英國天美百達集團

出自 MBA智库百科(https://wiki.mbalib.com/)

英國天美百達集團網站:http://www.tibbett-britten.com/

　　1958年，天美百達集團成立，總部設在英國，是全球最大的主營消費品的第三方物流公司之一，同行業第七位。集團主要從事多種模式的3PL及4PL服務。

　　天美百達集團在五大洲的33個國家都設有分部及機構，員工數目33000人，其中僅在英國就有6個分部，如FMCG物流供應部、製造業物流供應部、歐洲技術物流供應部、歐洲紡織品物流供應部等。

　　據英國天美百達集團主席約翰·哈維介紹，天美百達的宗旨是與客戶發展伙伴性關係，並通過在不同國家和行業之間引進經驗和轉讓客戶特許權，以鞏固其在合同物流和供應鏈管理方面的國際領先地位。他說，天美百達的物流業務，91%以上都是合同物流，主要集中在食品、雜貨、服裝、消耗裝置以及汽車領域。2002 年，它的營業總收入高達15億英鎊(24億歐元，這些收入中，78%來自零售商，22%來自供應商。　

　　1998年，天美百達集團在中國設立了中英合資公司——和黃天百物流(中國)公司。作為一個3PL專家，天美百達自進入中國市場以來，業務發展迅速，如今在香港、上海、北京、天津、齊齊哈爾、成都、廣州和深圳等地共設立了10個分支機構，各式運輸車2200輛，向400個城市交付商品。而在中國國內的零售業客戶中，它擁有諸如沃爾瑪、物美、華普超市等一大批著名企業。

　　約翰·哈維以天美百達在海外的物流經驗，從地理位置與距離、物流的複雜程度、所有權的集中度、交付界面的規程，以及技術等方面，介紹了中外零售物流之間的差異。　

　　1、地理位置與距離上有很大差異。在中國，一個省的面積，往往就相當於歐洲一個國家的面積。　

　　2、物流的複雜程度不同。以約·聖斯伯雷-2003供應鏈條概念為例，現在西方零售商的物流比中國的要複雜得多。　

　　3、所有權的集中度不同。西方零售商已經成為供應鏈條的控制方。例如在美國，前10位雜貨店占了整個全國市場的96%，而中國所有綜合零售商，卻只占有全國市場份額的5.7%。　

　　4、交付界面的規程不同。以零售商的倉庫交付方式為例，歐洲推行“最後50米”交付與“零售單觸式”交付，一個物流工作人員往往能夠通過堆垛推移同時控制較大範圍、大量的貨物，而這種高效的倉庫交付方式目前在中國還未曾實現。　

　　5、技術差異。西方國家零售業物流中，商品都要進行精密包裝，條形碼掃描與聲音識別的普及率很高，但這些技術目前在中國還處在起步階段。　

　　此外，歐洲4PL進站管理也開始興起。和黃天百作為一個4PL管理人，也在中國建立了多模式跨國界的4PL跨碼頭網路。　

　　約翰·哈維說，中國加入WTO後，多個領域降低關稅，這就意味著海外零售商的進貨渠道增加了，於是諸如沃爾瑪、家樂福、歐尚、麥德龍等國際零售巨頭紛紛將生產和地區供應遷移到中國來，他們在海外的規程、質量、包裝、存儲和合併等方面的先進技術和經營理念隨之被引進中國。中國物流由此成為了全球供應鏈上的一個重要環節。而國際零售商們憑藉他們在價格、質量等方面的競爭優勢，在全球供應鏈條中處於一種控制地位，因此也可能對供應商施加壓力，這表現在他們在改善貨架的上貨率、降低庫存率方面，可能對供應商提出更高的物流要求。哈維並不隱諱天美百達在這方面的經歷。他說，天美百達也曾遇到過幾次來自零售商的物流壓力，不過關鍵是平衡問題。通過利益平衡，天美百達解決了與零售商的矛盾並實現了持續合作。　

　　約翰·哈維認為，海外經驗對於中國具有重要的借鑒意義，但由於中外零售物流存在諸多差異，因此，中國企業應有選擇地引進先進技術而不是照搬，要有一個“去粗取精”的過程。天美百達在中國的實踐

