You may not be familiar with the name ‘Refresco’, but this multinational’s products can be found in most stores and households across Europe and North America. In these parts of the world Refresco is the biggest independent bottler for retailers and A-brands. Its supply chain is one of the company’s major assets and supply-chain-related data have become an important business tool.
Worldwide supply chain expertise
Refresco combines the production of retailer brands with contract manufacturing for branded beverage companies on an effective multi-user production platform, enabling customers to benefit from economies of scale and extra services. This production platform covers 59 production sites in Europe, the US, Canada and Mexico, ensuring proximity and a reliable service for end customers. Refresco’s worldwide supply chain expertise and local innovation capabilities enable it to offer an almost unlimited variety of soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages, manufactured to individual customer specifications and requirements.
Cutting costs and reducing CO2 emissions
As a company that has been a member of the Lean & Green CO2 reduction programme for many years, sustainability is an important part of Refresco’s day-to-day activities. Mischa van den Berg is Refresco’s Benelux Customer Service and Operational Freight Manager. In an interview with Lean & Green he explained as follows:
“Sustainability is an important core value of Refresco. As one of the leading suppliers of soft drinks, we are happy to take responsibility for sustainability. Working to cut costs and reduce CO2 emissions within the supply chain creates a win-win situation.”
Refresco on BigMile
Refresco uses the data on its transport movements and related fuel data to look for ways to make improvements within its supply chain. BigMile is the company’s preferred platform. Mischa van den Berg on BigMile:
“BigMile’s real strength is that it allows you to perform a whole series of analyses with relatively little input. And you can do this for each shipment, region or customer. BigMile shows you how you are performing right down to delivery address level – information that a courier is unable to provide. An additional benefit is that the tool is easy to use and generates nice graphics (dashboard) that provide a great deal of insight. For example: what are the twenty best-performing and twenty worst-performing delivery addresses? The calculation method was originally developed to help companies achieve their Lean & Green targets. That’s how we came to hear about BigMile, as at Refresco we didn’t think that a 20% reduction in CO₂ was feasible anymore. The analysis made clear that it was, based on a benchmark with comparable companies.”
