16 September 2026 · Case Studies
A single disruption can derail an entire export season.
When South Africa’s table grape industry faced mounting pressure, the challenge wasn’t just moving product – it was making the right decisions, fast, in an unpredictable environment.
What followed was a smarter, more prescriptive approach to logistics – one that helped stabilise operations and protect a critical export window.
16 September 2026 · Case Studies
Managing cash at a national scale is a complex supply chain challenge.
Banks need enough cash in the right places to meet demand. Too little creates availability risk. Too much increases holding costs, operational complexity and exposure.
For South Africa’s banking industry, this challenge became even more significant as changing requirements placed greater responsibility on individual banks to manage their own cash holdings.
The opportunity was not simply to improve individual operations. It was to rethink how the industry planned and coordinated wholesale cash across a connected national network.
Transnova worked with South Africa’s four major banks and the South African Reserve Bank to help create a new approach to forecasting, planning and decision-making.
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16 September 2026 · Case Studies
Philip Morris International was undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history: shifting from traditional cigarettes towards electronic and smoke-free products.
This transition introduced a new level of complexity across products, markets, manufacturing capacity, sourcing and capital investment.
With a global network spanning manufacturing facilities, third-party manufacturers and markets around the world, every major decision had consequences across the wider value chain.
The challenge was no longer simply how to meet demand.
It was how to determine where products should be manufactured, how existing assets should be used, where future capacity should sit and which investments would create the greatest long-term value.
Transnova worked with Philip Morris International to develop a Digital Planning Twin that could bring operational and financial considerations together and help decision-makers test different futures before committing to them.
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See how PMI transformed a complex global planning challenge into a more agile, integrated and forward-looking decision-making capability.
19 June 2026 · Case Studies
What happens when one of Africa’s largest FMCG manufacturers rethinks the way its transport network is managed?
For Tiger Brands, the answer was a decade-long logistics transformation that unlocked over R300 million in supply chain value.
In this case study, we unpack how Transnova helped Tiger Brands move beyond the limitations of a single 3PL model, introducing greater visibility, flexibility and control across a complex national distribution network.
Read the full case study to see how the right blend of technology, people and process helped turn transport from a cost centre into a strategic advantage.
16 April 2026 · Case Studies
Core Fruit is a leading South African fresh fruit exporter that manages complex transport operations. The company coordinates shipments from multiple packhouses and cold stores to ports, plug-in depots, and international markets.
As the business expanded, transport planning and execution became harder to manage. Many processes relied on manual work, emails, and different data sources, which made it difficult to operate efficiently and scale operations.
Building a robust and scalable supply chain for regional growth
What does it take to turn a fragmented, high-cost logistics operation into a high-performance growth engine?
A leading multinational beverage company faced rising transport costs, limited visibility, and inconsistent service levels across markets. What followed was a multi-phase transformation that redefined how their supply chain operates – unlocking efficiency, control, and scalability across Africa.
This case study reveals how strategy, technology, and the right partnership came together to deliver measurable results and long-term competitive advantage.
17 October 2025 · Case Studies, Insights
A prominent telecommunications company operating throughout Africa was encountering significant operational and logistical challenges in its network rollout efforts, impeding its goal to enhance mobile network coverage. To address these issues, a redesign of the operating model was necessary, prompting the client to undertake a digital transformation journey aimed at improving visibility and control across the supply chain.
In 2019, Transnova was appointed as lead Supply Chain Business Partner with the objective of building a Logistics Control Tower to oversee the inbound and outbound management of all Network Equipment in South Africa as well as assisting with markets in Africa.
A critical challenge was the lack of visibility into equipment movement throughout the supply chain, which led to low equipment availability. Additionally, demand planning was suboptimal, resulting in substantial excess inventory and aging stock. The use of DDP Incoterms further limited visibility into the full costs associated with inbound logistics.
One of the initial supply chain optimization initiatives involved the development of a data lake to establish a single source of truth. This was complemented by the creation of data dashboards to enhance visibility of goods movement across the end-to-end supply chain, thereby improving operational and executive decision-making.
The Demand Planning strategy underwent a comprehensive review, leading to the development, implementation, and change management of a custom-designed DDMRP across the organization. Additionally, a business case was developed to quantify the logistics costs for equipment entering South Africa, comparing DDP and FOB Incoterms and identifying potential savings.
A focus on inventory strategy within the network equipment business revealed an excess inventory holding of 50%. To address this, a best-in-class inventory management software solution was implemented, resulting in a 52% reduction in inventory holding and R600 million in working capital savings for the company. This was achieved without disrupting network rollout and while improving inventory availability by 29%.
With a focus on inbound and outbound optimisation, a logistics strategy review was undertaken with the recommendation to increase the carrier base from one to five transporters and implement a Transport Management System (TMS). The centralised Logistics Control Tower provided visibility and control resulting in transport savings of 25%.
Through our ongoing supply chain business partner relationship with this leading Telecoms company, we have come to appreciate the complexity of the business and aligned our team with the company’s focus on customer, simplicity and growth. Working closely with the client’s logistics team, we have jointly delivered numerous continuous improvement initiatives that have had a lasting positive impact for shareholders.
25 September 2025 · Case Studies, Insights
In order for CIMERWA to be in a position to better manage sales volumes, customer loyalty programs, market pricing and service and support levels, CIMERWA needed to migrate from the distributor model to that of a delivered service. The structured transition plan was over a 3 month period ending and was concluded by the end of April 2017.
CIMERWA is Rwanda’s only integrated cement producer. Established 30 years ago, the firm’s production plant is located in Bugarama, by the South Western border of Rwanda. It is the only company in Rwanda that mines raw materials, produces clinker concentrate and packs and sells cement for general and civil construction. Some of its products are exported to the DRC and Burundi. CIMERWA invested USD 170 million in a new modern dry process production plant at its head office in Bugarama with a capacity to turn out 600,000 tons of cement per year. The plant was commissioned in August 2015. CIMERWA is 51 per cent owned by PPC Ltd, Southern Africa’s largest cement producer. PPC Ltd has been in the cement business for more than 100 years and is a public company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. More than 70 percent of CIMERWA’s sales were done through 31 distributors, and 6 of those distributors make up 68% of the distributor volumes. The distributor model arose as historically CIMERWA’s value proposition was insufficient to meet the market requirements. The distributor agreements were governed by a contract which binds distributors to volumes targets and exclusivity of distribution of CIMERWA product only. Of the 31 distributors, only two were achieving their volume targets. It had, therefore, become evident that the distributor model had many pitfalls such as disintermediation from the customer, limited control over market pricing, high risk exposure of losing significant volumes if a distributor leaves to join a competitor, increasing shift of power base to distributors and limited levers for CIMERWA to use to increase sales. The Kigali rebate table and ex-factory discounts that distributors enjoy were also prohibitive for small to medium size retailers to buy directly from CIMERWA, and thereby pushing volumes to distributors. In order for CIMERWA to be in a position to better manage sales volumes, customer loyalty programs, market pricing and service and support levels, CIMERWA needed to migrate from the distributor model to that of a delivered service. The structured transition plan was over a 3 month period ending and was concluded by the end of April 2017.
The transition from a “distributor model” to a “delivered service” model is a sensitive matter and needs to be well managed so as to ensure that the risk of loss of sales is minimized over the transition period. Transnova assisted CIMERWA in compiling a comprehensive transition plan that included:
The design and implementation of the new route-to-market strategy showcased the benefit of Transnova’s supply chain expertise. The successful implementation of the transition plan contributed significantly to impressive improvements in CIMERWA’s strategic positioning in the Great Lakes cement industry, resulting in: