The wide spread replacement of unreliable mechanical dock levellers with electrically controlled hydraulic devices.

Henkel began operating in the UK in 1970 and its Consumer Adhesives business here has a turnover of £100M.

Renowned by customers for its speed of service and efficiency, Chums wanted to increase its daily throughput of parcels from 3,500 to 9,000 to meet growing peak demands and future growth capacity without adding additional labour.

Why do companies seek to automate their warehouse facilities? It takes a large initial investment and nerves stronger than industrial shelving to alter a proven, if manual system.

The Marco Polo scheme supports commercial initiatives that stimulate the competitiveness of combined transport, and promote companies to look beyond exclusively road transport.

One such company benefiting from Exel’s innovative supply chain thinking is Selfridges, the leading UK department store retailer.

With 9,000-plus products available – from office furniture and large laser printers to pencils and other small consumables – there are also a wide variety of demand levels, some products turning much faster than others.

In planning a project one overarching goal was reducing the amount spent on procurement by 30% in three years.

We appear to be collecting more and more information about our buying habits through loyalty cards. We gather probably ten times more information on our customers’ needs than we ever did.

While some of this volume will be made up of smaller units, it comes as little surprise that the vast majority of the space is in the form of large, empty sheds. We see them from our trunk roads – huge warehouses that have been erected in weeks, only to r