Cinram carries out warehouse clearance and transition
When Delta Leisure Group, the UK-based music and home entertainment distributor, went into administration and ceased its operations at the end of September, all physical stock was acquired by publisher and distributor Reader’s Digest.
Its supply chain provider Cinram was called upon to assist with the urgent warehouse clearance and transition, distribution and reintegration of the stock.
The objective was to clear the Delta warehouse, holding close to a million units of stock across 1,700 SKUs, and integrate it into Reader’s Digest’s existing portfolio at Cinram’s Aylesbury DC or into its D2C fulfillment centre in Guernsey within two weeks. This exercise comes at a time when Cinram’s Aylesbury operations are gearing up for their own busiest time of the year in Q4, during which volumes triple and a huge 44% of their annual capacity is processed.
Within 48 hours, Cinram’s project Manager Alec Thomas arrived on site at Delta Leisure’s Dartford DC to manage the transition. “The project had a number of hurdles to overcome”, reflects Thomas, “no system, an out of date stock file, no hardware, no staff and no material handling equipment.” Forklifts and pallet stackers had already been sold by the administrators, a fact the Cinram team wasn’t aware of until the new buyer arrived to collect it on the first day on site.
“We quickly assessed the situation and developed a simple and effective solution. With laptops acting as inventory and despatch system, another as the carton labeller, we managed to repack stock back into original cartons, collate loads to their various destinations and even despatch a few orders in the mix. Overall we managed to pick, pack and ship the stock out within the limited window available.”
Cinram is no stranger to this type of Disaster Recovery scenario, having stepped in to provide a full DR solution to fellow logistics company Sony DADC following the destruction of their Enfield DC during the 2011 London Riots. Despite the utter devastation faced by Sony DADC, it was able to resume operations for its key client accounts within a few days, thanks largely to Cinram’s long-term disaster recovery plan that supports additional operational and IT infrastructure and resources for this exact eventuality.
Says Gary Hopkins, CEO of Reader’s Digest: “This deal was done within a very short time frame following which the Delta warehouse had to be cleared within just a couple of weeks. The Cinram team was headed up on site by Alec Thomas, and I can only describe what he managed to achieve in the limited time as ‘miraculous’. To say that I was impressed by what Cinram achieved for us would be an understatement. This is not the first time we have done this sort of deal, and hope to do others in the future, and again we will work side by side with the amazing Cinram team.”
