The Range is one of the UK’s fastest growing retailers with plans to have 150 stores throughout the country and their essential need is to continually stock those outlets with more than 65,000 products across 16 departments. It means that logistics is not just important, it’s a religion.

Their Doncaster flagship distribution centre is vast. It’s rammed with enough stock and variety to impress Aladdin, located on high bay racking systems that dwarf the forklifts and reach stackers that ply constantly around the aisles like purposeful bees. Goods ship in and out within hours. The pace is keen and the efficiency impressive. It operates 24-7 continually feeding its outlets with the right stock at the right time. It is slick and clever. This is the front line.

Leading the operation is Head of Supply Chain, Alex Simpkin, whose daily challenge is bringing goods from around the world into The Range distribution hubs and seeing that stores have exactly the stock they need. And all that gets even more complex in a business with a growth and development plan that sees new stores opening on an increasingly frequent basis, currently averaging around 20 per year.

“We have two large distribution centres and some additional satellite warehouses to hold and supply stock”, explained Alex. “Our business is all about product availability. Our aim is to get as close as possible to 100% availability of all stock in all stores – simply, if we don’t get it to the store we can’t sell it – so it’s a tough challenge”.

The whole operation is managed by an incredibly sophisticated warehouse management system which Alex refers to as ‘the brain’. “It governs where every piece of inventory is within our network at any given time and is the intelligence at the core of the process”.

But on the front line you need physical assets, the moving parts that make the operation function and perform. Their fleet of forklifts and reach stackers work pretty much flat out so they need to be reliable, robust and efficient.

“We saw the TCM products at their design and manufacturing centre in Sweden and we were very impressed at not just the quality of design and engineering but the extent to which the trucks were designed around driver comfort and health. They focus on comfort and ergonomics to prevent strains and stresses and ensure that driver health and safety is a top priority. That fits exactly with our workplace philosophy”.

In a business where the supply chain is fast-moving, logistics needs to be slick, resilient, adaptive and flexible and part of the whole complex operation is the materials handling equipment which plays a key role. “We run a lean system. There are no trucks lying idle in case of breakdowns, it is tightly controlled with no surplus capacity. So that means the level of on-site support needs to be absolutely on the ball”. The task of being ‘on the ball’ falls to their materials handling partner Lift West – the Bristol based TCM dealer. They have been working with The Range for around 15 years and were involved in the early days of the business.

“Both businesses have grown together, it’s a strong relationship that works well. We trust and understand each other. Because Lift West has grown with us they understand our business growth model and how that affects our changing needs”.

This close relationship and clear knowledge of how the business works means that Lift West is closely engaged in the development of the materials handling operation. Director Chris Exley says they proactively work to innovate and improve to ensure that both the equipment and service fits the fast moving and ever changing operating environment which The Range presents. “We have effectively helped to shape the materials handling fleet and support structure so that it is completely tailored to their changing operational needs”.

Lift West has its engineers located on site to provide both a rapid response to any breakdowns but also to pre-empt problems. “It’s all designed around their 24-7 shift patterns to ensure maximum up time of the equipment”, assured Chris. The Range measures truck fleet availability, which has always been maintained at an acceptably high level but which is progressively rising. “The challenge”, says Alex Simpkin, “is constantly to improve efficiency, performance and resilience”.

To make that happen Simpkin confirms that strong supporting partners that understand their business and can stay ahead by pushing the boundaries to constantly improve is a crucial part of the plan.

TCM

Tel: 01844 219265

www.tcmforklifts.co.uk

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