A bit of practical help

SARAH BOOTH, logistics director at Martin Brower presented on a back-to-the-floor initiative carried out by the 3PL’s senior leadership team, Sarah herself working a night shift on the warehouse floor. It proved to be an enlightening exercise. 

“It was an eye opener how frustrating the job can be. I could see workers weren’t getting the same communication as day shift colleagues, and didn’t get the same canteen experience, for example. There were also niggles with equipment and tech that wouldn’t always come up through official channels, but that colleagues would find workarounds for. It gave us plenty to work on so we could solve these issues on a more consistent and constructive basis.”

We hope attendees learned from Sarah’s brilliant presentation. The lessons Sarah took from the back-to-the-floor initiative is exactly the kind of thing we want attendees to take back to their operations - fresh perspectives, new ideas, useful solutions to stubborn problems.

Our first session of the day focused on boosting engagement in the warehouse, and we also heard from Kirsten Tisdale from Women in Logistics on how the rise of automation is changing the warehouse for women, as well as Coop logistics manager Mirela Ongari Veizi speaking about her journey from floor to management and what can be done to encouragement better engagement.

Our second session focused on making automation work in the warehouse and we heard from end users in both brownfield and greenfield settings. Adrian Ancliff, head of operations at Bilstein Group UK spoke about a plan to optimise the automated warehouse the firm built in Markham Vale in 2018. Lakhvir Sanghera, finance, property & distribution director, Toolstation presented on the rationale and capabilities of the firm’s exciting and innovative new Pineham facility.

Gavin Harrison, sales director at headline sponsor Element Logic UK provided great insights on the myths of warehouse automation, as well as highlighting how impressive return on investment can be achieved. For example, one large scale AutoStore based system in the UK provided ROI in less than one year.

Our session on the Warehouse of the Future featured Claire Charlton expanding on the wonderful W2 Labs programme, which Wincanton uses to develop cutting-edge solutions in collaboration with start-ups. THG also provided a joint presentation from John Gallemore and Tom Killeen, which showed how relentless focus on operational excellence has driven consistent and remarkable growth for the UK fulfilment specialist. Very impressive stuff.

Our final session of the day looked at the crucial issue of Warehouse Property and was hosted by property editor at Logistics Matters, Liza Helps. Andrea Ferranti, head of industrial and logistics research, Colliers provided a state of the market review - very timely considering the changing political landscape and the unpredictable nature of the economy. Stuart McCallion, head of technical development UK at SEGRO focused on the key issue of sustainability and how occupiers can push the ESG envelope. When thinking of tomorrow’s warehouse, this will be an essential consideration.

The next Tomorrow’s Warehouse Event takes place in Manchester on October 2, where Property will have, for the first time, it’s own additional seminar theatre. Register here - https://rebrand.ly/TWE_MCR