DHL awarded £38m Spicers contract
DHL Supply Chain has won a new contract worth £38m across five years to handle the UK distribution for Spicers. DHL will manage distribution across Spicers’ supply chain network from regional distribution centres located in Greenwich, Chessington, Bristol, Birmingham, Heywood and Glasgow to dealers and customers.
Vida Barr-Jones, logistics & customer service director at Spicers, said: “DHL has shown real understanding of our business and our values, while demonstrating the ability to be flexible in its approach and innovative in its thinking. Awarding this new five-year deal to DHL reflects the confidence we have in the team and we look forward developing a strong partnership to drive further cost savings and improved service delivery.”
DHL will mange a fleet of 98 vehicles. DHL said it “will continue to drive improvements through the ongoing implementation and effective evaluation of the information provided by the following systems within Spicers’ transport network:
-Deployment of vehicle telematic systems to enable DHL to monitor fuel usage and better understand how the vehicle is being driven. Information generated by this system will help DHL to train and manage drivers to minimise fuel consumption.
-Implementation of tracking systems to allow DHL to oversee route planning, understand the need for variances, and enable future planning across the network. As well as providing increased transport efficiency, this system will improve the security of vehicles by enabling any stolen lorry to be traced.”
In addition, fuel efficiency improvement will be delivered through the deployment of new vehicles fitted with the ‘tear-drop’ body design. The rigid design is expected to improve fuel consumption by approximately 8%
All 180 employees from the previous contractor have been retained by DHL.
John Boulter, managing director, non food retail UK, DHL Supply Chain, said: “Building on the great foundations at Spicers we have been able to implement improved technologies and systems to reduce costs and maximise efficiency. We are extremely excited about the opportunity to develop a long-term partnership with Europe’s leading office products provider and utilise our own expertise to benefit their wider business.”
