Some 15,000 trucks and 26 full trains are used every week to ship parts, while cars are transported daily in 400 wagons, 10 ships, 10 barges and 1,200 trucks. The annual transport budget totals more than € 470 million for plant supply and € 725 million for vehicle distribution by land and sea.

Logistics at Renault is divided into seven large function families covering all logistics activity, from design to operations and from project to series life, as well as spare parts and accessories.

 

Production Supply and Management: functions in the Production Supply and Management family are based at the plant, where logistics activity consists in supplying workshops with materials, raw castings and parts to build vehicles and powertrain components. Internal materials handling functions (reception, shipment, warehouse management, etc.) are also included in this family.  

 

Logistics Quality: a team of 20 consultants, auditors and experts on quality methods work on improving the quality of logistics. The experts define rules and standards for ensuring high-quality logistics, the auditors make sure these rules and standards are correctly applied in parts supply and vehicle distribution, and the consultants work with suppliers and logistics service providers to help them improve on quality. 

Shipment and Transport: the functions in this family work upstream on supply and downstream on vehicle distribution. Upstream, their work consists in supplying all Renault group plants and suppliers with parts and empty packaging in respect of annual transport budgets. Downstream, they deliver manufactured vehicles to the right place at the right time, respecting quality levels and keeping costs down. They also have to provide sales with complete visibility on delivery dates.    

Industrial Planning and Programming: 144 engineers and technicians (of which 16 outside France), tasked with planning and programming the production bases of Renault and its suppliers to satisfy demand on availability, product, volume, diversity and delivery times. These functions require the following qualities: organization, rigor, team spirit, and persuasive and convincing negotiation skills. 

Supply Chain Architecture: working at central offices and plants, this family’s role is to design and manage logistics in vehicle and powertrain projects. The function covers the entire sector, from supplier to customer. 

Physical Flow Engineering: The Physical Flow Engineering family designs internal parts flows in powertrain and body assembly plants from reception to line-side delivery, and returns empty packaging. It also sends parts and components to other sites. 

Process Engineering: process Engineering functions are part of the Logistics department’s progress strategy and work with central departments and plants.