WinBlog

Like winter follows autumn, so too a blanket of snow over the British Isles is swiftly followed by media reports of the UK’s infrastructure slipping and sliding to a halt.

And, whilst we do everything we possibly can to make sure our customers’ supply chains keep moving, unfortunately there will be occasions when adverse weather conditions like heavy snow and ice mean our vehicles simply can’t make certain routes or access some sites.

Nevertheless it is far too sweeping a statement to claim that absolutely everything comes to a grinding halt because of freezing weather.

Take last week for instance: despite some of the heaviest snowfall for years, we moved record volumes of groceries from a national distribution centre in the north of England to meet a 25 per cent spike in demand across the UK.

Every year about this time we see increases in demand for certain "comfort" foods, but this year’s particularly heavy snowfall created a "perfect storm" which saw many retailers reporting mild "panic buying" of food staples from their shelves.

As a result, the number of cases which had to be despatched from a single distribution centre shot up 25 per cent to 2.5 million – smashing the site’s previous record despite the blizzard-like conditions – highlighting the effectiveness and capability of our regional transport centre and networked fleet.

In order to meet that record demand, our north of England-based order management team extended its hours to maintain direct communication with its customers, whilst warehouse operative shift lengths were increased and management shift patterns changed, to manage the workload without incurring any additional resource costs.

Additional trailers were also brought onto the contract, enabling pre-loading and ensuring lane "turn-over" of output was maximised and preventing blockages.

One of the central pillars to our successful KPI achievement of delivery on time was our contingency planning. Working closely with the local council we gained approval to create a joint business partners’ approach to share costs to have snow clearance equipment on the estate surrounding the distribution centre, enabling a clear route to and from the main roads.

It was a tremendous team effort and, whilst of course we acknowledge we can’t guarantee as outstanding an outcome every time and over every contract, it is nonetheless a good example of Wincanton pulling out all the stops and drawing on every resource possible to keep supply chains moving and our shelves stocked.

The Wincanton team

We’re very proud to be a sponsor of the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards which recognise achievements and innovations that exist to improve public road safety.

This year one of the big winners was a committed band of unpaid volunteers who, under police supervision, give hours of their time trying to make their community’s roads safer as part of the South Somerset Community Speed Watch (SSCSW) group.

2001 saw the creation of the UK’s first Community Speed Watch (CSW) scheme in the Somerset village of Ash after police suggested villagers concerned about speeding vehicles might like to undertake their own police-supervised monitoring duties.

Since then the project has grown to some 30 CSW teams and around 250 unpaid community volunteers working closely with Avon & Somerset Police, the fire service and South Somerset Council, under the banner of South Somerset Community Speed Watch (SSCSW).

In conjunction with local schools the groups aim to reduce, through both driver and pedestrian education, incidents of death and serious injury on their roads.

As a former PMIRSA award winner ourselves, for recognition of 25 years’ commitment to road safety initiatives, we were delighted to be asked to join the sponsors of this valuable annual event.

What’s more, we’re proud to endorse the continuing efforts of the SSCSW group who work tirelessly educating road users about road safety and would urge other community groups around the country who have concerns about road safety in their areas to look at what’s been achieved in South Somerset and pick up the baton themselves.

The Wincanton team

We’ve recently welcomed the CBI’s call on the government to put extra resources into UK infrastructure projects, which is why we’re extremely pleased to hear the Chancellor’s announcement today on measures intended to boost the construction sector.

Any cash that finds its way into major infrastructure projects, such as improving our road and rail networks to reduce congestion will, we believe, reap financial benefits as well as reducing Co2 emissions, pointing towards a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Wincanton, along with others in the industry, has been doing its bit in recent years by investing in new technologies and working methods to help mitigate our impact on the environment, but there is always more that can be done which is why we welcome today's news.

The Wincanton team

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) recently made the headlines when it issued a statement calling on the government to release up to £1.5bn of unspent funds to spend on measures including road upgrades.

According to its director general, John Cridland, the UK needs an “industrial Olympics” to help kick-start our still-fragile economy.

If, as the CBI confidently states, the funds are indeed there and can be made available, then this is something we would wholeheartedly welcome. In particular, from a road transport point of view, our industry would really welcome an overhaul of the UK road network which we believe would not only help the economy, but which could also have huge beneficial impacts for the environment in terms of reduced carbon emissions.

Our mantra at Wincanton is that we constantly strive to “unlock potential” within customers’ supply chains. What that means is that we use our experience and expertise to find untapped efficiencies and apply market-leading innovations to help save our customers’ money, help them grow their businesses and reduce their impact on the environment – aims which, if applied correctly, can often all fit together beautifully.

In recent years our drive to create more efficient and sustainable logistics solutions has been relentless, and has seen Wincanton at the forefront of transport innovation, including engineering breakthroughs, reduced journeys, development of collaborative working arrangements, investment in driver training – the list goes on.

So it’s fair to say we’re proud of our achievements. However, as a business, there are only so many things we can change for ourselves and for our customers, and it’s incredibly frustrating when outside factors impact negatively on our own efforts.

In particular the state of our road network in the UK can have a very detrimental effect on congestion and consequently, our operational performance. The net knock-on effect is increased costs for us and our customers, eventually leading to increased costs to the public when they pay for their goods at the checkout.

All of which brings us neatly back to the CBI’s calls for investment in infrastructure.

To his credit John Cridland has come out strongly on this subject, saying he and his colleagues are “frustrated by lack of action” on major infrastructure projects and specifically calling for up to £200 million to be passed to local authorities to spend on upgrading our roads in 2013.

In truth, £200 million isn’t a particularly vast amount of money when you’re looking at the entire UK road network, but it’s a start. The environment, and how all our activities impact upon it, should concern everybody, and while Wincanton, along with many other UK transport companies, is putting vast resources into R&D to find better ways of doing things, we need that public sector commitment to better infrastructure if we are to truly succeed.

Anything that helps improve traffic flow and reduces congestion has to be good for us, our customers, the general public and of course the environment.

The Wincanton team

Good luck to our Wincanton energy team who, later this month, will be aiming to emulate their success of last year when they won a prestigious Energy Institute Award.

This annual event recognises the individuals and organisations in the global energy industry for setting new standards of excellence and innovation in their daily activities.

And we’re delighted to report that building on last year’s success, our Wincanton energy team are once again finalists in the Safety Award category.

This year, it is for our work with BP Gas and the group accountability for safety (GAS) project; however it is indicative of our work across all contracts as we continue to demonstrate our dedication to encouraging a "safety first" culture at Wincanton

The Wincanton team