DIY retailer Focus Wickes has recruited European logistics specialist Christian Salvesen to handle its home deliveries as part of a multimillion, three-year contract. Salvesen is managing the warehousing and two-man home delivery of more than 100,000 kitchens, bedrooms and conservatories a year to Focus Wickes’ customers nationwide.
The operation also includes the assembly of double-glazed window and door units as well as some supplier collections and sea container de-stuffing.
The central warehousing and distribution is being undertaken from Focus Wickes’ Brackmills facility with dedicated fleets based at seven Salvesen network depots. All staff, including 140-plus warehousing operatives and drivers, have transferred from the previous contractor to Salvesen.
The retail contract is a significant move for Salvesen in the home delivery sector – it is already delivering Mereway kitchens direct to John Lewis Partnership customers.The Zip Project has chosen APL Logistics (APLL) to coordinate and control thousands of tonnes of children’s wear from manufacturing centres throughout Asia to the UK. Zip, a joint venture company created by Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Northern Ireland business Desmonds, provides all of M&S’ children’s wear range which is largely supplied from Sri Lanka, China, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The challenge for Zip’s supply chain operation was to deliver greater control and visibility as well as reduce inbound logistics costs. APLL’s solution concentrates on global import logistics, information management and establishing systems and processes that allow the supply chain to respond quickly to changing needs. Multimodal transport methods – sea, air and road – are also used.
APLL says that its global operating system and strict operational processes have enabled focus on prime areas such as purchase order and vendor management at origin, facilitating real-time, accurate information flow. Also, instead of moving mostly factory-packed containers Zip is now consolidating a large percentage of its product in Asia which has improved container usage and “significantly reduced costs”. The physical product flow is controlled by APLL, which is also in the process of implementing value-added pre-shipment services such as quality control and barcode scanning in Asia.
