MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
CHEP, the world’s leading provider of pallet and container pooling solutions, has recently announced the signing of an initial 12 month contract with Johnson Tiles, the UK’s leading manufacturer and importer of ceramic wall and floor tiles.
Under the new agreement, Johnson Tiles will convert the majority of its UK flows of its tile products away from white wood pallets to CHEP’s industry standard B1208A Europallet and the B0806A display pallets, with up to 185,000 movements per annum anticipated during the first year of the agreement.
Johnson Tiles Logistics Director Adam Bellis explained: "This move to the pooling model, away from white pallets, makes sound economic and environmental sense for us. CHEP is the recognised market leader and their global coverage is obviously an important factor for us given the proportion of imports and exports that make up our business. I’m looking forward to seeing how our relationship will develop now as we start to look at other initiatives to improve our supply chain efficiency."
In the UK, CHEP offers a range of payment and service models to help its customers maximise efficiency. Johnson Tiles intends to use CHEP’s one-way trip model, under which they will ship their products on CHEP pallets into B&Q and Wickes, two of Johnson’s largest retail customers. Once the products are unloaded, the pallets are then collected from these retailer locations by CHEP for reissue.
Other initiatives to be investigated between both parties include the evaluation of tanalised pallets into the American and Australian markets, as well as improvements in pallet configuration to help drive supply chain efficiencies.
CHEP’s Managing Director for UK & Ireland Howard Wigham, says: "I’m delighted to welcome Johnson Tiles as a new CHEP customer, and I’m looking forward to seeing how our relationship can develop over time. Clearly, Johnson Tiles is a global business, just like CHEP, so I’m keen that we work together to expand on this initial deal in the UK. The initiatives we have in the pipeline clearly demonstrate the concrete ways in which we can help Johnson Tiles move, store and protect their products through the supply chain in a cost-effective, safe and environmentally sound way, lowering their total supply chain costs."
