Following a substantial investment in the company’s 25th anniversary year, independent living solutions provider AKW has unveiled a new service and logistics operation designed to boost delivery performance and enhance its customer service operation.
The efficiencies introduced have resulted in a significant reduction in AKW’s overall carbon footprint, boosting its ‘green’ credentials in the process.
The project has encompassed a complete re-structuring of its customer service centre, warehousing and stock picking and, a key element, its delivery operations. It has also created an additional 34% of storage space within its existing 100,000sq ft warehousing facilities, to support the growth plan for the business and accommodate new product ranges being introduced by AKW.
The biggest contributor to the carbon saving has been a switch from delivery via contracted couriers to a dedicated transport delivery service provided by Trade Distribution Ltd (TDL).
AKW now has its own dedicated liveried delivery fleet and fully trained team of drivers based within six UK operating centres. The service will reduce multi-handling of consignments, minimising the risk of damage in transit. In addition the use of GPS tracking provides real-time information on scheduled deliveries, providing customers with a greater amount of accuracy and detail. AKW will continue to offer an overnight delivery service and in certain postcode areas this service will be carried out by AKW dedicated transport fleet.
Sara Elliott, Group Logistics Director, says: “The use of a dedicated fully equipped transport fleet means that we can introduce significant efficiencies into our logistics operation. We can now offer a one-to-one service over which we have complete control. It cuts out the multi-handling that can result in damage to goods and substantially reduces the road miles that products travel between our warehouse and the customer destination.
"Our priority was to improve service to customers but we are also acutely aware of the importance that many purchasers, particularly in the public sector, place on the environmental performance of their suppliers. The planning tools we have built into our systems mean that our vehicles will be taking the most fuel-efficient routes and will ensure that orders are completed in single deliveries, reducing the number of repeat journeys, resulting in great reductions in our carbon footprint.”
Similar efficiencies have been introduced with AKW’s new warehousing systems. Major investment in Aisle Master handling equipment to operate in the re-organised warehousing, together with fleet management software, has seen benefits both in terms of energy saving and in Health & Safety.
Working in tandem with the new logistics operation is AKW’s re-structured customer service centre. This is now organised into two teams, one for the north and one for the south, each with their own team leader. All of the customer service team members have had extensive product and call-handling training and a dedicated internal customer services trainer has been appointed. Specific key performance targets have been set to the team to ensure customers receive the most effective service possible.
Sara Elliott comments: “We currently have over 4,500 different product lines and many specifiers look to us for advice on appropriate product selection. The product training has been critical, and it has been a massive undertaking for the team, but our objective has been ‘one call answers all’.
"To achieve this, we have had to increase the product knowledge, professionalism and efficiency of our service centre so that every team member is able to deal with any type of call without the customer having to be passed to two or three different departments.
"Training will be on-going and we are taking a top-down approach by appointing two team leaders and a dedicated trainer to ensure that everyone, whether an existing member of the team or a new recruit, gets the save level of in-depth training.”
