PerfectHome
Andrew Porter Limited has provided furniture logistics services for household goods retailer PerfectHome since 2007. Established in 2006 and headquartered in Coleshill, Birmingham, PerfectHome offers quality products and choice to customers through weekly, fortnightly or monthly payment options.
Andrew Porter Limited began by providing deliveries to a number of its 15 stores and soon progressed to providing all retail deliveries. Over the years PerfectHome has grown its number of UK high street outlets to 67.
The logistics firm now provides all warehousing and storage for PerfectHome in its purpose-built warehouse, which is one of the largest in the north of England, as well as all its retail deliveries to stores throughout the UK. Currently it delivers, on average, to 50-60 stores a week.
PerfectHome occupies 20,000 sq ft of floor space and 2,800 pallet spaces within Andrew Porter Limited’s warehouses. This month, the firms will be agreeing a new three-year contract that will see an additional 5,000 sq ft and 1,250 pallet spaces designated to the retailer, taking their total space to 25,000 sq ft of floor space and 4,050 pallet spaces. At busy periods, when additional space is required, PerfectHome can rent extra warehouse space with Andrew Porter Limited on a pay-as-you-use basis. This allows for a flexible service to suit the needs of the business while still managing overheads.
Tim said: “We are delighted to have such a long and successful working relationship with PerfectHome. Through regular meetings and target setting we are able to help the firm achieve its business goals and provide a flexible service that adapts to the needs of the company.
“PerfectHome is one of a number of clients that we provide full warehousing and delivery services for. We aim to offer each of our clients a tailored service and work proactively to add value wherever possible.
“When we first began working with PerfectHome we provided retail delivery only, but by allowing us to fully manage all warehousing and deliveries, we can give a streamlined and efficient service.”
Four years ago, Andrew Porter Limited helped PerfectHome set up a service and repair centre within its warehouse space. A number of PerfectHome staff are based there full time to work on serviceable goods such as white goods, electrical appliances, upholstery and cabinet furniture. This provides a more efficient service for customers, as work can be done on-site at the storage warehouse, without transporting goods elsewhere.
Through regular meetings, both companies have agreed stringent targets for key performance indicators to ensure all is running smoothly. For picking, the target is set at 98% success, and the firm mostly achieves more than 99%. When it comes to deliveries, the target success level is 98% and again Andrew Porter Limited mainly achieves higher than 99%.
To facilitate these impressive statistics, Andrew Porter Limited employs a full time customer service manager for PerfectHome, who oversees thorough stock controls and regular stock counts. The manager is responsible for ensuring the efficient running of all stock processes, delivery runs to stores and transport provision, liaising with all parties to resolve any potential issues before they occur.
Logistics director for PerfectHome, Jeannette Davies, has worked as the main client contact for Andrew Porter Limited since the firms’ relationship began.
“We have always received a professional and effective warehousing and logistics service from Andrew Porter Limited and are pleased to be renewing our contract with them for a further three years,” Jeannette commented.
“Whatever we need to achieve, they can help us take care of it, and with our regular KPI reports from them we can easily monitor the effectiveness of the service we receive.”
La-Z-Boy
Andrew Porter Limited has helped American recliner brand La-z-boy to save considerable fixed overheads.
The UK licensees formerly operated an 18,600 sq m dedicated warehouse in Leyland, Lancashire, and distributed via their own vehicle fleet.
These generated fixed overheads, as well as the cost for staffing, administrating and managing the operation. La-z-boy wanted to reduce its running costs and in early 2008 approached Andrew Porter Limited, as a local company with furniture logistics expertise, for advice.
Andrew Porter Limited suggested a pay-as-you-use storage scheme, using its purpose-built storage warehouse in Adlington, which would remove the need for La-z-boy to pay for dedicated warehousing and staff. Andrew Porter Limited's warehousing service has no minimum or maximum limits, providing a simple and flexible business solution. This option also helps counter the seasonality of the furniture retail business.
La-z-boy's products are manufactured in China and Vietnam and between 25 and 30 containers each month are received at the Andrew Porter warehouse for consolidation into delivery loads. The team checks products and quantities against the shipping order as items are unloaded and booked into the warehouse computer system. They are delivered to retailers within seven working days.
By using a groupage delivery service, Andrew Porter Limited was able to reduce La-z-boy's delivery costs by consolidating deliveries with other firms' products, rather than using dedicated vehicles. Andrew Porter Limited carries out 250-300 deliveries for La-z-boy each week, across the UK and Ireland, to more than 100 independent retailers.
