Overview

Bibby Distribution & Arla Foods have worked in partnership for over 13 years. The contract has quadrupled in size within that time and Bibby Distribution ensures that Arla’s ambient customers always receive their deliveries on time and in full. The recently built, flag ship site at Elland marks the next stage in the supply chain partnership and lays a firm foundation for the future.

Customer

Arla Foods UK plc is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor, processing over two billion litres of milk a year. Arla continues to be one of the UK’s leading dairy companies supplying many chilled and ambient UHT products into supermarkets and stores every day. Within their milk product portfolio, they have a variety of brands and added value products including fresh, flavoured, UHT and powdered milks.

Current Situation

The joint Bibby Distribution & Arla warehouse is located at Elland in West Yorkshire, a prestigious new site specifically commissioned to house Arla Food’s ambient temperature products. Arla is the “anchor” customer in this Multi-Customer facility that also houses Bibby’s Northern distribution fleet.

Service offering

• National next day distribution
• 126,000 sq ft new facility (19,000 locations)
• RF technology including managing different delivery units
• Bespoke WMS Interfacing with SAP ERP system
• 1.2 Million cases delivered per annum
• 275 loads per week
• Case, layer & full pallet pick
• c250 drop points nationwide
• Chep pallet management (GKN)

Contract Evolution

1996 - Start of partnership, initial stockholding of 4,000 plts

2000 – Stockholding increases to 6,000 plts

2006 – Arla wins 60% of a leading supermarket’s UHT business. Stockholding increases to 10,000 plts

2006 – Core Arla customers move to Next Day Delivery Service, 7 days/week. Deliveries of “Retail display pallets” introduced

2006 – Stock holding of 12,000 pallets spread over 3 sites initiated discussions to consolidate stock into 1 prestigious site

2007 – Sourced the Elland facility and agreed 5.5 year contract term

2007 – Implemented operation in new Elland facility in just 3 months

2008 - Arla becomes the sole provider of a leading supermarket’s UHT business and stock holding increases to 15,500 pallets.

Benefits

High quality, experienced staff:

Many with 13 years experience of the Arla contract and working practices, ensured a seamless transition into the new facility

Efficient, Robust Change Management:

3 months from conception to ‘go live’ at the Elland site

Commercial flexibility and lowering of financial risk:

Transactional costing introduced

Operational consolidation & scope for growth

Reduced costs of operating single site

Testimonial

"The partnership with Bibby has developed over the past years. The new facility at Elland is the next stage of the partnership and will enable both companies to further improve efficiencies within the supply chain. This project has been an excellent example of Bibby working in partnership with Arla Foods to deliver a seamless new site implementation. Arla Foods and Bibby personnel have worked as a team throughout, helping to ensure the success of this venture"

Paul Lloyd, Logistics Director, Arla Foods