MURRAY HOGARTH
About This Project
Murray Hogarth is a contemporary Scottish fashion accessory wholesale and retail business who benefit from a long family history in the textile industry.
Challenge: Client concerns
Having made the decision to bring their warehousing operation back in-house, Murray Hogarth wished to strengthen operational processes and introduce a new order management system. Additionally, they wanted to improve departmental performance, but required some support and assistance in identifying the key problem areas and establishing solutions.
The key challenges were initially in maximising the effectiveness of the new order management system, implementing a warehouse change over during a key trading period, and then evaluating and improving upon the admin and operational processes once the initial changes had time to bed in.
Approach: How we worked
We worked with the Murray Hogarth team to evaluate and analyse current operational processes, including how the existing warehouse provider operated, internal order and stock management approaches, and the reporting that currently took place. This allowed us to gain significant insight into the key issues and helped shape a framework of practical solutions.
Based on this, we constructed a proposal that improved upon the planned warehouse set-up and suggested more efficient time management processes across the operational team.
We provided several days worth of on-site support and produced a set-up and training programme for the warehouse, which specifically focused on maximising workforce productivity and minimising the time that stock remained within the business (by increasing stock turns). We also identified and resolved key issues around the use of the order and stock management system, and provided in-depth training on best practices and reporting.
In addition to this, we also evaluated the relevant teams working at Murray Hogarth, looking at the structure of the team and mapping their skillsets to the evolving needs of the business. This allowed us to ensure the company had the correct team in place to deliver the goals and objectives set out in the companies operational strategy.
Results: Benefits delivered
Our thorough assessment allowed us to implement all new processes quickly and efficiently, which lead to visible results almost immediately. Order dispatch times and stock accuracy improved, which had a positive impact on customer experience. In addition, training and new reporting tools helped ensure that staff across multiple departments were now working towards the same goals.
As a result of the increased efficiencies created, the company was able to reduce operational costs by 27%, delivering a strong return on investment for the project as a whole.