Amid all the tales of economic gloom, one British-owned materials handling and logistics supplier, the Whirlowdale Group, is continuing to do well in the present business climate, and has been investing in enhancing its service to help its customers also to flourish in difficult conditions. Whirlowdale is the UK’s leading provider of plastic and wooden pallets and packaging solutions, and has stepped up its already highly successful offering with a new range of plastic pallets, enlarged headquarters premises in Rotherham and an extended network of local service depots across the UK. Andrew Pearce, Managing Director of Whirlowdale Group, spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
Warehouse & Logistics News – Andrew, we last spoke nearly two years ago. What’s been happening since then in your business? How has the market changed?
Our business is still going strong; we continue to see improved turnover figures every quarter. The market has remained the same, but is showing some signs of a slowdown.
WLN – By way of background, when was Whirlowdale founded, and by whom? Who owns it now?
Roy Pearce, my father, founded the company over 30 years ago. Roy and I own it and run it between us; Jarrod Fisher is our Sales Director.
WLN – How big is Whirlowdale in turnover? How fast is it growing?
Our annual turnover is around £30 million. We have seen several good organic growth years, and are currently negotiating takeover of a company with a turnover of £24 million.
WLN – What does your role involve day to day? Who else is in the management team?
Due to the fact we have sites situated all over the UK, which will rise to eight or more if the takeover comes off, a fair bit of travelling is involved in our day to day work, but overall it is a lot of talk and motivation. We have a small team of sales and procurement managers covering the UK.
WLN – How big in value and volume terms is the UK market for wooden and plastic pallets? What share do you have?
I couldn’t give you an answer on the value and volume of the UK market of wooden and plastic pallets, or the share we have, but we are one of the larger players in the market.
WLN – Do you offer these services in other countries?
Yes, we trade throughout Europe, including Central and Eastern Europe, and in Africa, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
WLN – What proportion of your pallet business are plastic pallets?
At the moment it is approximately 5%, but we are looking to increase this and have a new range of plastic pallets in stock.
WLN – What products are in your new plastic pallet range? How are they different from your other plastic pallets?
The new plastic range differs from others in that we have a choice of four types of material – PP (Polypropylene), PO (Polyophelene), PE (Polyethylene) and virgin material. The supplier we source them from also has a range of half Euro plastic pallets (600x800mm), which we have recently purchased and currently have in stock. We now stock a vast range of UK standard (1000x1200mm) and Euro sized (800x1200mm) plastic pallets, with varying loading capacities. Full details can be found on our website, www.whirlowdale.com
WLN – How much bigger is your Rotherham HQ now following the expansion, and what activities will you use the new capacity for?
Our Rotherham site has doubled in size. We have new office and meeting facilities in the adjacent building to our existing premises, which also house the automated repair lines and provide additional storage capacity. Sales have increased, and we have much more space to work in.
WLN – Where are your new service depots?
Our most recent depots are in Bishop Auckland and Doncaster. Bishop Auckland became part of the Whirlowdale Group in December 2006, and Doncaster in 2007. We will hopefully have another three or four service depots coming up in the future, including Bristol and Leeds.
WLN – How many other service depots do you have around the UK? Where are they? How many people do you employ?
We have four main depots – the HQ in Rotherham, and sites in Burton on Trent, Essex and the Bishop Auckland depot, which is split over two yards, West Auckland and Birtley. We also have pallet manufacturing sites in the Midlands, Doncaster and Nottinghamshire. Each site employs between 10 and 20 people, including office and yard staff.
WLN – How much have you invested in all this? How many new jobs have been created?
We have invested around £1 million into our expansion, and so far this has created 30 jobs.
WLN – Besides the new plastic pallets, what other pallets do you sell? Do you supply both UK and Euro pallets? What other transit packing-related items do you supply?
We supply new and recycled wooden pallets, and carry stocks of used plastic pallets along with the new ones. We supply both UK and European sized pallets. We have automated machinery to manufacture UK standard size pallets. We sell most sizes of recycled wooden pallets, and can manufacture new pallets to order. We also stock some steel products.
WLN – Are full details of your products on-line? Can people order on-line?
We have full stock details on our website, www.whirlowdale.com. Customers can order via email but not yet via the website. This is something we have been looking into.
WLN – Do you make the pallets you sell yourselves? Do you recycle wooden or plastic pallets?
Yes, we manufacture some pallets ourselves: we have specialist machines set up to produce UK standard pallets, and have the capability to produce bespoke pallets. We recycle wooden pallets ourselves.
WLN – Do you supply heat-treated wooden pallets for export? Do they come with special ISPM 15 compliance certificates?
Yes, we do supply heat-treated pallets, and can supply the ISPM15 certificates if required. The pallets are marked with the IPPC logo in an attempt to alleviate paperwork, but some countries still require the Phytosanitary note. Full details of this can be found on our website, and the information is regularly updated.
WLN – What are the regulations for exporters regarding use of these pallets? Do you offer advice in this area?
As mentioned previously, full details regarding heat-treated pallets and when the pallets need to be treated can be found on our website. Alternatively, plastic pallets can be used. We do offer advice to anyone who is unsure of the regulations.
WLN – Who are your customers, and in which industry sectors are they?
I cannot divulge our client base, but we supply all industry sectors.
WLN – Do you sell pallets and packaging on-line for small businesses and consumers who need a pallet for a one-off use? How does this work?
We do not sell on line, but small businesses are welcome to phone up and talk to one of the sales team. We generally have a minimum delivery quantity so small businesses tend to collect their pallets.
WLN – Do you buy unwanted pallets? Can you repair broken pallets? How quickly can you collect, in both instances?
Yes we do collect unwanted or redundant pallets, and will repair all that are repairable: scrap goes for chipping. We can collect with 24 hours’ notice. Repairing takes slightly longer as we have to sort the pallets first, but we have a team of repairers at all sites.
WLN – What is the difference in sale price between new pallets and repaired/reconditioned ones?
Reconditioned pallets tend to be around 50% cheaper than new pallets.
WLN – You also have a pallet management service called Palogistics. What does it entail? What sort of organisations are its clients?
Palogistics is a logistic system that Whirlowdale use to minimise the handling of pallets. Distribution centres, especially, like to use Palogistics as a way of easing the supply of good pallets and removal of damaged pallets. All damaged pallets removed from site will be separated into repairable and scrap pallets, and either put back into the supply chain or recycled/chipped. Every aspect of the Palogistics chain is recorded on our IT systems and reported back to head office on a monthly or quarterly basis.
WLN – What customer service infrastructure do you have in place? How do you service large customers?
We operate nationwide, but control is through our head office in Rotherham. We have remote sales teams to service customers throughout the UK.
WLN – What industry standards do you work to? Which trade associations and industry bodies are you members of?
We are working towards ISO 9001. We are members of Timcon, BREPAL (the UK arm of EPAL) and are registered EPAL traders.
WLN – What external factors do you see impacting on your business?
Obviously a lot of things in the wider world can influence our business, namely the economy and European legislation.
WLN – Where do you see Whirlowdale going from here?
Onwards and upwards!
Whirlowdale Trading Company
Tel: 01709 829 061
www.whirlowdale.com
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