Imperial Logistics has been reinvented –and the newly consolidated group is in a better position than ever before to offer tailored solutions to boost its customers’ competitiveness.

Cobus Rossouw, chief integration officer, reveals:“We are perfectly positioned for our next step forward, which is essentially focusing not on what we can do, but what we can do for our clients.

“Imperial Logistics’ diverse and expansive experience and capabilities extend from procurement to brand activation, and include all the logistics services in between. The challenge is to improve our clients’ competiveness by customising our experience in outsourced value chain management.”

The group has simplified its business and honed in on its capabilities in order to better meet customers’ requirements. One such consolidation merged group companies Volition and e-Logics, as well as their associated businesses, into a powerhouse of business process knowledge and technology expertise.

Rossouw elaborates:“Dubbed Resolve, this new business amalgamates all of our experience and expertise in business process and technology outsourcing.”

Similarly, Imperial Managed Logistics was established following the consolidation of BROCO and Cargo Africa. Rossouw explains:“The strength of this business lies in its capacity to move large load volumes through its comprehensive and well-managed national network of service providers.”

Notably, the reinvention process also saw the formation of Imperial Retail Logistics, previously known as TFD Network Africa.The company focuses on enhancing customers’ logistics and supply chain network capacities and capabilities through its services offering.

A growth strategy with three dimensions will ensure that Imperial Logistics continues to offer its customers the best possible solutions.

Rossouw adds: “Today, Imperial Logistics is the only company that can take your product from manufacturing to the point of purchase. The three dimensions of our growth strategy are new geographies, new industries and new capabilities.We will achieve this by effectively deploying and customising our existing skills and expertise, by partnering with other players where necessary, and through acquisitions.

“Accordingly we moved into Africa’s consumer market with the acquisition of CIC Holdings, through which we are now operating within the FMCG industry, with a service offering that includes distributorships, merchandising, warehousing, distribution, debtors’ administration and staffing solutions.”

Imperial Logistics entered the pharmaceutical space with the acquisition of RTT Medical. It also entered the logistics sector of the fast growing Nigerian FMCG, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries with the acquisition of 49% of MDS, a leading logistics provider in Nigeria. The recent acquisition of mobile technology firm ForeFront Africa has seen the group further explore the mobile and telecommunications industries and ensures it is well placed to partner with clients in leveraging the potential of mobile commerce in their value chains.

Outlining other elements of Imperial Logistics’strategy, Rossouw notes that the group is playing a growing role in the mining, construction and petrochemicals industries.

Rossouw concludes:“Imperial Logistics’ success over more than three decades in business has been built on our people, our real experience and our ability to do more than one thing. Now, with the advantage of a simplified and consolidated organisation, our focus going forward will be on customising our vast experience for the benefit of each one of our customers, in order to most effectively drive their competitiveness. Our goal is to be seen not as the biggest, but as the best for our customers.”