WinCup - Success Story

BUSINESS INTERVIEW

Tara Burdeshaw, Vice President of Supply Chain at WinCup, a world-leading manufacturer of disposable polystyrene cups, bowls, containers, straws and lids, is driving new initiatives to help cut costs whilst maintaining product quality.

Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Vince Kielty

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BASED IN STONE MOUNTAIN IN THE US, WINCUP OFFERS A RANGE OF DISPOSABLE EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE CUPS, BOWLS, CONTAINERS, LIDS, STRAWS AND STIRRERS FOR THE DINING, TAKE-OUT AND RETAIL SECTORS.

Vio® Biodegradable Foam Cups

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ith eight plants across the country, the company is committed to delivering highquality products and superior customer service. Tara Burdeshaw, Vice President of Supply Chain, is always on the lookout for new approaches to promote WinCup’s focus on sustainability. She says, “WinCup is not happy with the status quo. We want the company to grow, and we’re doing that with new products and bringing on different partners to help us figure out how we can be more sustainable.”

Its current offerings include Vio®, which was the world’s first biodegradable foam cups, containers and bowl product line. Tara explains, “With foam bans going on in different parts of the country, people want more sustainable options. We also launched phade®, the world’s first marine, biodegradable straw, which is soil biodegradable as well as home and industrial compostable. We are currently producing that and ramping up production.”

Since joining the company last year, Tara has focused

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on improving processes, implementing change management and lowering supply chain costs. She adds, “We worked on everything from new item setup to how we go to market from a freight perspective. We can be flexible in terms of volume and where we can ship from.”

Previously, many raw materials were delivered to WinCup’s plants via truck, which was expensive for the company.

Today, a switch to rail has made more financial sense. Tara also renegotiated contracts with raw materials suppliers. She explains, “Within the first four months, the

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strategy we executed saved us over a million dollars per year.”

WinCup has built up a solid network of suppliers over the years, but it has since made changes so it does not rely solely on a single vendor for a specific product. Tara adds, “We’re making sure we’re not putting all of our eggs in one basket, so we have backup if one supplier goes out of business or has a complete disruption in service.”

“WE HAVE NOT HAD ANY SUPPLY DISRUPTIONS, WHICH IS A TESTAMENT TO A SOLID ALIGNMENT WE HAVE BUILT BETWEEN SUPPLY CHAIN, OPERATIONS, SALES AND MARKETING” Tara Burdeshaw, Vice President of Supply Chain at WinCup

Phade™ Marine Biodegradable Straws

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Volition Logistics, LLC, 22900 Remick Dr, Clinton Township, Michigan 48036

This forward thinking has enabled the company to continue as usual in the wake of Covid-19. Tara says, “We have not had any supply disruptions, which is a testament to a solid alignment we have built between supply chain, operations, sales and marketing.”

In fact, as consumers have ordered more take-away food in recent times, WinCup has experienced an uptick in business. Tara adds, “With people not being able to dine-

THE RESULTS OF PARTNERING WITH VOLITION LOGISTICS

12% Cost savings in the first year of relationship

98%

80%+

Improvement in on-time Reduction in service deliveries to inter-plant stock-outs customers and expedited transfers

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“WINCUP IS NOT HAPPY WE WANT THE COMPAN DOING THAT WITH NEW PR DIFFERENT PARTNERS TO WE CAN BE MOR

Tara Burdeshaw, Vice Presid

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Y WITH THE STATUS QUO. NY TO GROW, AND WE’RE RODUCTS AND BRINGING ON O HELP US FIGURE OUT HOW RE SUSTAINABLE”

dent of Supply Chain at WinCup

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“YOU WANT TO WORK WITH THE PEOPLE TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE ROLLING OUT THE DIFFERENT PROJECTS SUCCESSFULLY”

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in, we’ve seen that volume increase. Our suppliers are keeping up and we appreciate each and every one of them.”

With the redesign of WinCup’s sales and operations processes, the company has embraced the implementation of demand planning software tools. When this is complete, WinCup will be able to create ‘what if’ scenarios and improve its accuracy. Tara says, “You can do analysis

and be more proactive than reactive.”

But, this has not been without its challenges, as customers, vendors and employees adapt to these new initiatives. Tara admits, “Change management is always difficult for people.

We’re human and people get comfortable doing what they’ve been doing. You have to have buy-ins with the people you’re working with in order to be successful. You want to work with the people to make sure you’re rolling out the different projects successfully.”

In cementing WinCup’s future offerings, the company has forged a key partnership with Volition Logistics. The

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relationship has resulted in 12 per cent cost savings in the first year, an improvement in on-time service deliveries to customers from 60 per cent to over 98 per cent since implementation, and inter-plant stock-outs and expedited transfers reduced by over 80 per cent. Volition has developed a complete database of WinCup customers, as well as a pick-up and delivery system and dock management process for carrier visibility, analytics detailing accurate line items of

“WE ARE GOING TO EXPAND INTO DIFFERENT PRODUCTS ASIDE FROM THE CUPS, LIDS AND STRAWS, AND SEE WHAT PRODUCTS WE CAN GET OUT TO THE MARKET”

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customer delivery expenses in order to recoup and retain revenue, and inventory balancing and manufacturing optimisation. The latter has afforded flexibility with carrier base, market costs and market pressures, minimised the effect of peak season/non-peak challenges, and recommended shipping location changes, thus lowering landed costs.

Volition is positioned to assist with WinCup’s further

expansion, particularly into Mexico. On the subject of WinCup’s future plans, Tara concludes, “We are going to expand into different products aside from the cups, lids and straws, and see what products we can get out to the market. We want to use those avenues to just continue to grow the business.”

For further information on WinCup, visit www.wincup.com

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+1 (800) 292-2877 www.wincup.com 1600 Mountain Industrial Blvd Stone Mountain, GA 30083

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