Shenzhen Good Lines & Good Lucky finds Success in Supply Chain Management

Shenzhen, China Site Visit
February 6, 2015
By
Eric Xiang

Key Personnel:
Mr. Lin Binkai, Director
Ms. Zhao Wangui, Vice General Manager

Shenzhen Good Lines & Good Lucky Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. (GL&GL SCM) started business in 1995 as a domestic air freight forwarder and charter flight provider. In 2002, it changed its business model from domestic air freight forwarding to supply chain management with an emphasis on inland trucking. Today, GL&GL SCM is a Chinese supply chain management specialist based in Shenzhen. It has 22 branch offices in Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shanghai, Chengdu, Suzhou and other key cities in China. In addition to its own offices, GL&GL SCM has 72 agents in its distribution network covering 778 counties and cities in China.

Shenzhen office

GL&GL SCM truck

Through its network, GL&GL SCM manages 280,000 square meters of warehouse space. GL&GL SCM owns a 6,000 square meter warehouse in Shenzhen and an 8,000 square meter warehouse in Guangzhou. The other warehouses are owned by agents. GL&GL SCM plans to open a new 48,000 square meter warehouse in the Nanhai District of Guangzhou.

As a non-asset based logistics provider, GL&GL SCM primarily uses trucks from subcontractors.
All the trucks are GPS controlled and all the drivers agree to GL&GL SCM’s standard operating procedures.

According to Mr. Lin Binkai, GL&GL SCM is the first Chinese logistics company to utilize RFID (radio frequency identification) technology. In GL&GL SCM’s Shenzhen warehouse, there’s an RFID reader on each shelf location and an RFID reader and monitor on each forklift. All the pallets in the operation have RFID tags attached. In order to make sure the system can track the goods through using RFID from end-to-end, GL&GL SCM put RFID readers in each truck and also an RFID reader in its consignee’s store. The solution has made it easy for customers to receive timely product tracking information.

GL&GL SCM has its own IT staff and a proprietary system named “T5”. The system is a combined Cargo Information System, Customer Relationship Management System, Warehouse Management System, Transportation Management System, and GPS monitoring system. Customers can send order instructions to GL&GL SCM through the system, or if the customer’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) system is linked to T5, they can send them via interfaces to their ERP system. Once the customer’s orders are received, the T5 system will transmit them to the warehouse and they will be displayed on forklift mounted RFID monitors. The forklift driver will pick the goods from specified locations. The whole operation is under RFID control with high efficiency and low error rates. Once the goods are delivered to the consignee, a P.O.D. (proof of delivery) is scanned and the customer can view and download the P.O.D. from the T5 system automatically. The T5 system currently manages over 2,000 shipments and 900 trucks daily.

Shenzhen RFID warehouse

RFID label on shelf

RFID monitor on forklift

To provide high quality service, human resources are very important. GL&GL SCM has a good HR management process. All employees, upper management as well as drivers, need to study their job description and company policies carefully since the HR system tests each employee weekly and monthly.

GL&GL SCM’s customers include Marisfrolg and Girdear (well-known apparel brands in China), Avon and Clinique (famous cosmetics brands), and Huawei (a Chinese multinational telecom equipment and services provider). As the company is providing high quality value-added services, reputation is important for GL&GL SCM to secure more customers. The company has a sales team of 10 focused on developing new business.

The company has good financial control and a remarkable profit margin. Its finance center, located in Guangzhou, has more than 40 employees.

GL&GL SCM has orchestrated a successful business model conversion from air freight forwarding to supply chain management. It has built a solid warehousing business, with good systems and an RFID solution. By focusing on network expansion and sales efforts, it should further its growth.