Value Logistics Wins LAA Gold Award for Excellence in Logistics

One of South Africa’s largest logistics service providers, the Value Group, was recognised with a Gold Award at the recent 20th annual Logistics Achiever Awards for Excellence in Logistics. Value Group gained credit for the major restructuring of its transport (including truck and van hire) and distribution business to align with current market needs.

The Value Group was born from Value Truck Rental, founded in 1981 by group CEO, Steven Gottschalk, and was listed on the JSE, Transport Section, in 1998. Today the Value Group employs over 5000 staff, operates a fleet of more than 4500 vehicles and has become the supply chain partner of choice for many of South Africa’s leading brands.

By 2003 Value Logistics were operating eight warehouse facilities and two Hubs, situated mainly in the East Rand area of Gauteng, a line haul division in Germiston and a transport division in Isando. The 12 facilities comprised a total area of 83 500 m² with 25 000 m² of parking.

Spiraling costs compounded with the challenge of security issues, difficulty in routing and planning, inadequate product consolidation visibility to leverage economies of scale, soaring labour costs and the high cost of shuttling product between the facilities prompted Value Logistics to investigate possible solutions to these problems.

Researching the design of the new facility spanned more than two years with meticulous planning and input from various role players, and included visits to world-class facilities in Europe and the UK to ensure best-of-breed in warehouse design.

The solution resulted in the birth of Value City, Tunney, a centralised supply chain metropolis developed on 264 000 m² land and 91 457 m² of warehousing, hub space, transport offices and administration offices.

On an average business day the throughput of parcels is 49 000 and during peak it reaches 70 000 parcels per day. There are 10 000 drop points that are serviced from this facility weekly.

The main buildings were designed to be on one level to ensure the hub and the two warehouse facilities operated on one platform. The earthworks alone took one year to complete.

There is a daily flow of 1 600 vehicles through the facility. Every aspect has been catered for, including ample turn-around space for vehicles, so eliminating bottlenecks and traffic congestion.

The main buildings impress in size; interlinking tunnels facilitate movement of product from the warehouse to the Hub and Crossdock, utilising material handling equipment to alleviate vehicle shuttling costs. Careful planning of consolidated loads through visibility and control, supported by technology, under one roof has been advantageous to both Value Logistics and its customers, enhancing a strong partnership approach.

The transport and truck rental divisions are also located on these premises, which alleviates travel costs when vehicles are required to load at this facility.

 

Today, Value City reinforces The Value Group’s position as one of South Africa’s largest and most comprehensive transport (Truck and Van Hire) and logistics service providers.