On arrival at the Mercedes-Benz spare part facility students were split up into two groups and guided on an in-depth tour of the logistics activities. The tour commenced at the receiving end where parts are received from local and international suppliers. From there students had the opportunity to walk through the offloading stations, where goods are unpacked, counted and checked. Next was the system documentation, inbound stations, outbound stations, rebranding (repackaging of goods), quality control, security checks and finally the dispatch areas for each of the different regional dealers.

The systems, tools and documentation used to keep track of the inventory moving through this spare parts operation of the supply chain were explained in detail to the students, and their many questions were answered.

The next facility on the programme was the Johannesburg Distribution Centre of Caterpillar. The students were welcomed with a fascinating presentation on the logistics operations at Caterpillar, whereafter management conducted a professional facility tour, explaining the inner workings of the facility.

This experience added to the theoretical background on supply chain management and logistics operations, making the subject much more interesting and understandable to students. The visit was arranged by Mr Wesley Niemann, coordinator of the BCom Supply Chain Management programme.