Month: June 2020

Berkshire-based fulfilment specialist Walker Logistics has announced the appointment of William Walker as its new managing director. He assumes this role from Bob Montague, who has served as MD for the past 15 years and will remain with the company in a consultancy role.

William Walker has held a number of roles within Walker since entering the business and most recently served as sales and marketing director. He has been working side-by-side with Bob Montague to allow a smooth transition and continuity of leadership.

Walker Logistics’ chairman, Philip Walker, commented: “William has been instrumental in the company’s success and has helped transform Walker Logistics into a world-class third party logistics services provider. Our clients and employees can have real confidence in William being an excellent choice to lead the company in the next phase of its development.”

William Walker said: “”I am naturally excited to be taking on this role and heading up such a professional and committed team. These are exciting times for the logistics industry and I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Established in 1999, Walker Logistics offers a comprehensive range of bespoke omni-channel logistics services including high volume DTC fulfillment to a broad range of clients from a modern facility close to Junction 14 of the M4.

Covid-19 will accelerate the digital transformation of supply chains in retail, says Ed Bradley (above), director of ecommerce logistics company Virtualstock.

Covid-19 is already proving to be one of those unparalleled, disruptive events that will change the face of many sectors. Retail will be amongst those most impacted and this crisis has pressed the accelerator on the inexorable shift to online. KPMG estimates online retailing could reach 50% of the total goods purchased by 2025, five years earlier than previously anticipated. With physical stores shut during lockdown, online sales became the sole channel for customers, and the only way for retail businesses to generate cash flows.
As with all crises there have already been and will be winners and losers. Those that have invested heavily into their ecommerce and fulfilment processes will have fared well, but there are many that were caught unprepared and underinvested.

Agility to fulfil customer demand
As well as highlighting the importance of e-commerce, Covid-19 has also emphasised the need for retailers to be agile. Lockdown has demonstrated how quickly demand can shift in particular categories. At the outset of lockdown there was a clamour for printers and home office equipment. As time went on this moved to gym and garden equipment. Fashion is now moving back up the priority list as customers begin to think more about life post lockdown. Those retailers unable to respond to customer demand, will have seen customers take their business elsewhere. Amazon has cleaned up where retailers can’t fulfil the need.

Rapid supply chains
This crisis will force retailers to continue investing in their supply chain platforms to ensure they are robust enough to handle any further disruption from Covid-19, but are also agile enough to respond to rapidly changing demand, not to mention the relentless competition from Amazon and other pure play online giants.
Traditional supply chains that rely on manually intensive, slow and laborious processes will not survive. Data is key here and is central to an effective and agile supply chain. It is no longer realistic to collect and manage data from different suppliers. If procurement teams have to manage the supplier’s data, it reduces the number of suppliers a retailer has the capacity to work with.

To compete in this environment, retailers need platforms that can process and provide visibility over huge amounts of rapidly changing data from thousands of suppliers. They also need complete control and full visibility over all product information, approved pricing, inventory levels, order statuses, tracking details and reporting in a central location. By having systems that can track order statuses in real-time, this data can be instantly passed on to the customer, relieving pressures on customer service teams and avoiding unnecessary costs to the retailer. All this will feed straight through to the bottom line with improved fill rates and forecast accuracy, reduced lead times and lower levels of inventory.

Dropship
Retailers can also mitigate supply chain disruption by having a dropship channel. Dropship allows businesses to source products from a wide variety of suppliers who fulfil the order directly to the customer without having to stock the product in their own warehouse. If certain product ranges are selling out, retailers can turn to a number of different suppliers to avoid losing sales. Dropship can be switched on as a temporary measure to fill a particular breach in product lines, so retailers can continue to sell until their usual suppliers replenish lines.

Dropship also enables retailers to respond to rapid changes in customer demand for new products by reshaping product ranges and pivoting into new categories at pace. Boohoo is a great example of this. During spring the brand typically sells dresses and outdoor clothing. However, with Covid-19 forcing people to sit at home many consumers wanted tracksuits and leisure wear. By effectively using data to see what customers want and were putting in the search terms on their site, Boohoo was able to turn to appropriate brands and dropship suppliers to add product categories on their website that they knew would sell.

