K&N Wincanton announces new contract
KNW, the joint venture between global freight forwarder Kuehne & Nagel and European contract logistics provider Wincanton, has announced a major new contract with UK toy retailer Hamley’s. The deal will result in KNW acting as Hamley’s supply chain management partner, managing product from factory to final delivery. In particular the new contract will support the supply of goods to the store’s international franchisees in China, Australia, Ireland, Sweden and Kuwait.
According to the management of Hamley’s, one of the reasons for the award of the contract to KNW was the IT capabilities which it was able to offer. These include a web based trace and trace system which enables network visibility and monitoring. This has been integrated with a warehouse management system (WMS), routing and scheduling software and RFID enabled picking.
The KNW joint venture was developed in late 2002 in order to support and develop global supply chains of major UK retailers sourcing goods from overseas markets. The partnership combines the global freight forwarding network of K&N with the logistics capabilities of Wincanton. Since its creation the relationship between Wincanton and K&N has developed through its Trans European division in Germany – the companies have recently become sole owners of intermodal barge operator Rhinecontainer. This has provoked speculation that further links could be on the cards, given the obvious synergies which are present between the two organisations.
