Risk Prevention, key to sustainable retail success at Carrefour China
About Carrefour China
Over the past 40 years, the Carrefour (www.carrefour.com.cn) group has grown to become one of the world’s leading distribution groups. The world’s second-largest retailer and the largest in Europe, the group currently operates four main grocery store formats: hypermarkets, supermarkets, cash & carry and convenience stores. Over 9,500 stores worldwide, either company-operated or franchises. A pioneering entrant in China (1995), Carrefour sees strong potential for further growth in the future. At the end of 2012, Carrefour operates 220 hypermarkets all over China and is continuously opening new stores.
Risk Prevention at Carrefour China
Safety issues have remained at the top of the agenda in China for several years now, and have attracted attention from the central government while receiving wide coverage from the media. In this challenging environment, Carrefour China places utmost important on safety and regulatory compliance.
The company’s Risk Prevention Department has for its fundamental mission to ensure the protection of people, assets, goods and value across all Carrefour stores in the country. The department’s wide range of responsibilities includes fire protection, food safety, fraud control, ethics compliance, loss prevention, as well as security.
In order to carry out its mission, the Risk Prevention Department has setup a Central Operation Security (COS) Center, to conduct information gathering and analysis, operation support and crisis management. The country is split into five territories, each with its own regional Risk Prevention team. Furthermore, each store has a dedicated team. The Risk Prevention Department is the largest in the company by number of staff.
The RPMS (Risk Prevention Management System) project
In June 2011, Carrefour selected Siveco China to implement a nationwide Risk Prevention Management System (RPMS). The RPMS is based on Siveco’s bluebee® suite of software solution, designed in compliance with the ISO 31000 Risk Management standard.
Carrefour national Risk Prevention personnel access the RPMS from a large multi-touch panel in COS, while users anywhere else in China can connect through a secured internet browser. Security alarms from the 220 stores are automatically treated by the RPMS, together with all incidents and non-compliance reports, as well as audit reports from field personnel.
RPMS in Carrefour China COS Center – the largest touch-screen in China
bluebee® mobile application provides access to the central system for field personnel using rugged Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for daily safety and security inspection routines or Android tablets for managers.
Store audit using bluebee® on Android tablet
The embedded Geographical Information System (GIS)
The bluebee® cloud open architecture allows for a seamless integration with a Geographical Information System (GIS). For RPMS, the GIS part of the project included:
• Map display as part of the bluebee® cloud portal, including large-screen at COS
• Geo-localization of all Carrefour sites, related events and records
• Display of alarms and geo-statistical indicators (risk level, fire cases, theft etc.)
• Geo-localization of all Carrefour sites, related events and records
• Display of alarms and geo-statistical indicators (risk level, fire cases, theft etc.)
Nationwide deployment: 220 stores teams trained in 6 months
The project was conducted as a nation-wide deployment, with initial implementation study and pilot phase on 3 stores, followed by quick deployment to all existing stores. A Core Team was formed in Carrefour to conduct in-house training: during the 6-month deployment period, all the Risk Prevention teams were trained and the usage of RPMS was rolled out to all 220 stores. New stores are immediately integrated in the RPMS before opening. The RPMS is currently being expanded to further support Carrefour China’s ambitious development plans.
According to Arthur Zhang, Preventive Business Intelligence and Technical & Safety Director: “With the RPMS, centrally established regulations and guidelines can be enforced on a large-scale, at every level: auditors, supervisors, service providers and workers. The mobile solution also acts as a training tool and allows immediate feedback from the field to regional and national control centers and crisis rooms.”
He added: “The RPMS has also proven to be a very powerful tool to raise safety awareness, thanks to its high visibility at COS and on mobile devices.”
In November 2013, the RPMS project won the 2013 CHaINA “Best Supply Chain Consulting Partner” Award by the Global Supply Chain Council, Asia’s leading professional organization in supply chain.
According to the Global Supply Chain Council’s announcement: “The RPMS is a well-recognized success in the industry and has been a showcase of good practices for Carrefour China. This project touches on many hot topics related to supply chain management in China and has deployed a very innovation solution to achieve food and public safety, innovation and more.”
Loic Frouart, Carrefour China’s Risk Prevention Director, spoke at the award ceremony: “For several years now, safety issues keep making headlines in China and all we hear is horror stories… We hope that, with this award, we can start talking about solutions and success stories.”
