Gideon Hillman Consulting, established in 2004, is one of the UKs leading Supply Chain and Logistics Consultancies servicing clients throughout the UK and Europe. It is an ISO 9001:2008 registered company, a recognised member practice of the Institute of Consulting and a corporate member of UKWA.
Our head office is in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, (close to Birmingham and Coventry) supporting a team of consultants highly experienced in all aspects of Supply Chain and Logistics Operations; Distribution Network Strategy; Warehousing Operations, e-fulfilment and Distribution Centre Design.
We are proud of our team, and our approach, in providing clear and concise project deliverables with fact-based pragmatic solutions to our clients who range from SMEs to major corporations and public sector organisations.
WLN – As a leading supplier in the Consultancy category, what has the last year been like for your business?
2015 has been a fantastic year for us with a 49% year on year revenue growth for our financial year ending June 2015. The growth has been greatest in the Logistics Network Design and Warehousing side of the business particularly in the e-commerce sector; which is consistent with the UK Logistics and Warehousing sector as a whole.
2015 has been both an exciting and challenging year adapting to the steep increase in business; but as with all things the team has met the challenge head on and we have successfully managed that level of business and ensured customer satisfaction.
We have grown the core team and supporting infrastructure this year to ensure that we can continue to maintain the increase in demand and expectations of our clients.
How about for the rest of the sector? I think the logistics consulting sector as a whole has been strong and enjoyed growth this year as e-commerce in particular continues to change the shape of distribution networks and Logistics operations across the world.
WLN – What are your best-known products and services?
We are recognised as one of (if not the) leading Warehouse and Distribution Centre design and Logistics Network Design specialist consultancies in the UK, having been finalists for five industry awards in the last few years. Our standing in the market is verified by the numerous customer testimonials that we have and that can be seen on our website.
WLN – What makes you the first choice supplier in your field?
We are known for our ‘hands-on’ approach and ability to provide strategic solutions through an analytical and practical process, with a strong bias towards resource optimisation and manageable implementation.
Through an operational focused approach we provide practical and implementable solutions with the lowest investment options considered first. For example if someone needs a warehouse improved, we don’t consider full or part automation until we first ensure that the manual operation is optimised. Once that cannot be improved that any further, we then consider whether alternatives such as automation will make any improvement and provide an acceptable return on investment for the client. The analysis and solutions specific to client requirements are presented with clear and concise rationale and where appropriate costed and tested.
WLN – What changes have you made to your core offering in the last year?
We have adapted with the market requirements and have developed specific expertise through experience with efulfilment centre design and e-commerce logistics as a whole. This does not detract from, but adds to, our other core business areas of expertise in reviewing current process and operations and developing solutions for all areas of Materials Handling; Procurement, Stores and Inventory Management including, Regional, National and Global Logistics Network Development and Implementation; Transport Network modelling and costing; Tactical Stock Locations; Handling and Picking processes; Demand Forecasting; Integrated Inventory Control; Vendor Management; Vendor Support Operations; inbound and outbound Logistics Management; Performance and Cost Measurement.
WLN – What new products and services have you introduced?
Consultancy expertise for Customs, Duty and HMRC Compliance. Working with one of our specialist partners we are now able to provide specialist advice on imports, exports, customs / bonded warehousing, International distribution service and logistics solutions that are compliant with global customs and duty requirements.
WLN – What industries are your customers in?
We continue to work across a range of industries with clients in Multi-channel Retail (including e-commerce), FMCG, Food Processing and Production, Utilities and Construction, General Industrial and Manufacturing, Third Party Logistics and Outsourcing, Automotive and Aerospace and the Public Sector.
WLN – How do your products and services help customers become more efficient, greener or work safer?
There are two key areas here. First is Distribution network design and strategy to reduce total road miles travelled to transport product through a supply chain.
This often involves consolidating current operations into single or dual Distribution centres after having calculated the Centre of Gravity based on reduced mileage and cost.
