I stepped into a rather posh chocolate shop today (dark chocolate, my weakness...). This is a chain of stores. They have a product called Liquorice Bows. They have always been bow shaped and rather thin at one end. Not cheap either - 3 packets for $23.

Today when I picked up the precious packet off the shelf, already imagining sinking my teeth into that delectable soft liquorice under the cracking of the hard dark chocolate coating, I noticed that they are no longer that elusive and unique semicircle of my desire.

I was asked today by a retail assistant ‘Have you finished all your Christmas shopping?’ and I thought ‘Finished? I haven‘t even started’. The truth is the reason I have not even started is that I have been busy working with my clients helping to fine-tune their Supply Chains so they can best service their customers. What I also didn’t want her to know is that my Christmas shopping is done at 2 am on a Saturday morning sitting in pyjamas on the couch in the privacy of my computer while my husband sleeps with his head on my lap.

A Distribution Centre is critical to your business operations. DC’s are the epicentre of value creation - they fulfill customers’ orders and have a real impact on the level of customer service in terms of speed, accuracy and cost. So it is no surprise that DC operations have attracted a lot of attention in recent years as businesses are looking for ways to maximise the value delivered to their customers and minimise waste.

There is a multitude of ways to improve operational performance of a DC, but here are the 3 most common ways to achieve quick gains: