Well-established processes at dieci natura
dieci natura purchases, sorts, packs and distributes goods to 45 dieci businesses - all by a team of just eight people.
The first thing you notice when entering dieci natura in Jona is the stack of canned pelati. No wonder, after all, tomatoes together with the dough are the basic ingredients of every pizza. The hall has a typical storage structure: row upon row of racks, fully packed pallets and two cold rooms.
A well-rehearsed team on 1000 square metres
All in all, dieci has a storage area of 1000 m2 in Jona. This is managed by the logistics team with practised hand movements, pallet trucks and forklifts, led by the two team leaders Besar Jashari and Nazif Fetahu. Both are looking back on years of experience and know not only the warehouse but also the goods requirements of the dieci franchisees inside out. «The dieci branches place orders in our internal shop. We then receive the order form and check it carefully before providing the goods», Besar tells us. «We think along for the locations and make corrections where necessary. After all, it can always happen that important ingredients are forgotten in the weekly hustle and bustle. »
More handling space instead of storage
Every week, carriers arrive in Jona with fresh products such as mozzarella, bresaola or salami from Italy, which are sorted, safely packed for the individual franchisees and immediately delivered again. Thus, the logistics centre is more of a transhipment point than a storage location. Because the branches have limited space, there is little storage space and weekly deliveries are necessary.
Only goods like clothes or pizza shovels are stored in Jona for longer than a week. «Our absolute shelf warmer is a dieci motorbike helmet», jokes Besar Jashari.
Ingredients as far as the eye can see
In addition to dry-stored products, dieci has much more: in the cold storage room you can spot mascarpone, ricotta or even the finest gorgonzola. It gets really cold in the freezer room, where the temperature drops to minus 18 degrees when you open the door. Homemade gelati, seafood or shock-frozen vegetables are stored here for further processing. Fresh vegetables, salad, flour or soft drinks are not to be found in the logistics centre. These products are delivered directly to the branch by our subcontractors.
Sustainable use of resources
Dieci Natura AG is a 100% subsidiary of Dieci AG - the central goods trading company. Peter Widmer, Managing Director of dieci natura, is responsible for all dieci purchases and, together with his team, determines which products are purchased at what price, in what quantity and where.
The larger the order quantities, the lower the prices from the producers. A large storage area tempts to place such large orders. Here lurks the hidden danger that surplus goods will spoil. Not so at dieci: hardly anything is disposed of in the warehouse. The main weekly waste consists of packaging material such as large cardboard boxes and containers. Peter Widmer: «Pizza ingredients are easy to calculate and plan. We know the quality advantages of frozen goods, canned goods, olive oil or meat products and have solid empirical values for quantity consumption. Not to forget: our turnover of goods is extremely high."
Delivery only at certain times
A day at the logistics centre starts at 6.30 a.m. on site. Deliveries to the franchisees have to arrive before 11 a.m. for the most part, as no franchisee has time to receive goods over noon. Where it is not possible to arrive before noon, deliveries are only made after 2 pm.
While the morning hours are mainly scheduled for the provision of the goods, the last hours of the day are rather used for the inventory of the available goods. Even after a long day, the work is coordinated and concentrated. At 3.30 p.m. the warehouse team is in the middle of cleaning up, the warehouse is cleaned and left spick and span. Soon it is closing time.
