Case study
Driving continuous improvements for Procter & Gamble
Customer
Procter & Gamble (P&G), a global producer
of home and personal care products.
Challenge
To operate an automated warehouse, set
up by the client adjacent to its factory
in West Thurrock as a Southern Service
Centre (SSC). The aim is to provide a
flexible, efficient service to the client’s retail
customers.
Result
The operation has met and exceeded the
key performance indicators specified in the
contract. Wincanton has demonstrated a
commitment to continuous improvement and
the site was awarded Global Benchmark
Status for Quality Assurance in P&G’s
internal auditing procedures.
The customer
P&G sells a wide range of home and personal care products in the UK. Its factory in West
Thurrock produces a number of brands, including Fairy washing-up liquid and several washing
powders, and is one of a number of production units it operates across Europe.
The need
P&G built the SSC in 2002 and then appointed Wincanton to operate the facility on its behalf.
The storage area of the warehouse uses a high degree of automation to put away pallets of
product and to retrieve them when they are needed by customers. Wincanton is responsible
for:
• Managing the movement within the warehouse of products manufactured in West
Thurrock and those coming in from Europe
• Handling bulk orders for retailers, as well as picking orders to create mixed pallets of
product
• Moving pallets to despatch lanes, known as staging lanes. The pallets are then built up
into loads for retailers’ distribution centres or for direct-to-store deliveries
There is also an exports centre operated by P&G in another facility in West Thurrock. This
is used for sending products manufactured locally to other P&G operating companies in
Europe.
The solution
The SSC has grown in throughput since the P&G’s purchase of Wella and Gillette and the site
has recently been extended, doubling its storage and picking capabilities.
In addition to the main contract, Wincanton operates a ‘product manipulation’ centre for fabric
and homecare products where added-value work is carried out. For example, if there are ‘triple
pack’ promotions or ‘2-for-1’ offers, cases can be broken down into individual units and then
repackaged into the required quantities. In recent months, the health and beauty care product
ranges have also been added to the product manipulation contract.
A one-team approach is used to manage the operation. The team is responsible for making
sure the site performs well in the key areas of health & safety, quality, service and cost. There
are daily operational meetings as well as monthly and quarterly discussions at a more strategic
level.
The results
The SSC has succeeded in maintaining high levels of performance, something that has
brought internal recognition in Quality Assurance from P&G, which benchmarks its sites across
the world.
P&G’s internal auditors were particularly impressed with health & safety procedures and
with the one-team approach and commented that it was ‘impossible to differentiate between
contractor and customer’. The success of the SSC has also been recognised by a secondment
scheme where a member of the distribution centre team has been temporarily placed in the
factory’s receiving areas, to help spread best practice.
www.wincanton.co.uk
 “The West Thurrock operation is a high quality one. Wincanton is committed to continuous improvement and makes every effort to exceed the
We expect both a basic service from our 3PL in terms KPIs it has been set on the contract. It has been particularly successful in the most important of
of delivering the KPIs we have set and to benefit these, known as ‘Shipment Defects’, which measures the percentage of products not delivered
from their broader expertise in other markets. We on time, in the right quantity and undamaged.
want them to help us develop the overall efficiency
Although the operation is automated, people play a vital part in making it successful, as once
of the supply chain, which requires a partnership
the products come out of the storage area there is a high degree of manual intervention.
approach and high degree of flexibility on their part.
Warehouse teams are briefed and debriefed before and after their shifts and there is constant
Wincanton have been successful in making sure
communication about the aims of the operation and current levels of success. Initiatives in
that taking a pride in delivering better and better
this area include a reward and recognition scheme for outstanding individual performance or
results is something that pervades right through their
improvement ideas and messages reinforcing key issues being placed around the facility.
organisation.”
Chris Poole, European Physical Distribution
Director, Procter & Gamble

Wincanton
Methuen Park
Chippenham
Wiltshire
United Kingdom
SN14 0WT
Tel: +44 (0) 1249 710 000
Fax: +44 (0) 1249 710 001
Email: enquiries@wincanton.co.uk

www.wincanton.co.uk