As a leading UK manufacturer George Utz Ltd has been well known for many years for providing successful and reliable injection-moulded and vacuum formed storage solutions to British and European industry in the Warehouse & Logistics environment. It offers specialist technical advice about the best products to integrate with existing or new automated systems in customers supply chain. Working closely with their customers (including many well-known blue chip names) and logistics experts, it develops innovative solutions for complex materials handling operations. George Utz prides itself on co-operation, quality and customer-focused project management. Their brand values are known as clever, creative, sustainable and smart. Probably the Hidden Champion in their market segment.
Warehouse & Logistics News – First of all, what does your role involve day to day? Has your role changed since last year?
As a General Manager, I am responsible for all aspects of our business here in the UK. Together with my creative team we run here in Alfreton-Derbyshire a very efficient factory were we develop, produce and distribute plastic containers, pallets, dollies and FLC´s. George Utz UK is a limited company in its own right under the umbrella of the Georg Utz Holding AG in Switzerland. There were a few changes since last year. E.g. our customers and project clients require our concepts suggestions, quotes and presentations normally a few days after our first briefing meeting. This is what the market expects from us and we altered our processes and procedures to fulfil this demand. Projects, which will go through the “fast track line”, become more and more normal and the daily routine.
WLN – How big is The Utz Group worldwide in turnover and staff? How many countries do you trade in?
The last year’s figures are always distributed under www.utzgroup.com but I am more than happy to give you an answer. On Group level we have a turnover of approx. £150m, and invest the equivalent of 10% every year in new technology, production capacity and infrastructure. We work together with 850 motivated colleagues worldwide in seven production plants, including China and North America. We have agency agreements with 40 local partners around the world and our products are on sale in over 100 countries. The Utz Group is processing more than 45,000 tonnes p.a. of raw material into Material Handling Products or let’s say RTP´s (Returnable Transport Packaging).
WLN – 2012: how was it for you?
As you know, the international financial situation is still unstable and this affects the raw material markets and exchange rates. Very often we communicate open and honest with our customers and share our viewpoint and strategy regarding that. Our findings during the last two years was that our customers understand the market, the raw material situation and the movement in currency, because they have similar challenges in their organizations. Key is, to communicate in an open, fair and honest manner with the customer and offer alternative solutions.
WLN – Did your company provided any products for any of the major public events in 2012? Have you noticed any lasting effect after these events?
Yes, we had a few orders which were related to the Olympics this year in London but also there were a few orders in conjunction with the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Do not take it wrong, these were not massive orders but we are proud that we also delivered our bit to those two major events in the UK in 2012.
WLN – What effect did the major snow falls at the end of 2011, the lack of summer, and the Olympic Games have on your company?
As you are aware, planning is key for this events and situations. Regarding the snow our local council here in Alfreton did a good job. They helped a lot to clear the roads in our industrial estate that the trucks had access to our Logistic Centre. Also based on our planning and experiences from the last years we bought enough road salt and equipment to clear our access points. Concerning the lack of summer and the Olympic Games there were really no effects on our company, but we all hope that the summer 2013 will be different and warmer. The positive effect of the Olympic Games was that there was a very positive buzz in the country and region, because the organizers did a fantastic job and the visitors / supporters of the Games behaved very fair and cosmopolitan. Britain can be proud of what was planned and delivered.
WLN – What is your particular proposition for customers in the warehouse & logistics sector? Has that changed since last year?
All our products are developed and designed for the modern Supply Chain, so they are a key part in the warehouse and logistics sector. The key word and trend is clearly Efficiency in their Supply Chain. Our clever products can fulfil this requirement and delivers a smart solution.
WLN – How has your business sector been performing in 2012? What do you see as the most important recent developments?
2012 was really a strong and busy year. Our production run the whole year 24/7. The main reason for that was that we produced quite a few large project orders for large High Street Retailers and Food Processing Companies in the UK and you can imagine that they want the output to fill their Supply Chain with our products.
WLN – You are a major supplier in the Retail category, what proportion of your business is this? What else can you offer?
Our strongest UK sector is Retail with approx. 55%, then Automotive with 30%. The rest is made up of general industry and resellers / distributors. There are more than 2,000 of the shelf products in our group, but our specialty is to develop with our clients a customer’s specific solutions which are suitable for their supply chain.
WLN – What was your biggest investment to improve your business in 2012? What else did you do?
In 2012 we invested into a brand new 1,000 tonne injection moulding machine from Krauss-Maffei in Germany, new robot equipment from KUKA and Wittmann-Battenfeld, but also into an upgrade of our state of the art cooling infrastructure. With our supplier Reisner AG we developed a very energy efficient system to reduce the energy consumption and our CO2 footprint. We also installed in November four new silos (Ø 4.5 x 20m) to store our raw material. We have now a capacity of over 1,600 tonne to store material in our 12 silos. All this investments are in total in an area of £ 750,000. We are very aware that to continue to develop and grow we must continuously improve our technology and infrastructure in order to meet the demands of our growing customer base. We are all excited about the new machinery and already have orders in place which will keep it busy 24/7 in 2013.
WLN – Have you launched any new products or services in 2012? What are they, and how are they performing?
