Linfox has helped manage Unilever's supply chain solutions in Vietnam since 2006.

Linfox operates three distribution centres (DCs) for the leading food, home and personal care producer, supplying a market in excess of 84 million people with well-known brand names including Lipton, Rexona, Sunsilk and Omo.

One DC is based in Bac Ninh, near Hanoi in the north of Vietnam, and another at Da Nang, which serves the central plains.

A third, newly built DC, is the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park DC. Near Ho Chi Minh City, it is the largest DC covering over 65,000 square metres and featuring state-of-the-art materials handling equipment and racking design. Linfox will also shortly operate a small satellite warehouse in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta.

The combined operation employs 322 people with 61,000 pallet places and a throughput of almost 66 million cases of products so far this year. Each day almost 400 truck loads are dispatched, carrying over 220,000 cartons and delivering to 158 locations across the country.

Training is key
Operations Manager Drew Franklin says Linfox improved operations in Vietnam, bringing a commitment to learning and development, the highest safety standards and state-of-the-art facilities and technology.

Drew said, "Our operations have run very smoothly while we've grown because we're sticking strongly to Linfox's principles in learning and devilopment, safety and service."

"Employees continuously develop their skills, training in courses including safety decision-making, project management and financial skills.:

"Our Vision Zero safety policy is the best of its kind in Vietnam. The lost time injury rate for last financial year was only 1.4; the lowest across the business."

"Last month we also joined in Linfox's global Stop for Safety III, with everyone in the business stopping to discuss safety in their workplace."

"Our investment in training is vital to our success. Most of the business today is managed and operated by local people who have excelled in learning the Linfox safety and operating processes," said Drew. "There are only tow Australian Linfox employees in Vietnam."

With a growing business, Linfox's Vietnam head office recently moved to bigger premises to accommodate the 14 strong leadership team and new IT systems.