　　天美百達以供應鏈為焦點的服務，通過和黃天百在中國的服務得以實現，包括倉庫與存貨管理、銷售商合併、重新包裝和促俏包裝等增值服務，運輸與分銷、國際供應鏈條管理、理貨與報關、系統方法與綜合，實踐4PL管理服務。而在這些服務過程中，其功能強大的IT解決方案ISC2000，實在是功不可沒。

　　對於天美百達在中國業已取得的成績，約翰·哈維提供了一組最新數據。他說，無論是按時交付率、完成訂單率，還是組裝準確率，天美百達在中國的物流效率都是很高的。

　　Fast-moving Tibbett & Britten Group plc is one of the world's leading logistics companies offering warehousing, distribution, and logistical support services, including 'pre-retailing' services. Market leader in the United Kingdom, Canada, and South Africa, Tibbett & Britten has also captured strong shares in the United States, European, African, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern markets. Tibbett & Britten's more than 30,000 employees operate in 25 countries, with a focus on the 'fast-moving consumer goods' (FMCG) segment. Building on its original specialty as a clothing transporter, Tibbett & Britten's primary business comes from the food, consumer goods, clothing and textile, and automobile and light van transportation sectors. The company offers more than 400 warehousing facilities providing some 2.8 million square meters. Tibbett & Britten's fleet of more than 8,500 vehicles operates almost entirely under its clients' colors, spanning the range of major retailers and manufacturers, including Asda, Brooks Brothers, C & A, Marks and Spencer, Black & Decker, Colgate-Palmolive, Compaq, Next, Nestlé, Nissan, Sainsbury, Sears, Wal-Mart, and Reebok. Over 90 percent of the company's business comes from long-term and short-term contracts. In addition to its client-oriented logistics services, Tibbett & Britten is also a major European multi-modal (road and rail) logistics provider. Tibbett & Britten continues to be led by chairman John Harvey, who joined the company in 1969 and has been the chief architect of its growth. Since the mid-1980s, Tibbett & Britten has posted a 25 percent compounded annual growth record; since the beginning of the 1990s, Tibbett & Britten's annual revenues have multiplied by nearly five times.

　　John Tibbett began making deliveries in the 1950s, and by the middle of the decade had begun to specialize in transporting clothing from London's East End garment district to retailers in the city's West End. Tibbett's clothing specialty led him to pioneer new methods of transporting garments. Instead of the traditional method of placing clothing in boxes for transport--which required that the clothing not only be taken out of the boxes again but also often that they be ironed for retail presentation--Tibbett outfitted his tiny fleet of trucks to carry the clothing on hangers. By eliminating the need for boxes, Tibbett also enabled his retailer clients to save on storage space--releasing more of their stores for selling space. The savings in cost and time enabled Tibbett to win a loyal clientele. By 1958, Tibbett had been joined by Frank Britten, and the partners incorporated the company as Tibbett & Britten.

　　Tibbett & Britten remained a small affair, operating out of a converted house in Leytonstone. While the company began to take on new employees, and expand its fleet to ten vehicles by the end of the 1960s, for much of the decade it was forced to rent out a room on the upper floor of the house, using this rent money to pay the company's utilities bills. When the company took on its first storage contract, however, its days as landlord were ended. The company began a steady expansion through the 1960s, winning a contract to provide logistics services to a chain of retail fashion shops. Tibbett & Britten opened a new depot in London's Docklands district, as the company built up its fleet of trucks.

　　During this time, Tibbett & Britten had met up with John Harvey, then chief of Unilever's U.K.-based distribution division, SPD, located nearby. By the end of the 1960s, Tibbett & Britten was looking to expand its operations. In order to finance its expansion, Harvey arranged for Unilever, through SPD, together with Dutch transporter Van Gend & Loos (VGL), to each buy 37.5 percent of Tibbett & Britten, while Tibbett & Britten held on to the remaining 25 percent. The SPD/VGL purchase--meant to diversify Unilever's distribution business beyond its core grocery operationsenabled Tibbett & Britten not only to expand its operations, but also to become a more professionally organized business.

　　By the 1970s, Tibbett & Britten had moved to new headquarters, in Tottenham (its Docklands headquarters had been a garden shed next to the main depot). Strong investment from its new partners enabled the company to expand rapidly during the decades, opening a number of new depots and warehouses, and to take on larger scale contracts from a wider range of customers. Before long, Tibbett & Britten had established itself as a nationally based company, and the first to offer nationwide hanging garment distribution. The company then reformed itself into two divisions, National, and International, which initially focused on allowing the company to enter continental European markets. Both divisions remained specialized on clothing and textile distribution.

