If there ever was a prize for a super-organised superhero, it would be awarded to Ellen Mokola, the senior manager for the inbound Dis-Chem distribution centre, and the second in command for the Dis-Chem pharmaceuticals distribution centre.
Mokola has worked for Dis-Chem for the past 10 years, having built herself from inventory clerk to the two senior positions she holds today. Mokola is responsible for all incoming products into these facilities which hold about 6 000 line items at any given time.
What this means is that she needs to capture the weight, dimensions for volume, and storage location of each product within the distribution centres, and for storage to take place seamlessly, she also needs to know the units of measure for all products such as how many units of stock fit onto each pallet, and how many units will fit into a storage casing.
Last year alone, Dis-Chem averaged 5.78 million individual incoming units per month – that’s a huge number of products for which to be accountable, and Mokola does it without breaking a sweat. She is also responsible for all returns, and quarantine of stock, which includes batch control, damaged goods and short-dated stock. All this while having about 45 employees who report to her.
When asked if she enjoys her job and working at Dis-Chem, Mokola said, “Over my time at Dis-Chem the business has grown immensely and being part of that growth inspires me to be motivated, and to engage myself to the best of my ability to grow my team together with the business to achieve common goals, which is aligned to our values.
“Being a part of a male-dominated industry as a young black female, Dis-Chem has not only contributed to my career, but to my self-esteem, teaching me how to empower myself. “I was one of the first selected in the distribution centre to be a trainee manager, and with great leadership from management, Craig Manley, who believed in me and guided me through training and development, it was a blast of a journey to end up being where I am today.”
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