We invested into a new container range of ALC´s (attached lid containers). They are 100% compatible to our range also with ALC´s in the market. There are three different heights available and the two lid half’s are attached to the container. The heights are 265mm, 310mm and 370mm with a foot print of 600 x 400. This is the perfect space saving box for distribution and e-commerce.
WLN – How compatible are your products with conveyors and other current materials handling equipment?
We manufacture storage and materials handling products in the standard European modular sizes, i.e. 800 x 600mm, 600 x 400mm, 400 x 300mm and 300 x 200mm. All our products are compatible with current conveyors, forklifts and material handling automation. They have strong bases with minimum deflection under load and, if required, have double sandwich base construction, ideal for the use in automated high speed mini-load systems. We pride ourselves on our customer focused and solution driven attitude. We can design, develop and produce the right products for our customers and systems integrators which are 100% compatible with any existing or new equipment. Anything is possible…
WLN – How reusable are your products?
With normal use, a 10-year lifespan isn’t unreasonable. We give a three-year project warranty as standard, but our experience shows that as our products are so strong and solid, it is unusual for a product to fail within this period. Handled properly, there is no reason why they would not last forever! The main material we use is polypropylene, which has good stability and high impact strength. As an economic alternative we also offer our customers industrial compounds in many different colours.
WLN – How recyclable are your products at the end of their lives?
We guarantee to our customers that we will take back our products and recycle them. We will reuse 100% of the high quality material again for products with lower technical requirements, where appropriate and agreed. We have successful cases where we have produced new containers or pallets from recycled materials of pre-used crates and boxes, and the quality was of a very similar spec to the old ones. We give customers a clear product warranty when we use recycled materials, and we always ensure we know the source of the recycled plastic: “you can´t make a silk purse from a sow´s ear”
WLN – Have you developed your web site in the last 12 months? What difference do you see it making to your business in 2013?
During the last few months we changed slightly our Corporate Design and also our web presentation. To communicate our brand values, our products and also to show the importance of our people which are stand for the brand Utz, we added, altered and modified quite a lot. Internal and external communication is key and to understand the reasons WHY our customers are buying Utz products and what are the benefits to do so.
WLN – How do your lead times on orders compare with a year ago?
As lead time is always key to customers, we improved our processes and SKU strategy (SKU=Stock Keeping Units) in the past. Now we have more SKU products available in the UK and have also more production capacity to react more flexible onto customer requirements.
WLN – Which trade shows do you exhibit at in 2013?
We will exhibit on the IMHX in Birmingham (March 2013). This is for us the most important and best visited show in the UK in the Supply Chain sector. We will exhibit all of our most important products like containers, pallets, dollies and bulk handling solutions.
WLN – Do you think the recession is over?
I don’t think the recession is really over yet, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The unclear financial debt situation here in the UK, coupled with growing uncertainty throughout Europe, mean that investors are nervous about making major decisions and committing themselves for the next five to ten years, even though credits and cheap money is available. The key is restoring political and financial stability, not only for global investors, but also for SMEs here in the UK. What we need is sustainable growth step by step. What we saw during the last 5 years is, that the strong and well managed companies with a clear mid and long-term vision and strategy will survive. They are normally committed to invest into their warehouse & logistics departments to improve their over all efficiency with our products.
WLN – Can you tell us about your plans for 2013? Where do you see your company going next year?
As you know, we are part of a family owned group with their HQ in Switzerland. Also in 2013 we have clear and strong growing plans. This growth is based on our existing strong customer base with repeating business but also based on new product developments with customers. There are quite a few new concepts and projects in the pipeline, but our group policy is not to communicate this growth figures and project names, but you can be sure, that we will show and communicate this in 2013 when the product is launched or the contract with a customer is signed.
AND FINALLY…
WLN – What’s the most exciting thing about your job in the past and at the moment?
After I finished my University Studies as a Logistics Engineer, I´m now nearly 20 years in the Warehouse & Logistic sector in Europe in different positions and developed, designed, produced and sold many many plastic containers, pallets and dollies, but the most exciting thing for me is to see the first time a new logistic product (our baby) in the Supply Chain of a happy customer doing their first successful steps. There are other exciting moments, when we receive our Home-Shopping deliveries at home in a Utz box, or we do our weekend shopping as a family or we walk around in one of the European Cities and I spot a plastic container or pallet, I always need to stop and check the function, prove the quality and find out the manufacturer. Luckily enough, it is very often a product where I was personally involved in. This is probably hard and challenging for my family, but we all have our failings and areas of improvement.
WLN – What would you like Father Christmas to bring your company?
That all my colleagues will stay in good health in 2013, that our existing and new customers still wants to work with us, that we all have enough strength and ambitions to develop our business and industry sector further. End of the day to have excited customers and a better world to live in.
WLN – If you won the Jackpot in the EuroMillions what would you do?
I am not yet taking part in that game, but hopefully Santa will bring me a lottery ticket for 2013. If I won, I would like to ask the Board of Directors in Switzerland, if they would give me the opportunity to buy shares of the Utz group and invest my money there.
George Utz Ltd
TEL: 01773 543 170
EMAIL: info.uk@utzgroup.com
Twitter: @utzgroup
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UtzGroup
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