Pacific Brands manages ‘Everyday Essential Brands’, marketing some of the most recognised brands in Australia and New Zealand including Bonds, Sheridan, Yakka, Slazenger and Hush Puppies.
The company says its commitment to market leadership has consistently provided number one or two positions across its major product categories in Australia.
In the 2007 Financial Year, Pacific Brands shipped more than 300 million units to more than 23,000 customers.
This included the shipping of 15,000 containers making the company one of the largest movers of shipping containers into Australia.
A branded goods logistics supplier, Pacific Brands commands volume and scale in sourcing, shipping, product movements and domestic operations.
Around one third of the company’s products are manufactured locally.
Pacific Brands has 24 internal and 13 external Distribution Centres, including those from the recent acquisition of the Yakka Group.
Of its 9,000 employees in 8 countries, more than 1,400 people work in the supply chain area.
According to Logistics general manager Tim Hossack, the key challenge to suppliers in the apparel industry is to improve responsiveness, increase speed to market and add value to remain relevant to the ever-increasing rate of change in consumer tastes.
“The overall strategic direction for Pacific Brands’ logistics function is to increase such responsiveness through accountability, delivery accuracy and delivery speed to retailers,” he says.
“We aim to gain greater control of goods from the source to the store.”
“What Pacific Brands has been increasingly successful in achieving is greater supply chain integration with customers for mutual benefit,” Hossack adds.
“The establishment of collaborative forecasting and vendor managed inventory with our retailers are two such areas where great benefit has been obtained.”
As Pacific Brands develops and owns many of its logistics IT systems, Hossack says significant value can be driven through lower costs and the ability to quickly adapt the company’s logistics IT requirements to meet changing customer needs.
“We have the flexibility to make ongoing improvements, and integrate the supply chains of new businesses as they are acquired,” he says.
“In some businesses, Pacific Brands operates a ‘Touch Free’ supply chain. This is one where the product goes from manufacturer to the customer’s warehouse without going through a Pacific Brands facility or being “touched” by a Pacific Brands employee,” Hossack explains.
“With the growing use of supplier warehouses in China, “touch free” supply chains are now a more frequently employed supply method.”
“The “Touch Free” supply chain is one example of how Pacific Brands focuses on owning the supply chain Intellectual Property rather than the associated infrastructure,” Hossack enthuses.
The ever-increasing scale of Pacific Brands provides many opportunities to increase value.
“We continue to extend our resources in Asia (particularly in Southern China and Shanghai) and are focusing on consolidating our 500 finished goods suppliers to maximise our scale benefits,” Hossack says.
In addition, Tim Hossack believes value driven supply chain excellence is achieved by attracting and retaining the best people and investing in ongoing training and development.
“Progressive retailers have been quick to partner with Pacific Brands to stay at the forefront in supply chain technology,” he says.
“Seamless and instant data collaboration all the way through the value chain increases responsiveness and accuracy.”