Europa Worldwide Group is the UK’s largest independent logistics provider, with three divisions in Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea and Europa Warehouse. The Group employs more than 1,400 across 29 international sites in the UK and Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Hong Kong, China, India and the UAE. As an award-winning, multimodal operator Europa has been featured in The Sunday Times Track 250 for three years running.
John Shah, UK Head of Warehouse Operations at Europa Worldwide Group speaks to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What does your role involve on a day-to-day basis?
My role varies from day-to-day, bringing many different elements at any one of our operations. For example, one day could be taken up with client reviews, sales and marketing activity, and the next could be financial solutioning and the operational, practical demands of our warehouses.
How would you explain the Europa Worldwide Group’s culture?
Europa’s culture is based on our company values, each designed to establish core cultural principles within the team. This culture promotes the company’s desire to keep its staff focused to the core message: delivering simple, high quality, honest transactions and nurturing team spirit and acting reasonably to drive out complexity. As a relative newcomer to Europa, I have been struck by the authenticity of this culture, and it’s something I experience daily.
How does this culture assist in your approach to solving customers’ requirements?
One of our core values is ‘do what’s right and not what’s easy’ – this is one of the constant drivers of our customer satisfaction. At Europa Warehouse, the 3PL division of Europa Worldwide Group, our teams are always searching for how they can innovate and bring value to customers at a high quality and competitive price.
Do you have direct contact with customers, and get involved developing solutions?
I do have contact with customers though most of their interaction is with our very capable team of solutions, customer care and operational experts. I oversee the Solutions Team, which is responsible for putting Europa Warehouse’s innovative ideas into practice.
I’m very lucky to have a group of bright individuals that are pursuing perfection constantly, whether it be a ‘simple is best’ solution or a solution which uses Corby’s automation, that team will get to what’s appropriate for the customer.
Tell us how Europa Warehouse is growing in the UK?
Europa Warehouse already has over one million square foot of multi-user Grade A warehousing and 3PL fulfilment space across its portfolio of warehouses in Corby, Northants (the heart of the UK’s logistics triangle), Dartford and Birmingham. All of these sites are now fully authorised Bonded Warehouses under HMRC, and our plan is to continue the controlled innovative growth with clients that are looking for that ‘something different’ to the typical 3PL.
This might be the adoption of market-leading technology to refine and optimise their fulfilment process, or solutions to maximise resale value or reinvent waste. We have a solution that is very much resonating with all organisations that we get into productive conversations with, regardless of their vertical sector or the end consumer.
What makes Europa Warehouse unique in your industry?
Europa has a very special mix of offerings for any potential customer, which makes it unique in the industry. We have established Bonded Wet & Dry accreditation across our portfolio of warehouses, and we have developed appropriate solutions for a wide scope of customers regardless of sector or end consumer. One such solution, installed at the Corby warehouse, is our shared-user automation system which can be programmed to transport a variety of products – from small cosmetics to larger electrical components.
We have managed to blend all these physical assets with the desire of our people to deliver customer excellence.
What solutions do you offer customers?
We can offer the most simplistic solutions to our embryonic customers which will involve the basics of a warehouse inventory management system (WMS), space and labour optimisation, to the most sophisticated such as our shared user automated picking solution. Solutions are available at all our 3PL sites, and we are continuing to innovate to achieve the highest possible efficiencies with a superior cost to serve proposition. The key to solutions for our customers is ‘appropriateness’.
What sectors do these clients work in?
Europa has customers across a full range of sectors, including retail, eCommerce, wholesale and packaging brands.
Some notable customers include boxed-wine retailer Laylo, gin subscription box Craft Gin Club and cocktail distributor FUNKIN – our wet bond accreditation is great for these beverage customers because it allows for the storage of imported alcohol before they have been processed by customs.
How can your solutions help?
Simply put, they enable our customers to get on with their business, without having to worry about picking, packing and peak planning.
We are here to support and are an enabler for growth. We provide a consistency of service that ensures our customers’ brands are protected and enhanced through their customers’ experience of the service.
How future proof and flexible are your solutions?
Europa has invested heavily in many elements of its infrastructure to make it future-proof and flexible for all. For example, we have developed robust and secure IT infrastructure together with state-of-the-art data protection for security and visibility. These backbone developments are then complemented by our customer service. delivered with passion and personality by a dedicated team of experts. I believe it is this which offers the needed flexibility for logistics processes, which are dynamic and ever-changing.
Europa can link these solutions into a plug and play suite of tech to support all customer requirements.
What new services/solutions are you offering for 2024?
2024 is set to be another exciting year for Europa Warehouse. We are working on some impactful solutions for our current and future clients, which includes the creation of an eco-system that doesn’t penalise clients as they scale and comes with a very competitive level of cost.
What are the biggest challenges facing Europa and the Warehouse industry?
As with all aspects of business in 2024, the economic environment is tough. Our customers are looking for a provider they can put on their ‘nothing to worry about list’. These challenges are the fuel of the Europa team, who are constantly looking to drive more cost-efficient solutions for our customers, while maintaining the high level of quality we’re well-known for.
Does Europa Warehouse cover the whole of the UK?
Our customers operate nationwide (with many shipping overseas), so the locations of our warehouses in the Midlands Logistics Triangle and near the Dartford Crossing are strategic to optimising movement for these customers.
Europa
01322 474 000
warehousesales@europa-worldwide.com
Comments are closed.