Dave Flett at Vitaco Health

I’m the manager of Vitaco Health NZ’s East Tamaki warehouse in Auckland, and am principally responsible for the safe and effi- cient operation of the warehouse. I also oversee Vitaco’s two 3PL warehouses (in Auckland and Christchurch) and the logistics of delivering products to our company’s clients.

Dave Flett in Vitaco Health’s VNA (very narrow aisle) warehouse, with one of their turret trucks behind, driven by Peter McQuoid

Vitaco Health NZ was formed in 2008 from the merger of wellknown brands Healtheries and Nutra-Life, and produces a variety of health and lifestyle products, including sports nutrition, food allergy/intolerance, weight loss, organic foods and kids’ nutrition, as well as general good health. Familiar brands include Balance, Nutra-Life, Wagner, Aussie Bodies, Protein Revival, Healtheries, Kidscare, Abundant Earth and the distribution of Trilogy and Comvita.

FTD: What’s a typical ‘day in the life’?

I have two line managers reporting to me and we have an overall warehouse team of around 50 people. A typical day sees us fulfilling between 150 and 300 orders from our range of over 650 SKUs to New Zealand customers in the pharmacy, health and sports fields as well as to grocery customers at all supermarkets within New Zealand. We will also be supplying our export customers in over 27 countries and filling containers to go to our Australian operation. At the same time we will be completing production order picks to our three internal manufacturing plants from around 5000 component SKUs. There will be a resupply order going out to the Christchurch warehouse and some more production picks going to our plant in Avondale. Somewhere in there will be mini team meetings to review the previous day and plan for this one as well, and some targeted actions around projects that may be underway at the time. It’s a quiet life!

FTD: Why have you chosen to work in SCM? What is it that appeals to you?

Coming from 23 years of manufacturing, I wanted to take the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of SCM and experience life from the ‘other side’ of the chain. Understanding the wraparound aspects of the total supply chain is giving me a fresh perspective of the supplier/customer nature of manufacturing within the chain and how all the links rely on each other.

FTD: How did you get started in SCM?

Most of my working life has been spent in manufacturing and, in particular, bread baking. I worked for a family-owned bread factory in Whangarei for 19 years, ending up as operations manager before the plant was closed down. I then moved to Goodman Fielder to run their Dunedin site, and after 12 months in that role I came up to Auckland to run Goodman Fielder’s East Tamaki site. I came to my current role with Vitaco Health NZ from there.

FTD: Which roles in your past have specifically helped prepare you for your current one?

I’m a qualified Lean/Six Sigma black belt and this has helped with the introduction of a genuine culture of continuous improvement here at Vitaco. I am, for my sins, a true believer, and this has meant that I have been, and remain, an enthusiastic supporter of this process.

FTD: Where does supply chain fit in an organisation like Vitaco Health?

Supply chain is vital to the ongoing success of Vitaco. With an incredibly diverse portfolio of products, manufactured both internally and externally, and supplying customers the length and breadth of New Zealand, the supply chain challenges are numerous – and that’s just the domestic side. Sixty percent of Vitaco’s sales are made offshore, with a substantial Australian operation and customers all across the globe supplied from our warehouse.

FTD: Have you had anyone who has helped/guided you along your career path?

The supply chain general manager here at Vitaco – a gentleman by the name of Brent Hall – brings a wealth of SCM knowledge with him. His engaging and friendly manner means that I have been able to learn a huge amount from him in a short time. He has shown me the tools that I need to track the day-to-day operations of the warehouse, and has supported me in understanding the wider philosophies and challenges of SCM.

FTD: What is the most rewarding part of the job?

There is a culture of empowerment here at Vitaco, and the company is ‘walking the talk’ with some excellent initiatives aimed at giving opportunity to the people on the floor to control their own destiny whilst still working toward company objectives. The recent advent of mini business units (MBUs) has created teams that are responsible for specific operations within the company with their own set of KPIs and objectives all aligned to the greater company goals.

The effect of forming these teams has been dramatic and immediate. Literally within days of rollout there were lines appearing on the floor where people had marked out areas of the warehouse to enable better process flow, and soon afterwards the teams started to negotiate with each other about what they required to achieve their objectives.

Just one example is where we had two order pick/dispatch teams that had been working alongside each other for a considerable period of time, with little interaction or thought about cross-functional efficiency. The very first week after they were formed into one MBU, they were working cross-functionally to ensure that they hit the new team objectives around dispatch times and labour utilisation.

Being able to support the team through that kind of paradigm shift and seeing the real sense of pride that they develop in pushing towards their own goals is incredibly humbling and rewarding.

FTD: Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

Taking this role was a deliberate step towards broadening my overall skill-set, putting me ultimately on the path to a general manager’s role.

Dave Flett can be contacted at dave.flett@vitaco.co.nz