Africa’s largest branded food service franchisor, JSE-listed Famous Brands, which has several household brands in its stable, continues its relationship with Goscor Lift Truck Company with the delivery of Crown and Doosan materials handling equipment (MHE) for its new warehouse in Longmeadow, Edenvale, east of Johannesburg.
Gavin Welsh, Famous Brands logistics executive for the Gauteng region’s Centre of Excellence says that the company reduced the primary activity at their Midrand facility and ring-fenced it at the new Longmeadow warehouse. Famous Brands recently took delivery of 10 units for the new facility including: 2 x Doosan BR16JW Reach Trucks; 1 x Crown SC6040 1.8 three-wheel Electric Counter-Balance forklift; 1 x Crown WT3020 2.0 Ride-on Powered Pallet Truck and 6 x Crown PTH-50 Pallet Jacks.
Welsh says that it’s not only Goscor’s product that is world class.
“Their willingness to be part of the preparation of the facility’s MHE, their general conduct during the sale and the quality of their after sales service all match the quality of the product,” he says.
He adds that the Goscor team’s advice about which would be the best equipment for the new warehouse was invaluable as was their involvement in the design and construction of the battery room, which is so crucial to the efficiency of the entire operation.
“We expect that the new facility will handle a throughput in the region of 500 pallets per day delivering to six depots: Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Midrand, Nelspruit, Pinetown, and Port Elizabeth. It is a 24-hour operation and to facilitate this Goscor has supplied additional batteries to ensure uptime around the clock!”
Goscor sales manager Ronald Ryan says the Famous Brand’s logistics management and its operation is as professional as anything anywhere.
“Working with Gavin is a privilege and the teamwork between the two companies is an example of how productive the client/ supplier relationship can be,” he says.
From a logistics perspective, and taking into account Famous Brand’s Midrand and Longmeadow facilities only, the numbers are quite staggering: Longmeadow: Line Items: 655; warehouse size: 6 500 m²; logistics staff: 23; pallets per day: 500; operation: 24-hours a day, six days a week.
Midrand Ambient Warehouse: Variety of vehicles: 1T to 18T with a combination of Ambient and Refrigerated vehicles, drops per week: approximately 1 300; stores serviced: 1 036 stores via a 6-day a week operation Famous Brands is Africa’s largest branded food service franchisor with iconic brands including: Wimpy, Steers, Mugg and Bean, Europa, Tashas and many more.
With only Steers in its fold, Famous Brands was listed in November 1994 with a market capitalisation of R25 million. Today its market capitalisation is in excess of R14 billion.
Famous Brands, continues its relationship with Goscor Lift Truck Company with the recent delivery of Crown and Doosan materials handling equipment for its new warehouse in Longmeadow, Edenvale, east of Johannesburg