　　A big boost for the company came when it won a contract to take on distribution work for Marks & Spencer in 1973. The contract, which named Tibbett & Britten as the retailers' exclusive distributor of hanging mens' garments, was extended in 1978, to cover womens' garments as well, placing Tibbett & Britten as the exclusive distributor of the famed British retailer's hanging garment stock. Between 1978 and 1981, the Marks and Spencer contract enabled Tibbett & Britten's revenues to double, and by 1982, the Marks & Spencer contract provided more than 50 percent of Tibbett & Britten's annual sales of £24 million.

　　Marks & Spencer soon asked Tibbett & Britten to take over all of its hanging garment distribution for its stores and its suppliers, and to build a dedicated depot and distribution network to service this contract. Tibbett & Britten agreed, and in January 1983 the company launched a third division, Transcare, dedicated to its Marks & Spencer business. Establishment of Transcare involved an extensive reorganization on Tibbett & Britten's part, including the opening of new depots, investment in new machinery and handling equipment, and the expansion of the company's fleet of tractor trailers. The investment proved a heavy one, particularly as it came during the economic downswing that marked the early years of the 1980s, and Tibbett & Britten soon found its profits under pressure. By 1983, the company faced a net loss of nearly £800,000.

　　Tibbett & Britten faced a different transformation in the same year as the Transcare launch. Unilever made the decision to exit its transport operations in 1983; in that year, SPD and VGL decided to end their investment in the Tibbett & Britten partnership. SPD Chairman John Harvey was given the opportunity to lead Tibbett & Britten's management in a management buyout. The buyout was accomplished in December 1984.

　　Harvey moved first to consolidate the company's clothing distribution operations, reducing expenses in order to bring the company back into profitability. Tibbett & Britten next turned to an analysis of its future expansion. During the company's partnership with VGL and SPD, Tibbett & Britten had not only gained a great deal of investment in technology and operating systems, but had also built up a strong management team with a diversified distribution background. The company determined to put that experience to work, opening out its operations to the wider FMCG market. While the company's Marks and Spencer contract continued to grow, including the design, construction, and operation of a regional distribution center for the retailer in Essex, Tibbett & Britten reorganized to put into place the infrastructure for its diversification into other distribution markets. By 1984, Tibbett & Britten once again showed net profits on the year.

　　The company established two new divisions in 1986. The first, Dartford Securities Ltd., was established in order to extend its Marks and Spencer business, with new large-scale multi-product warehouses. After opening the first regional distribution center in 1986, the company added two more in 1990 and a fourth in 1991. A second division, Retail Consolidation Services, was created to service the company's other contract clients, built around an IBM-dedicated central warehouse in Milton Keynes, and quickly adding a distribution center in Whitwood, acquired from Unilever. That acquisition also gave the company a seven-year contract to stock and distribute the toiletry and personal care product line of Elida Gibbs. This contract, renewed in 1994, provided the basis of the company's further expansion in this product category.

　　In order to fund these investments, Tibbett & Britten took a listing on the London stock exchange in 1986. The public offering marked the start of a long period of expansion, which saw the company grow from a base of less than 1,500 employees and sales of just over £32 million in the mid-1980s, to a leading international company of some 20,000 employees and annual sales of more than £1.1 billion at the end of the 1990s.

　　Tibbett & Britten was aided by the changing nature of the retail business. Under pressure from a difficult economic climate and from tightening competition, as well as spiraling real estate costs, retailers also confronted a changing consumer landscape as well. Consumer purchases turned more and more toward so-called 'lifestyle' purchases, with a resulting new volatility in trends and fashions. Retailers in turn reduced back stock, introducing just-in-time delivery practices that required tighter ordering and delivery coordination. At the same time, the growing number of major and globally operating retail chains demanded internationally based distribution systems. Rather than investing in adapting their own distribution divisions to this new market reality, retailers turned to specialized third parties to handle their logistics needs. Tibbett & Britten found itself well-placed to attract this new wave of clients.