In this environment of unprecedented disruption, when every business is meticulously focused on the bottom line, not having to stock product in warehouses can cut significant cost and reduce risk. Products have a life cycle and can quickly become obsolete and inventory that can’t be cleared sitting in a warehouse becomes a liability. With dropship the supplier or local distributor holds the risk.

For cash flow and working capital purposes it is transformative. When the item is delivered to the customer retailers get the cash up front and then they pay the supplier.

In a world of unprecedented disruption, to remain relevant and successful requires evolution and embracing change. The adoption of digital supply chains requires both time and investment but the benefits are essential, particularly for navigating the difficult environment we are in today.

HCEE (Hyundai Construction Equipment Europe) has named Christopher Thompson (above) as the new Head of Sales, Material Handling for the European market.

In close cooperation with Hyundai’s branches and European dealer network, Christopher Thompson will lead the European Sales department, including all Material Handling Area Sales Managers and the complete MH sales back office. He will be developing and implementing commercial strategies, with a focus on long-term partnerships, while securing HCEE’s sales objectives in Europe. UK born Christopher Thompson will be based at the European headquarters in Tessenderlo, Belgium.

Mr Sun Wook An, Head of Material Handling Division at HCEE commented on Christopher’s appointment, “Christopher Thompson brings a wide array of business industry experience with him. He will now head up the Material Handling sales business unit where he will manage and lead the European division.”

Mr Sun Wook An continued, “Europe remains one of the key focus areas for the global MH business in the coming years. A lot is changing in our industry and we are moving at a rapid pace. In addition to our leading Li-ion technology and the development of products meeting the stringent diesel Stage V requirements, Hyundai Material Handling has the added advantage of future technology sharing synergies with the wider Hyundai group of companies. We are happy to welcome Chris into our Hyundai family.”

Christopher Thompson said, “These are exciting yet challenging times. I look forward to strengthening and developing the Material Handling business unit together with my dedicated team and our network of passionate dealer partners across Europe. Together we will take Hyundai Material Handling Europe’s success to the next level.”

Yale Europe Materials Handling has launched Yaleused.com, which will help end-customers across EMEA find affordable, reliable, and high performing used and refurbished Yale products in an approved sales channel.

The new website provides approved Yale dealers with an exclusive platform to advertise used and refurbished materials handling equipment. Customers are able to search for immediately available equipment for sale or to rent, to meet their current application requirements and business circumstances.

“We’re thrilled with the opportunities Yaleused.com will offer to our dealers to promote available used Yale equipment,” said David McIntyre, Re-Marketing Manager. “Not every application requires a new forklift. Businesses may find themselves in a situation where they need to source a forklift immediately or are required to reduce expenditure. They may even need a back-up forklift to keep their operations moving smoothly. The new website will enable them to source used equipment, from a local Yale dealer at a budget to suit their individual needs.”

Peace of mind
Demand for quality used equipment continues to grow, and with it a need for a professional approach. Second-life products offer companies an affordable option to meet their immediate requirements.

“Yaleused.com gives customers instant visibility of the variety of used products available from an authorised Yale dealer and provides easy communication with the seller. Customers can find second-life machinery manufactured by a leading, global forklift manufacturer, offering the peace of mind that an official Yale dealer can offer,” said David McIntyre.

David added, “As well as offering fully serviced, well-maintained and high quality machines with instant availability, customers benefit from the local presence of an authorised Yale dealer who can provide full parts and service support, warranties and finance options.”

Alongside the new customer-facing website is a separate Inventory Management System and a Dealer-to-Dealer advertising platform, aimed to help Yale dealers to control their stock and communicate effectively with the extensive Yale dealer network across EMEA and globally.

“With interest in used and refurbished equipment continuing to grow, we’re pleased existing and new customers will be able to source quality Yale products with great ease and be confident that they will continue to be reliable and productive for many years to come,” concluded David.