WINNING WAYS – ANC Services Logistics
What does it take for a new, small, division of an established company to be pitched against the big players in the Motor Transport Awards and win? ANC Services Logistics tells all.
What makes a relative newcomer win the coveted MT Partnerships in Logistics Award? Mark Mitchell, ANC's business development director, sums it up: "This contract has run at the proverbial 99.9% for two years now." Despite years of recorded success with ANC Express Parcels, and then later when the business rebranded ANC Business Services, the ANC Services Logistics division was still wet behind the ears. With only one client and little more than a year's experience Mitchell says: "To be short-listed against the might of Exel, you feel like a third division team in the FA Cup which is chosen to play against Manchester United… and wins."
The birth of ANC Services Logistics began like the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly. ANC had a division called Esprit which specialised in the night-time delivery of engineering and electrical goods directly to the boot of engineers' vehicles, and which was the catalyst for ANC Services Logistics.
Mitchell says: "Esprit operated principally between the hours of 6pm till 7am, predominantly targeting mechanical handling. That started our minds around what other sectors we could target using this service.
"We looked at the retail sector, and in particular stock replenishment. We recognised that with the likes of Tesco, Asda, and Marks & Spencer's, most of the stock replenishment was undertaken by the third party logistics (3PL) firms such as Tibbett & Britten, Christian Salvesen and TDG. Then we realised that there was a different division of retailers, what we call the minor retail-multiples.
"In that category are the likes of Sock Shop, Tie-Rack, and Past Times. The whole concept was to free the store's members of staff to serve customers during the day by delivering at night with the keys to their back door and dedicated warehouse space." And so a partnership was born between ANC Services Logistics and the Historical Collections Group, which owns the Past Times stores. Previously the Historical Collections Group had used conventional delivery through next day carriers and experienced severe problems due to the size and location of its Past Times stores. ANC contributed state-of-the-art logistics systems and equipment to the partnership, and in the face of stiff competition, demonstrated its flexibility to tailor a specific package to Past Times' needs. Historical Collections provided a valuable database of store specific information and contributed to driver training and security measures.
Mitchell stresses: "Trust is implicit throughout this contract and it cannot work without that fundamental tenant. You have to prove that your drivers are worthy of that trust, and as you may expect all of ours are security vetted, and Past Times are given open-book access to those drivers to vet them themselves.
" Past Times has learnt to trust our methods of procurement, and we don't have a high turnover of staff."
ANC had a very clear reason for entering the MT Award scheme; it wanted to test its system on industry peers. "We wanted to put this service before the MT judges and the industry to bench-mark ourselves, to see what interest we could generate. To win confirmed to us that we were definitely onto something," says Mitchell.
He adds: "The Award gave a big confidence boost to most of our employees, because for a number of years we have sponsored the awards, only to sit at the Royal Albert Hall and watch everyone else win. Over time you begin to think maybe this just isn't meant to be for ANC."
It is now full-steam-ahead for ANC Services Logistics with the division planning to take on additional business development staff to concentrate on the retail minor multiple market, "with a view to using the accolade of the MT Awards to win further work," says Mitchell. "It is how we take advantage of the award that matters now," he adds. "We were very conscious of the fact that recognition came very early for us, being only a year into the contract, and Past Times wanted us to consolidate our position rather than running off in too many directions." However, this did not hold Mitchell back for long. As soon as news of his MT Award success hit the streets Asda contacted him and requested he examine Wal-Mart's operations, with a view to taking over its leisure goods stock replenishment.
Mitchell adds: "Winning the Asda contract did not dilute our service to Past Times at all, and now we want to roll it out nationally. We are now looking to replicate this within the whole retail market."
ANC Services Logistics will soon have a dedicated operational and sales staff, as well a newly appointed g e n e r a l manager, says Mitchell.
"Our new chief executive, Mark Gittens, has been very supportive of this development within ANC Services Logistics, and being a previous director of Swift, and a main board director of Christian Salvesen he is experienced in logistics," says Mitchell.
Mitchell must now decide how to take the product to the market. "As the business development manager I am considering contacting the retail association to target the market more selectively, top-down, rather than bottom-up," he adds.
By this, Mitchell means that he will sell the virtues of his division to the association in the hope that it will encourage its members to approach ANC. This approach differs greatly to a traditional marketing campaign, where many operators are approached directly by ANC, which does not allow the same level of scrutiny as 'top-down'.
Mitchell says: "We are budgeted to take on 12 new customers in the Services Logistics division on a trial basis in this next financial year. We will trial one new customer with six to 12 outlets, in one given region, on a monthly basis. We expect to nationally roll out 25% of these trials." Mitchell was tight-lipped about the companies he is in discussion with, but he stressed that there was "a lot of interest" abounding.
A key to the success of ANC Services Logistics is the ability to look outside the box, to laterally think of ways to develop the business. As Mitchell points out: "Although we collect from Past Times' warehouse in Cumbria, we recognise that a number of our target market accounts will be looking to take that extra step and to outsource their warehousing to us, and for us to take responsibility for their inbound logistics as well. We have the potential space in Marston Gate, Bedfordshire, and we could use space available at our franchisee's depots within the 85-strong network." And not only is ANC looking within the UK, it hopes to one day branch into continental Europe. In speaking about his forthcoming three-year strategic plan Mitchell quips: "We will promise to conquer the world.
"Eventually we want to take our brand into continental Europe, we won't do that glibly but in a very controlled and focused way. We will initially target companies in continental Europe who have parcels destined for the UK. Rather than export the product, we want to import it from continental Europe." So look out all you fourth party logistics (4PL) providers, ANC is determined to exponentially grow this business.
So is ANC prepared to rest on its laurels? "No" is the resounding answer. As a group it will be back this year to compete in the MT Awards all over again. Mitchell promises: "We will enter the awards again this year with three submissions, which are partnerships in logistics, customer care and the environmental award, and are optimistic of winning at least one. "We particularly hope to win the Customer Care Award which has previously been dominated by TNT, and we believe we can offer the judges a good viable alternative.
"We feel the Customer Care Award is vital because problem notification is the number one cause of complaint in the industry. Consignees accept a failed delivery 1% of the time, but it is what the delivery firm does about that which is vital.
"Companies that are pro-active in problem notification tend to keep their customers longer." With a further year of experience and a new client, ANC Services Logistics is now fully operational, and no doubt, a contender for the Partnerships in Logistics Award again this year.
