More space and productivity
Elisabeth Groult
Logistics site manager Hachette Livre
Hachette Livre has a major logistics hub in Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire (Loire-Atlantique). Responsible for receiving books, stocking and shipping them to customers, the site increased in sze in 2006 from 6 000 to 8500 m2, which created space for a new publisher such as Larousse and thus increase its capacities.
With 28 employees, this platform now manages 63,000 titles, that is to say a stock of 2.3 million volumes. This change of scale has not resulted in an increase in the workforce thanks to a radical change in management.
"From a storage system in alphabetical order, we moved to another based on sales. It is now the best-selling books that are most accessible," says Elisabeth Groult, the site manager.
To accomplish this switch, however, a new computer tool had to be designed. This mission was entrusted to four students from the Ecole des Mines de Nantes, as part of a project. Study of Methods and Industrial Processes "EMPI". Based on existing systems, they have developed software that now allows all employees to chack the stock status and location of books. Elizabeth Groult recognizes that their contribution was decisive: "They have shown great adaptability and were quick to undestand our computer tools."
With the new classification system and software created by thestudents, this logistics platform was able to increase its area by 41% while the distances remained the same.