Andrew Porter Limited manages all liaison with retailers and shipping agents, to provide a fully outsourced logistics service. An integrated IT system between Andrew Porter Limited and La-z-boy ensures both parties are fully informed of proceedings.
Since taking on logistics for La-z-boy, Andrew Porter Limited has also taken over management of returned goods, shop floor model distribution to 97 SCS stores, four times a year and home deliveries for the brand.
In late 2008 La-z-boy's licence for UK distribution was taken over by Colne-based Furnico Ltd, which has helped establish a firm UK business presence for the La-z-boy brand. Furnico has continued to make use of and benefit from Andrew Porter Limited's furniture logistics expertise.
HSL
Family-run HSL produces high quality handmade chairs, beds, sofas and recliners and has 14 stores across the country. The company prides itself on providing excellent customer service from initial enquiry through to delivery and installation and this is one reason why HSL chose Andrew Porter Limited to manage its home deliveries.
Andrew Porter Limited previously provided a portion of HSL's deliveries and was approached by the company in 2010 to handle all home deliveries.
Andrew Porter Limited collects stock from HSL's manufacturing division in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and provides a one or two-man white glove home delivery service, which includes delivery into room of choice, assembly and customer demonstration of products and all packaging is removed.
HSL can trace all deliveries through Andrew Porter Limited's online track and trace system.
Andrew Porter Limited also handles shop floor distribution for new products, all on a cost-per-delivery basis.
Lee Bowen of HSL, said: "Andrew Porter Limited's commitment to HSL is providing not only a high quality service to our customer, but also providing support and a partnership in which both HSL and Andrew Porter Limited grow together. This you do not see in other specialist furniture carriers."
Sweet Dreams
Sweet Dreams is an established manufacturer of bed and mattresses as well as dining and upholstered furniture.
While Sweet Dreams retains control of liaison with retailers and customers, since 2006 Andrew Porter Limited has been providing an ex-factory gate delivery service to retailers across the country. This provides a cost-effective delivery solution to Sweet Dreams, avoiding the fixed overheads of warehousing, vehicles and drivers and allowing for the seasonality of the furniture retail trade.
Andrew Porter Limited carries out between 300 and 400 deliveries per week from Sweet Dreams' factory in Burnley to more than 100 retailers across the UK.
Manufacturing manager at Sweet Dreams, Majid Ahmed, commented: "We are happy with the service we get from Andrew Porter Limited and most importantly any problems, which inevitably can arise, have been sorted out rapidly and in a professional manner."
Dormeo Octaspring
Specialists in Italian memory foam mattresses, Dormeo, have relied on Andrew Porter Limited as their logistics partner for the past two years, with the firm providing a full complement of services.
Andrew Porter Limited was first appointed to handle warehousing and deliveries for Dormeo’s Octaspring mattress range, 18 months after it was launched in the UK. With sales predicted to increase rapidly, Dormeo needed to outsource warehousing and logistics to a specialist provider, which had the size and capacity to cope with growth demands.
The furniture logistics specialist created a dedicated warehousing and assembly area in its purpose-built warehouse, and the brand now has its own 20,000 sq ft storage facility within the premises. Products are delivered to the warehouse from Dormeo’s factories throughout Europe and are stored before being consolidated into orders.
In addition to storage, Andrew Porter Limited provides Dormeo’s direct home delivery and retail delivery to independents and multinationals throughout the UK and Ireland, amounting to hundreds of deliveries every week.
Chief Financial Officer of Dormeo, Darren Huggins, commented: “The volume of product that Andrew Porter Limited has handled for us over the years has increased significantly as our Octaspring range has taken hold in the UK market and its unique benefits have proved popular with customers.
“We’ve been consistently impressed by how our stock management and deliveries have been handled, which is especially important when dealing with our home delivery customers.
“Andrew Porter Limited’s attention to detail, organisational forward planning and capacity means they are able to help us grow as our customer base does. Regular KPI reports allow us to easily monitor progress.”
Tim Aspey added: “The Octaspring range offers very high end products which, as such, require sensitive handling and storage in order to ensure they reach customers in pristine condition.
“We continually invest in our premises, equipment and staff training so that our customers can be confident that their products are in the safest of hands.
“Over the years we have come to realise that it’s long-term customer partnerships which deliver the greatest results, as both companies can work together to find an optimum logistics solution that meets everyone’s needs. This of course takes work and effort on both parts.
“Dormeo is one of our many customers which find that our ‘one-stop-shop’ furniture logistics provision, combining warehousing, direct home delivery and retail delivery, can improve the bottom line as well as providing a high quality turnkey service.”
