Drinks up: Kylie Fraser

The logistics and supply-chain sector has undergone many instances of change over the past decade. According to BevChain CEO, Kylie Fraser, who has worked in the industry for her entire professional life, this has been predominantly due to the rapid advancements happening in the technology space. "Back when I started my career it was really about getting freight from A to B," Kylie says. "There really weren’t a whole lot of smarts in it. If you had a truck that moved and a shed that didn’t leak, things were probably pretty good.

"The digital age has transformed logistics significantly. There have been lots of changes particularly around safety, compliance and governance. Things that we did back in the 80s you definitely wouldn’t even consider doing now. For years and years we managed operations on an Excel spreadsheet, today we have transport management systems and all of the routing and inventory management we could ever need. These platforms are constantly updating so they are always using the most up-to-date and relevant technology."

Digital evolution creating smarter service

Equally, the knowledge of the customer has largely changed. "People are very smart about logistics now," Kylie says. "It used to just be something the customers needed to have, now it’s absolutely a differentiator for their businesses. They want to be smart about how they move their goods, they want continuous improvement and innovation; it’s a really challenging market now."

BevChain doesn’t seem to be having any trouble embracing the evolution and using it to its advantage. The business is known across the nation for providing tailored supply-chain solutions for the beverage industry with ‘best-in-class’ warehouse and distribution services.

It handles 2.5 billion serving units annually and calls on 25,000 delivery points per week, operating from twenty-five distribution centres in six Australian states. Kylie has been leading the charge since 2011 and says there are so many things to love about this job, but the one thing that stands out is the team she has surrounded herself with.

‘There’s nothing sexy about what we do’

"The greatness of BevChain comes to the forefront when we’ve got challenges; that’s when I sit back and think, ‘Wow, we are amazing’. There is so much camaraderie at BevChain. It doesn’t matter what a customer needs or if something abnormal happens, because teamwork comes into play. I love looking back and seeing the development of all our people; we’ve had some amazing success stories.

"I think our workplace culture is a real differentiator. We focus on employee engagement and our engagement scores are absolutely best in practice; we are on the leading edge with those results. From the coalface right through to my executive leadership team, we have fantastic staff. Everyone has a real can-do attitude and customers often comment on our people and how amazing they are. There’s nothing sexy about what we do; the reality is that, while we have technology and there’s fun stuff happening, it is still very much about trucks and warehouses. The fact that we have great people out there that are leading the business makes it a hell of a lot easier."

Looking back on 10 years of success

This year marked the tenth anniversary of BevChain, a great opportunity to look back and reflect on the progress the company has made. The organisation originated from a joint venture between Lion Nathan and Linfox Australia, with the aim of developing a business that would be a great success in the future. "That has definitely happened," Kylie states. "Now we’re this multi-customer, consolidated business that leverages off its scale and agility. The revenue now has grown five-fold to what it used to be and the profitability continues to grow. We started out as a supplier–customer arrangement and now we are an industry leader in the beverage sector."

"There is so much camaraderie at BevChain. It doesn’t matter what a customer needs or if something abnormal happens, teamwork comes into play." – Kylie Fraser

Summertime is boom time for beverage supply

Along the journey BevChain has developed two strategic partners that are fundamental for it to do its job well. These are in the IT and labour management fields. "Having really good partnerships with our technology providers is absolutely key, because if our systems go down, if we’re not leading edge and if we’re not at the forefront of everything we do then we are going to get left behind. Our business will stop, that’s the reality. Then there’s labour management, which is crucial because we are a people-reliant business. Being seasonal — our peak times are summer and Christmas — we need to have the best people at a moment’s notice, and our labour providers need to understand our requirements and then act on them quickly."

Looking forward, Kylie’s main area of focus for BevChain is its 2020 strategy, which is all about growth. This comes off the back of the 2017 strategy, which had the pillars of revenue growth, profitability, operational stabilisation, culture and IT. "It’s awesome that we’ve actually ticked a lot of those boxes now," she says. "Definitely the next three years will be about revenue growth and increasing shareholder value. We will continue to focus on people and culture, giving opportunities to our staff and fostering leaders. Furthermore, we will work closely with, and grow, our customer portfolio within the beverage industry, and look outside of that. We want to expand into other markets where it makes sense for us to do so."