Logistics

Everything in the right place, at the right time

Our logistics operation is critical to the smooth running of all our projects, particularly refurbishment schemes. Following Lean Production principles of efficiency optimisation and waste reduction, the team’s role is to supply and distribute building materials with factory-like precision. This means the delivery of exactly the right heating, bathroom and kitchen materials to the right property, at the right time.

Our 100,000 square foot warehouse at our 10-acre Swanley head office is the hub of our operation. It provides a cost effective receipt, storage, preparation and handling facility. Each day the warehouse receives numerous items delivered in bulk from our supply chain. Materials are sorted into component kits specific to an address, and distributed via our fleet on a Just In Time basis, as and when required.

This ensures that sites receive exactly what materials they need, when they need them and are relieved of the management issue of multiple deliveries from various suppliers. For instance, an entire kitchen, containing various items from corner units to mixer taps, can be assembled in our warehouse and sent to the site on just two pallets.

Waste is minimised as most of the packaging can be removed and recycled before it even leaves the warehouse. Large items such as work surfaces can be cut to size using industrial bench saws operated by trained personnel in spacious and safe surroundings, with suitable off-cuts recycled for use on other jobs. Naturally, all wooden pallets are returned to the warehouse for reuse or recycling.

Another important aspect of this process is the reduction of heavy goods vehicles from our city streets, which create both emissions and road safety problems. Our location at the junction of the M25 and A20 enables us to receive large vehicular deliveries before they enter the road systems of our towns and cities. To supplement this we have recently upgraded our fleet of thirty-one vehicles to Euro 4 and 5 emissions standards.

IT innovation

We are constantly developing added value services encompassing buying, distribution and logistics and these have been brought together under FLAG, our award-winning process management system for refurbishment projects. FLAG enables us to project manage a complex logistical operation involving 500 individual transactions every day, including residents’ appointments. We can track and monitor the progress of each transaction, property by property, with information immediately accessible to the key staff involved with the project.

FLAG has proved so successful it has been purchased by five other companies.

Client benefits

The outcome of these endeavours is that our clients can feel confident that they are dealing with a robust, £multi-million construction company, whilst receiving the kind of personal, flexible service they might associate with a local builder. Our purchasing power, combined with control processes and procedures, enables us to maximise a return on our investments and profit from economies of scale.