Welcome to the November 1st Warehouse & Logistics News. It’s official – after nine months of recession the UK economy was back in growth from July to September. As we closed, the official GDP figures from the ONS showed the economy grew 1.0% in the third quarter, 0.2% coming from Olympic and Paralympic ticket sales.

It’s too early to put our economic woes behind us, declare a public holiday and re-christen this month Yes-vember. But on the heels of this good news there’s further reason for warehousing and logistics professionals to be positive and gear up for recovery, and invest in the equipment and services they need.

To help you, in this issue we’ve got features about Pallet Networks, Warehouse Flooring and Conveying & Sortation, each one a key aspect of warehousing and logistics that makes a strong contribution to businesses’ ability to deliver to customers.

In our Pallet Networks feature we look at the major European, UK and regional pallet networks. ‘Warehouse Flooring’ includes floor preparation, maintenance, mezzanines and area markings. The warehouse floor is often taken for granted, but its state of health is crucial to the smooth running of every warehouse operation. And as our feature shows, Conveying & Sortation is an increasingly important topic for managers as businesses strive for greater output, increased efficiency and reduced costs, and look at achieving these objectives by investing in automated materials handling equipment and IT solutions.

Going back to the economic situation, the ONS says that the economy had contracted by 6.4% between early 2008 and mid 2009, and has now recovered around half of this lost ground. GDP in July-September was close to the third quarter figure last year.

Coinciding with the ONS research, the latest CBI survey is more restrained. It shows UK manufacturers have mixed expectations about rising output and new orders, faced with continued manufacturing weakness in the Eurozone. Nevertheless it predicts a modest recovery for the rest of this year.
For the ninth quarter running the CBI’s respondents said they were growing their workforces. They are also planning to invest in innovation.

The bottom line is, the UK’s warehouse and logistics infrastructure is strong and well equipped, backed by excellent suppliers of equipment and services, as the articles in this issue make clear. It has stayed lean and fit over the last few years and is well placed to support British businesses as they get on with pushing output levels back to pre-recession levels.

Have a successful month.

Warehouse & Logistics News

Comments are closed.