　　The company continued to invest in new facilities, while diversifying its operations to include distribution of new product types and new logistics services. Tibbett & Britten also began making acquisitions, adding the pre-retailing services--such as tagging and labeling, etc.--of International Garment Services Ltd. and two 100,000-square-foot Woolworth distribution centers (subsequently contracted back to Woolworth Corporation) in 1988. The following year saw the signing on of a number of new major clients, including Colgate-Palmolive, Black & Decker, and supermarketers Asda and Sainsbury. In September 1989, Tibbett & Britten acquired Lowfield Distribution, with its seven grocery-oriented distribution sites. This purchase was followed by the company's entry into the North American market, with the establishment of its Transcare Inc. Canadian subsidiary in Toronto.

　　Into the 1990s, the company continued to make strategic acquisitions of both distribution companies and customer-owned distribution facilities. For example, the company took over Digital Corp.'s U.K. warehousing, stock, and logistics operations. In Canada, the company renamed its subsidiary operations there as Tibbett & Britten Group Canada Inc. (TBGC), taking on the logistics assets and operations of both Robinsons Department Store and Chesebrough-Ponds. Tibbett & Britten also contracted with Talbot Stores as that company launched its own Canada operations. Back home, the company's garment contracts, other than its Marks and Spencer business, were regrouped under the brand name Fashion Logistics.

　　The acquisition of Silcock in 1992 brought Tibbett & Britten into the automotive transport business. Silcock had been founded in the early 1920s by two employees of the Ford Motor Company, who hit on the idea of delivering that company's Model Ts in their spare time. By the mid-1920s, the pair had set up the U.K.'s first dedicated auto distribution business, with operations in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal; Silcock's relation with Ford would continue through the rest of the century. In order to fund the Silcock acquisition, at a price of £31.3 million, Tibbett & Britten performed a one-for-five exchange of stock, worth just under £33 million. By then, Tibbett & Britten's annual sales had grown to £231.75 million.

　　Reflecting the company's steady growth, Tibbett & Britten reorganized in 1993, forming three major operating divisions, Tibbett & Britten Ltd., containing its U.K. business; Tibbett & Britten International Ltd., for all its non-automotive international business; and Silcock Express Holdings Ltd., for the company's U.K. and international car and light vehicle operations. Tibbett & Britten continued its organic growth, opening storage and distribution facilities for its clients, with new additions such as Warner Brothers' Studio Stores and VAG, the Volkswagen, Audio, Skoda and SEAT parts provider. As Tibbett & Britten stepped up its European operations, including acquiring in 1994 Toleman, an automobile distributor focused on Ford imports, it also expanded into South Africa, while deepening its operations in Canada--particularly with winning a warehousing and distribution contract from Wal-Mart, the first time the retailer had ever outsourced for its distribution needs. The Wal-Mart contract, initially only for one year, continued to be extended through the second half of the decade, including a 1998 contract to create a multi-facility network for Wal-Mart's Canada operations, as well as an extension of the contract to provide logistics support for Wal-Mart's entry into Germany.

　　Entry into the United States market came in 1995, with the extension of the TBGC subsidiary to include all of North America, and the launch of startup operations for Brooks Brothers in New Jersey and Philips in Memphis, Tennessee. The company also made a number of significant acquisitions, including the purchase of Dutch publisher VNU's distribution arm, Metra Media Transport, in the Netherlands and the purchase, for £12 million, of Unilever's TKL refrigerated traffic distribution wing in Austria. In that year, Tibbett & Britten once again restructured, forming the company into two major divisions: Textiles & Clothing and Consumer Products.

　　Although Tibbett & Britten continued to look for strategic acquisitions, the company's strong growth remained largely organic, with expansion spurred by the winning of new contracts and clients. New contracts in 1997 included the takeover of a 170-acre, 1.8 million-square-foot grocery distribution center in California, reputedly the world's largest grocery-dedicated warehousing site. A new acquisition in 1998, of Causse Walon, the leading national automotive carrier in France, added £58 million to Tibbett & Britten's annual sales, which in that year hit the £1 billion mark. In 1999, the company acquired California-based EFL Transportation, an apparel distribution provider to clothing retailers, including Gap, marking the company's entry into the U.S. apparel market. Also in 1999, Tibbett & Britten acquired Remijsen, adding grocery distribution to the company's Netherlands operations. As one of the world's only companies wholly dedicated to providing logistics and logistics support services, Tibbett & Britten looked forward to smooth roads in the 21st century.