Komatsu syncs supply chain with NYK Logistics and Manhattan Associates

Jean-Marc Leblond, sales director and project manager at Komatsu, says: “We needed an advanced supply chain solution to support the rapid development of Komatsu’s business in France, as well as the rest of Europe. Equally [it needed to] handle the demanding nature of our dealers’ orders, which rely on us having complete visibility of inventory and our operational processes.” He says that the joint NYK Logistics and Manhattan Associates solution only allowed Komatsu to meet these objectives but also streamline its entire supply chain operation. That was the result of introducing techniques, such as flow management that have improved the speed of goods shipping. “Within the first few weeks of go-live, we saw immediate benefits,” he continues. “While the order-to-delivery cycle time previously required several days, we are now able to guarantee that any order sent before 5pm will be delivered next day before 8am.” And that’s some achievement, says Marc Richard, support director at NYK Logistics France. “Komatsu sought a solution that was orientated around optimised information processes, rather than meeting just the volume objectives of a classic fulfilment operation. “Additionally, Komatsu wanted us to work with a WMS [warehouse management solution] provider that would allow us to easily and rapidly replicate the new supply chain model in other regions of Europe. This first project has been a great success and we look forward to continuing to work alongside Manhattan Associates to support Komatsu in France as well as other countries across Europe.” Manhattan Associates’ WMS is effectively running a Komatsu-dedicated section of a large NYK Logistics distribution hub in South-West France – part of NYK Logistics’ Parc des Chênes site in Saint Quentin Fallavier, near Lyon. The broader European initiative will replace Komatsu’s existing centralised distribution model, which revolves around a single European distribution centre, located in Belgium.