ORTEC welcomes Dutch and Flemish trade delegation
The Dutch and Flemish trade mission to the US, led by Dutch Minister-President Mark Rutte and Flemish Minister-President Geer Bourgeois, saw the pair take part in high-level talks between Dutch consulting firm ORTEC Consulting Group and the Coca-Cola Company. The partnership between the companies has helped Coca-Cola realise millions in logistics efficiency savings and provides an example of the benefits Dutch innovation brings to the US market.
Dutch Minister-President Mark Rutte and Flemish Minister-President Geer Bourgeois were on a trade mission to the US city of Atlanta at the start of October to discuss smart logistics, financial technology and cyber security. The US, and especially the state of Georgia, is important to the trade between both the Netherlands and Belgium and the US. The Netherlands for instance has more than $275 billion invested in the US, while the US has invested more than $645 billion in the Netherlands. The result for the US market from investment, trade and the more than 850 Dutch founded companies active in the US, is the creation of 685,000 American jobs. As part of the mission, the pair met with Governor Nathan Deal, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and US Ambassador Andrew Young. In addition, they met with 85 Dutch companies in the US and were present at the meeting between ORTEC Consulting Group and Coca-Cola at which the success of their partnership was discussed.
ORTEC Consulting Group was founded in 1981 in the Netherlands where it remains headquartered. Today the consulting firm has 13 offices around the world, including in Atlanta (US) and Castle Donington (UK). The firm offers consulting services primarily in business analytics, helping businesses grow their turnover, lower their costs, whilst reducing their environmental impact. The firm uses a data driven approach to achieve results that are visually presented, using models, algorithms and people identify patterns, find interconnections, calculate scenarios, support decisions, manage risks, test strategies and underpin investments.
Dutch Minister-President Mark Rutte (left) with ORTEC CEO Aart van Beuzekom
As organisations grow in size and complexity those that require the movement of goods from A to B are finding that the optimisation of their supply chains is becoming more and more complex. For Coca-Cola the logistics of providing its products throughout the US was for years the remit of years of experience built up by the firm’s logistics operators that co-ordinate the company’s more than 10,000 trucks and their pallets of carbonated beverages. Following Coca-Cola’s partnership with ORTEC Consulting Group in the North American market, a saving of $45 million was realised in cost-savings through the optimisation of its supply chain.
Through the use of the ORTEC’s complex algorithms that co-ordinate the distribution supply chain, the whole process of delivery was made 10-15% more efficient. In addition, a resultant reduction in pollution and traffic disruption was achieved as there are fewer trucks on the road. “The ORTEC solution suite has delivered state of the art optimisation algorithms and mapping, balanced Direct Store Delivery assets to customer demand and helped set a company SAP strategy,” comments Coca-Cola Global Account Director Stefan Huntemann.