Secondly by improving design and process within the warehouse. Process changes can reduce risk by ensuring pedestrians and forklift trucks do not work in the aisles at the same time and recently through improved design and the introduction of a simple low power conveyor system we managed to reduce the forklift truck activity in a warehouse by over 500,000 fork truck pallet movements per annum.
WLN – Can you tell us about some of your customers and the work you do for them?
In the last 12 months we have added some great new clients to our already established portfolio having worked on projects for Jiffy Packaging, Northskull Jewelry, Bodybuilding.com, Happy Pet Products, Fresh View Foods Limited, Crosswater Limited, Simon Jersey, Geldbach UK Limited, e2B, PWS Distributors, Electrium, Siemens OS, ILG, Tool Connection, Pieroth Wines, NGK Spark Plugs, Direct Online Services, Vision Direct, Fine Décor, Dasco, Home Innovations, James Hardie Industries and British Gypsum. This is in addition to project work for our existing clients including The Cooperative Group, Premier Foods and Wall Family Europe.
The types of projects we have carried out have been varied and all well within our core areas of expertise including New Build design and re-configuration of existing warehouse, picking and distribution facilities; Optimised facility design/ layout, handling practices and workflows; Cost to serve, travel times and pick rate modelling to support the optimised layouts and workflows; Automation and Materials Handling Systems design, development, and implementation management; Warehouse and inventory management techniques to optimise workflow and costs; Optimised target inventories (holding cost vs. ordering cost vs. service); Tactical stock location(s) and picking strategies; Improved demand forecasting to allow for optimised inventories; Warehouse and Traffic Management System Operational Requirements Specifications;; Optimised distribution network design and appropriate cost modelling; Logistics Network Centre of Gravity Analysis to optimise resource and infrastructure; Multiple and individual Distribution Centre capacity assessments and Vehicle fleet profiling and resource requirements aligned with DC and customer requirements
WLN – Is there a recent or current project that stands out as a showcase for your company? Can you tell us about it?
One of the stand out projects for 2015 was the design and fit-out of the new European efulfilment Distribution Centre for Bodybuilding.com, the world’s largest on-line retailer of sports nutrition products including powdered and liquid health supplements and bulking powders for athletes; with an annual turnover in excess on $500M.
We were engaged by Bodybuilding.com to optimise the facility design and layouts, equipment specification and procurement, Construction Health and Safety Compliance (including supplying the Principal Contractor and CDM Coordinator) and site implementation, supplier and build coordination and commissioning support.
The facility, capable of processing 14,000 orders per day, includes a pedestrian zone pick operation where orders are picked to tote bins from carton live flow racking with back fill replenishment, and then placed on the conveyor to the packing area.
A secondary conveyor takes the packed orders to the goods out despatch area whilst a third conveyor returns the empty totes to the picking area.
From securing a suitable vacant empty premises to despatching the first orders took Bodybuilding.com with the support of the specialist team from Gideon Hillman Consulting only four months.
WLN – Are you currently investing in the business, taking on staff or going into new markets or countries? If so, how’s it going?
The steep growth curve in the last 18 months has driven the need for investment into staff and systems. We have recently employed Project Director Simon Padley, a Logistics professional with over 25 years’ experience having been employed at Director and Senior Management level with Manufactures, Wholesalers and Third Party Logistics Providers as well as over five years consultancy experience prior to joining us in September. Simon is a Fellow of The Institute of Consulting and holds his Certificate of Professional Competence in National Road Haulage Operations (CPC). In addition to that we have added to the warehouse consultant team with Ian Maughan joining us in the last few months. Both of them are working well and proving to be of great benefit to the business and our clients.
WLN – What other big news from Gideon Hillman can our readers look forward to reading in Warehouse & Logistics News in 2016?
We have a number of service and system developments currently in development which will be released during the course of 2016 and will keep you and your readers informed!
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