Halfway through the year, I am ahead of schedule, having completed more than half of my planned eighty warehouse visits for 2024 The Year of Warehousing. So far, it has been an enlightening and uplifting experience. Three of my most recent visits highlight the importance of industrial logistics.
The private Canadian firm Metro Supply Chain has made a number of global acquisitions in recent years, notably buying Suffolk-based Century Logistics in 2022. As well as the eight sites they gained from this acquisition, Metro also operate a further six here in the UK for the General Dynamics contract they won around the same time. I received a warm welcome at Llanelli when I went along to find out how they meet the exacting needs of their client’s nearby manufacturing site at Merthyr Tydfil, supplying parts to build military equipment such as tanks for the Ministry of Defence. The range of SKUs is impressive, from turrets and engines to nuts and bolts, so a wide range of storage media is needed. They have block-stacking, shuttle storage, VNA, APR and an automated Kardex system to ensure efficient picking every time!
Condale Plastics, a prospective new UKWA member, is another case in point. Founded in 1969 in Croydon, they moved to Sussex in the 1990s and have continued expanding, with over 90 people now employed making over 2,000 tonnes of extruded plastic products every year. The company is owner occupier of four adjacent buildings which house manufacturing activities as well as warehousing. Condale and their PR company PRG Communications took me on an enthusiastic tour of these expansive facilities, providing a crash course in the world of plastic extrusions which are hidden in plain sight. From tiny catheter tubes used by vets to non-slip decking installed at caravan sites; retail shelving units or crash barriers, there are many different plastic products made via the extrusion process and now I find myself paying more attention than you might imagine to handrails and corridor lighting strips. The warehouse chiefly stores raw materials – various grades and types of plastic, including recycled PVC window frames – as well as bespoke tools and dies which are carefully designed and made on site.
Meanwhile, at East Midlands Gateway, global giant Kuehne + Nagel runs a cross-dock operation for their industrial network. Visiting their warehouse, I saw a wide range of goods such as playground equipment for schools and jerrycans for the military. Staff benefit from good quality welfare provisions including a gym and a garden and the company recently introduced lithium-ion battery-powered forklift trucks as part of their commitment to making industrial logistics sustainable.
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