United Pallet Network is the fastest growing palletised freight delivery network in the UK, delivering a high quality service to its 75 members and their customers. The past twelve months for United Pallet Network has seen a 30% increase in pallet numbers coming through their hub at Fradley Park, Lichfield. A recent interview with Glenn Boldy, Network Director has confirmed how UPN is preparing for the operational challenges that lie ahead.

glenn-high-resolutionGlenn commented “Although we had plans in place to deal with increased volumes, it was clear that at the beginning of 2014 we had to further develop these plans to deal with our exceptional growth.”

“Those plans involved extending our footprint from 120,000 square feet to 170,000 square feet, which included the addition of two further scanning lanes, four further loading bays and four new stand trailer loading bays. As well as changes to our infrastructure, we have increased staffing levels and invested in our forklift truck fleet to manage expected volumes as we move forward.”

“With the upgrade and extension work drawing to a close, I am delighted to say it has all gone according to plan, with a seamless delivery of service for our members and their customers.”

“One of the unique strengths of the UPN network is the way in which we communicate and interface with our members. The members are represented at all levels with regional member attendance at the bi-annual regional meetings and consultative committee meetings. Three members are also non-executive directors on the UPN board.”

“This dynamic way of communicating has resulted in the UPN network developing acorns of ideas, put forward by its members and turning them into reality. Many of the features of UPN’s industry leading IT system have been driven by member input. UPN has an extremely approachable management team, dedicated to the simple philosophy of providing the very best service possible. After all we are a service industry and service lies at the heart of everything we do.”

“Communication is at the centre of our daily working life, the IT system which we employ has been developed over the last few years with massive input from our members who use the system 24 hours a day. We have simply integrated a seamless tracking system across the whole of the network, from a client booking online to delivery with full track and trace and real time signature capture at the point of delivery. We are proud of our IT system and plan to develop it even further. The system enables cost savings and greater efficiencies for our members and our hub operational staff alike. We produce accurate KPI reports from real time information which the system can provide for individual customer accounts, right through to the compliance reporting used by our field based team of dedicated audit managers.”

“This autumn will see the introduction of a live insurance claims management system, which will speed up the response times and claim resolution, another time saving addition to our ever growing IT system.”

“We celebrate everything that is good about UPN each year at our annual awards ceremony, where recognition of the loyal members that go that extra mile and remain true to our core ideals of service excellence are rewarded.

“Whenever you deal with UPN it is the people you will deal with that make the difference, whether it be our night operations, accounts, IT department or our day operations team, you can be assured that your interests and concerns are our concern. As individuals we may not have all the answers but collectively UPN, its staff and members are a force to be reckoned with! I am extremely proud of the UPN team and what we have achieved together. However there can be no resting on our laurels, as we must keep moving forward, keeping it simple and keeping service at the heart of everything we do.”

www.u-p-n.co.uk

Comments are closed.