“We have integrated Woodflow Analyzer into our business system so that every week we easily and automatically get key figures for the previous week’s transport efficiency. This means that we can constantly not only monitor the efficiency of our deliveries but can also work actively with improvements.”
Henrik Sakari
