DHL International Supply Chain has developed a purchase order (PO) management and visibility solution for the Swedish home furnishings retailer Mio, assisting them to benefit from increased automation and streamlined management of inbound orders. The solution is intended to provide Mio with more control over inbound orders from eight countries, thereby reducing detention and demurrage costs while improving intake planning for distribution centres. DHL has secured a three-year contract to implement and continually optimize the solution. With end-to-end visibility, DHL believes Mio will attain better control at destination and improve operational processes.
Mio is a leading Swedish retail chain for furniture and home furnishings that has been operating for nearly 60 years. With e-commerce and over 70 store locations in Sweden, Mio generated sales of $644m in 2018.
DHL will provide PO management and visibility for approximately 4,500 TEU shipping containers coming to Sweden from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Indonesia, and Taiwan. DHL’s solution promises to give Mio more control by allowing exceptions so that orders may be sped up or slowed down as needed.
In addition to managing day-to-day origin and destination operations, DHL International Supply Chain will provide Mio with a suite of bespoke reports, highlighting areas for improvement. Using these reports, DHL’s experts will continually develop Mio’s solution to ensure a smooth and efficient supply chain flow.
The PO management and visibility solution enables Mio and its logistics partners to plan and execute the movement of shipments from the port into Mio’s warehousing network via multiple modes. Visibility extends to all partners with Mio attaining control over intake demands earlier in the process and proactively controlling the impacts of demurrage and detention. Further projects in the joint development pipeline between DHL and Mio include port rationalization and CFS conversion projects to reduce overall shipment count and costs.
Source: DHL
