Boughey Distribution Ltd, one of the UK’s leading distribution and storage companies, has been appointed to handle, store and deliver luggage for Deeset Travelways as part of ASDA’s supply chain.

Boughey can store 700 pallets of luggage for Deeset at any one time and sends full loads of the suitcases to ASDA’s Wakefield depot, one of the company’s 20 distribution centres. When Deeset delivers the luggage to Boughey on containers the cases are nested, with a medium and a small case inside each large case. Before the luggage can be dispatched on individual pallets, Boughey first denests the two smaller cases and stores them separately. As a result, three times as much storage space is required once denesting has taken place.

Said Keith Forster, Managing Director of Boughey, “This operation involves quite an amount of floor space and getting the timing right is really important. We manage this by keeping about a week’s stock denested in order not to cause any timing issues on dispatch.”

Said Eamonn Byrne, Business Development Manager for Deeset, “We are primarily using Boughey because of the synergy we have with them. We have an established relationship with ASDA and Deeset and Boughey were already involved with ASDA’s petcare products, so both companies are ASDA specialists. As we are a micro-pick operation, working with Boughey on ASDA’s luggage distribution has been a good coming together.”

The logistics solution provided applies lean principles to transform retail supply chains from push to pull, significantly reducing inventory levels and lead times. Offering robust, seamless, highly transparent and above all, cost effective solutions, it provides a dedicated “direct to store” next day delivery service supporting all ASDA stores as well as supporting deliveries to all other retailers’ distribution centres.
ASDA is part of the Wal-Mart group and currently has 340 stores with five distinct model formats: ASDA Wal-Mart Supercentre, ASDA Supermarket, ASDA Living, George High Street and ASDA Essentials.

Boughey Distribution Ltd, one of the UK’s leading distribution and storage companies, has been appointed by Evesham-based food ingredient importer Burtell Foods to store and deliver a variety of food products, with specific rotations of certain items, timed deliveries into food producers and weight recording of certain items before dispatch for invoicing purposes.

Burtell began working with Boughey in the summer of 2007 and uses the company to store around 280 pallets at any one time. Said Burtell’s General Manager, Dave Savage, “We had a warehouse situation for many years and we were having trouble with the pricing aspect of it, so we looked at a few companies to outsource to. Boughey came up with the best cost option and we also had a good experience when we visited their Wardle site. On arriving we got lost and drove around the site – our initial impression at that point was that they were too big for us but when we were met in reception we were instantly made to feel very important. Although we are quite a small organization we felt wanted and are glad we made the move.”

Burtell Foods specialises in supplying everyday and exotic food ingredients to manufacturers in the UK and abroad, including canned goods, dehydrates, tomato products, purees, food additives and colours, culinary wines, spirits and vinegars, vegetables for pickling and unusual ingredients.

When a product idea takes off quickly, good distribution to major retailers becomes a priority. So how does a small business enter into the competitive world of the multiples and not only survive but succeed?

New start-up company The Juice Doctor had its work cut out when it launched its soft drinks range – The Juice Doctor Hydration Fix – in April 2006. The concept of a drink specially formulated to improve water, vitamin and mineral uptake and fight the everyday effects of dehydration took off quickly, and the company needed a reliable distributor which could smooth the way with the large multiples ready to take the drinks.

Having been involved with Food Masters, The Juice Doctor looked at Boughey Distribution on their recommendation, as well as considering two or three other distribution companies.

Said Matt Crane of The Juice Doctor, “We needed a supplier that could get us into the multiples without us having to worry about automated delivery notes – we weren’t prepared to invest in EDI systems at such an early stage, and we knew that Boughey had the right systems in place.

“As a small company we also wanted to feel that we would be given the attention we wanted, which we weren’t sure we would get from much larger distributors.”

The Juice Doctor has been pleased with Boughey’s performance with Sainsbury’s and Boots: “Boughey’s service for big drops into large warehouses for the multiples is good. It’s not without challenges: our business is massively seasonal and apart from a busy December things are quiet till April, which means that responsiveness to fulfill orders is important.”

The Juice Doctor is headquartered in Kent, but distance hasn’t been a problem when working with North West-based Boughey, as Matt explains: “Boughey has done well for us as it can be hard to manage logistics from a distance, and we have only been to Boughey’s office once or twice. We haven’t had the resource to work more closely with only three of us in the company, but we have now appointed someone to manage the supply chain and stock control, which should increase overall efficiency.”

With Boughey’s help The Juice Doctor has tackled the logistical teething problems that face a new business and is going from strength to strength. The future looks bright: in its first year The Juice Doctor sold over 2.5 million drinks, an amazing achievement. Concludes Matt, “When we appointed Boughey they got us out of a big hole very quickly – consolidating the working relationship is the next stage.”