“Menlo, globally, has seen a marked demand for 4PL services by companies which have acquired multiple operating units or are struggling to drive out waste through LEAN methodologies. Menlo is executing 4PL supply chain teams in China where we do not act as a 3PL,†she says.
Goldberg says Menlo works with a number of highly vetted partners. “We are also developing long term strategies which will help us to fulfill end-to-end supply chain execution,†she adds.
Asked about challenges of fragmentation in the China market, Goldberg agrees that it is challenging, but points out that many of the constraints can be removed through the deployment of effective LEAN strategies toward operational execution.
“Those strategies are centered on early data capture, strategic procurement, engineered networks, and leveraging the extensive footprint we acquired through our 2007 acquisition. We areworking with our clients, developers, and regional inland and seaport developmentteams to leverage current and emerginginfrastructure,†Goldberg says, addingthat the company executes distributionsolutions through various modesincluding, rail, barge, air freight, andtruck transport.
Progress in China
As far as the company is concerned,Menlo China is tracking to plan. “We initially found the fragmented networksto be a solution based constraint.(Since then), we have developed astrategy to leverage the fragmentednetwork into manageable network thatfulfills the market requirement for costcompetitiveness and service,†Goldbergsays.
“We are not advocates of a “cookie cutter†approach but LEAN process methodologies, such as supply chain value stream mapping, have yielded useful templates for serving the China market,†comments Goldberg.
Menlo, which presently services clients from Guangdong to Xinjiang and Heilongjiang to Yunnan, is in talks with sponsors of the inland port locations of Chengdu and Xi’an to better understand the vision and current opportunities.
In order to further strengthen its Greater China activities, Menlo has also recently appointed Leong Choong Cheng as its senior director of Business Development responsible for the region. An experienced industry professional, Leong will focus on engineering solutions, account management, sales and marketing.
Although Menlo is based in Shanghai, the company’s presence in over 100 locations nationwide enables it to serve the whole Mainland China market. To further develop their China presence, Menlo is investing and placing resources inland to develop services for companies in the interior.
“We are using various means of providing track and trace. We will be migrating later this year to Oracle Transportation Management. An important aspect of track and trace is not just the proof of delivery. The value is extracted by mining the data and using LEAN and Six Sigma skills to identify and correct system failures at the root cause,†Goldberg says.
Menlo, which has branch offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi’an, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and plans to, among others, add a branch office in Fujian.
Menlo Worldwide Logistics has operations throughout North America and strategic points in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America, and manages 1.6 million square meters of warehouse space and handles over three million shipments per year.