Through joint workshops, Kinara and Grab came up with a three-stage plan:

Stage 1: Standardisation

A full review of each market needs, expectations, and wants was conducted, as well as an audit of existing bag designs. A gap analysis allowed teams to identify the most important market concerns and to standardise the bag designs across markets to meet those needs. This resulted in a significant reduction in the number of bag designs but overall an improvement in functionality.

Having a standardisation of products ensures consistency and one efficient, centralised process for manufacture. The negatives mean that there is less for ad-hoc adjustments and bespoke tweaks to products, or market-specific branding.

Stage 2: Consolidation

Bringing together data across the markets, allowed for central control of forecasting, an understanding of regional priorities, and a simplified ordering process. With better visibility of future requirements, there was the ability to plan the manufacturing better and ensure no expensive air freights needed for last-minute market launches.

Stage 3: Just-In-Time Manufacturing, Warehousing and Distribution

Once the data was under control, Kinara implemented best practices for JIT manufacturing and centralised a warehouse for stock management on behalf of Grab. Local market teams could then place orders for a drawdown of the stock from Kinara.

Having an established Just-In-Time model in place has many advantages. Clients don’t have capital tied up in stock. No excessive manufacturing – which can increase costs as resources like labour, materials, and storage add up. By using a just-in-time model, each step of the process is only performed when the specific requirement is there. This process also increases efficiency as all resources are working to exact order quantities.

In order to deliver on the above, Kinara had to work very closely with the factories to ensure that they understood the way of working and were able to adapt to production needs as required.

To ensure the security of supply, Kinara would hold buffer stock on behalf of Grab in the central warehouse and only bill once bags are ordered.

To find out more about our JIT warehousing and distribution solutions please contact us at info@kinaraexports.com