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Things are going from strength to strength for pallet network Fortec. Andy Salter went to have a look at
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the company's recently opened 9.5-acre hub.
The growth of pallet networks has been one of the key industry phenomena of the past five years or so, as operators have moved to co-operation rather than competition to drive out inefficiencies. Fortec's pallet network may not be one of the biggest in the sector, but its attention to detail and quality has seen it build a significant business for itself.
Recent developments include a move to a new 9.5-acre site, growth into Europe and the launch of a dedicated Irish service.
Based in the golden triangle of distribution just outside Rugby, Fortec is well placed to serve the needs of members with its centrally located hub. While the new buildings may lack the glamour and glitz of some notable competitors, this suits the Fortec way.
"Ours is a network where function is more important than form," says business development manager Mick Dewhurst. "We are focused on delivering value to our members and by extension the end user. It's a participation network where members are encouraged to get involved.Were not likely to be pushing our operators to do things that aren't in their interest." Fortec is owned by French distribution giant Geodis, but the company is generally left to get on with things. Geodis does supply volume into the Fortec network and it is powering the new Fortec International extension to the business, but day-to-day involvement in Fortec is kept to a minimum. Indeed, the £5m cost of the new hub was funded out of Fortec trading rather than by the parent.
Smooth and accurate
The focus of the new site is on ensuring two things: a smooth flow of goods in and out, and accurate delivery. "We'd pretty much reached capacity with the old hub," says Dewhurst, "and while we're not focused on volume for volume's sake the growth of the company has seen us continue to add more volume to the network. Last year our growth was 15% up on 2005 and the 2007 figure is expected to exceed that."
As you would expect, there's some pretty sophisticated IT powering the network. Hanworth-based Deltion supplies the know-how and all 60 licensees are on a common platform. By 8pm each evening all activity is confirmed by the licensees and as the goods arrive at the hub they are scanned in, allocated to a region and then on exit scanned again. "This ensures misrouting is minimised," says Dewhurst. "The new hub has given us much more space and has allowed us to separate the economy and premium-rate consignments. We've now got better control of the pallet floor, which has an immediate benefit in terms of quality."
The launch of Fortec's international service in July 2006 extended the network's reach from six to 23 European countries. Supported by Fortec's extensive UK licensee network, Fortec International services all major European countries, including France, Germany and Poland, and links into parent company Geodis's European network.
The main advantage of Fortec International is that it provides daily departures into Europe. "This is considerably different to our competitors," adds Dewhurst, -which tend to operate on more of a groupage basis with two or three departures per week. Freight from our licensees could be out for delivery in Germany or France while other networks' freight is still awaiting UK departure. This service provides our licensees with a reaI advantage for their customers.
More recently Fortec launched a scheduled, premium, 24-hour daily pallet delivery service to Ireland using the resources of the existing Fortec licensees.The new service will offer deliveries through the Fortec network into both Dublin and Belfast on a next-day basis.
Complementary service
Freight bound for Ireland from around the UK Will reach the new 13,000m hub by midnight each day and be transhipped to Ireland via Holyhead the next morning enabling next-day delivery in Dublin and Belfast.
This venture complements the Fortec 48-hour service throughout the rest of Ireland.The major benefits of the new premium Ireland service include: an express service for urgent palletised freight; scanned point of delivery online within 24 hours; and, of course, competitive rates.
Neil Hodgson, Fortec's business relationship manager for Ireland, is spearheading the new service. He says: "The launch of the 24-hour pallet delivery service into Ireland is another example of us providing improved services for licensees so they can offer their customers the right solutions to meet their requirements.
"Ireland is a very large market and the facility of a 24-hour dedicated daily service will no doubt help our licensees' customers to build their businesses in the country." For the future Fortec will continue to look for additional growth, both in the number of consignments (the new hub has doubled the capacity) and in the size of the network (the number of licensees is expected lobe at 65 by the end of the year).
"Business is extremely positive at present," concludes Dewhurst."We still have some gaps in the network, which obviously offer operators an opportunity to join us if they are able to satisfy our quality standards."
The best advice would appear to be 'get in touch...'