Factory Expansion

Strategic review of  East African product distribution channel efficiency resulted in the decision to relocate production facilities at a sister company in a neighboring country.

The Challenge

The company is a major (family owned) multinational business with production facilities in numerous countries and distribution centres in other, sister, country operations. The East African business effectively had two factories and packaging facilities and distributed finished good products to five or six neighboring countries. The challenge was to manage costs and the notoriously inefficient port and clearance lead times in order to satisfy raw material imports and efficient finished good exports. The major issue in Kenya was the additional challenge of poor road infrastructure and the significant distance between the factory in Nairobi and the port facilities in Mombasa.

The Solution

The solution was to reposition the Tanzania factory as the regional production and distribution hub. This entailed the construction of adjoining factory floor space at the factory premises in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and the decommissioning, relocation, and re-commissioning of the plant into the newly expanded premises. Major areas of focus were:

• Construction project management to expand the factory premises
• Supply continuity in distribution channels
• Shut-down and re-start personnel, hand-over training and QC
• Plant relocation logistics and customs documentation
• Gearing for step up of inventories, staff and raw material requirements in new factory

The Benefits

The benefits of this major project were realized due to a focus on all areas of the project plan. Starting with the full financial analysis in the strategic planning and project implementation and critical timeline management through to the on-time delivery of finished goods to the customers once the relocation was completed.