Welcome to the 15 October Warehouse & Logistics News. How do you remove dead leaves and refresh a stagnant pond? It’s easy enough to do in a garden, but very difficult in the economy. With no changes expected on interest rates or the quantitative easing programme, it looks like business is going to take a long time to pick up. The experts who said recovery will be slow look like they were right: the latest survey by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply shows activity falling in transport, storage and manufacturing. Just when we were starting to talk about recovery, are we losing the impetus?
One way for warehousing and logistics companies to ‘stir up the pond’ and get things moving this autumn is to improve their service to customers. It takes energy and imagination – but one thing’s for certain, you can’t do it if you neglect such fundamental requirements for your business as racking and shelving and the other kit and consumables.
In this issue we’ve two features, racking & shelving and single source suppliers. There’s a clear overlap. In Racking & Shelving we look at Pallet racking, cantilever racking, shelving and storage solutions. Rapid Racking is one of the UK’s number 1 specialist supplier of storage solutions: their business is the fast and efficient supply of pallet racking and industrial and office shelving, and not only that, mezzanine floors and all types of boxes, containers, bins and cupboards. You could say this breadth makes them a single source supplier.
Which brings us to our second feature. Single Source Suppliers differ widely in the range of products they carry, but are all built around the concept of making life easier for the customer and offering greater convenience and service. So, being objective, you could say A-plant, HSS and Stanley Handling, to name three household names in the Warehousing & Logistics world, all qualify as single source suppliers.
A-Plant offers a vast range of equipment available to hire, from power tools, cement mixers and excavators to compressors, scissor lifts and accommodation units. Industrial and commercial equipment specialist Stanley Handling has just launched the latest edition of its highly successful mail order catalogue including trucks and trolleys, materials handling, workshop equipment, storage products, containers, outdoor equipment, premises and personnel, office and commercial as well as safety and security. HSS, an archetypal one-stop shop, has provided complete tool and equipment hire for its customers for over 50 years. There are many other suppliers like these that you could mention, all with wide product ranges, and with on-line sales growing the choice for the customer is ever increasing. One thing’s certain: it’s great news for the business needing kit to have this much choice.
Happy reading.
Warehouse & Logistics News
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