Energy Magazine August 2019 | Page 18

SHELL

18

limited just to our internal supply chain . It is clearly visible in our extended supply through to our suppliers .

“ A strategy based around simply being “ better ” at forecasting was simply not going to be viable in the long term . Working harder with our traditional MRP processes and tools would not be enough . We had taken almost all the low hanging fruits already .”

With 40 lube oil blending , base oil and grease manufacturing plants , Shell Lubricants fills over 2mn bottles a day , and undertakes 30mn deliveries a year to direct customers and distributors .

“ We ’ re also supporting the marine business , as well as 10,000 ocean-going vessels that carry Shell lubricants at any time . So , just in terms of scaling that , they ’ re just huge numbers ,” he explained .

In 2015 , Lynch sought to look at the advantages of demand-driven planning , which would seek to sidestep such pressures routinely seen within traditional forecast driven methods and enhance Shell Lubricants ’ supply chain capabilities .

By implementing strategic inventory buffers , typically in areas where inventory is already held , demand-driven planning works to decouple the supply chain , breaking down traditional MRP processes which create a bullwhip effect .

“ You see this happening where you have a slight change in demand on one end of the supply chain , and by the time that has been filtered through all of the different replenishment calculations that go all the way along the supply chain , the variation that people at the end of the supply chain feel is significant ,” explained Lynch .

“ We use inventory buffers to therefore break this effect in the supply

AUGUST 2019