Specialist nut processor and packer Trigon Snacks has switched from its long term service provider to award a new warehousing and distribution contract for brands including Planters and BigD to food and drink specialist Culina. Culina will store stock at its Middleton depot near Manchester and deliver products to Trigon Snacks customers throughout the UK.
"We were looking for a company that could work with us to improve our service levels and that had experience of delivering to mainstream retailers," says Kevin Convey, Supply Chain Manager at Trigon Snacks. "Our supply chain partner is an extension of our business and we needed someone we could rely on for good service."
Liverpool based Trigon Snacks produces some of the UK's favourite brands, including cheeky peanut brand BigD and the world's number one brand for nuts, Planters. The company also manufactures specialist and private label products for most of the UK's major food retailers. The business is currently experiencing significant growth which it expects to continue into the future.
Trigon Snacks recently reviewed its warehousing and distribution operation and decided to switch from its established and long-term service provider. After assessing the market it selected food and drink logistics specialist Culina which offered a total warehousing and distribution service based at its Middleton, Manchester depot. The company was looking for a partner that could offer efficient supply chain operations and enhanced service levels. The warehousing component of the operation is also critical to Trigon Snacks because it provides additional storage capacity to meet seasonal peak demands, especially around the all-important Christmas period. Additional stock produced earlier in the year will be held in the Middleton warehouse until it is needed for delivery to retailers and wholesalers.
"The availability of warehouse storage was important because it allows us to manage our stock levels to meet demand during busy periods," says Kevin Convey. "Good stock control is critical to ensure availability of products such as the speciality Christmas lines. Culina offered some impressive key performance indicators. The location close to us in Middleton was a bonus."
Product will be distributed to customers from Middleton using a shared user model across the supply chain specialist's network of fourteen sites. This ensures efficient and timely delivery with the minimum number of vehicle movements and shorter lead times. The shared user model is extremely useful for specialist producers such as Trigon Snacks because it provides access to national distribution networks and extremely high service levels without any restrictions on the volumes being shipped while supporting flexibility, adaptability and scalability to meet ever changing requirements.
In this type of operation storage and distribution infrastructure and services are shared between users throughout the Culina network. Any Culina vehicle on the road will be carrying products for multiple customers but with a common, shared destination. In this way Culina optimises not only the resources utilised in every depot across its network but ensures each vehicle is filled as fully as possible for effective, economical and sustainable transportation. Supply chain efficiencies and economies of scale allow Culina to provide efficient and cost effective solutions to customers of all sizes which can be scaled up and down to meet seasonal peaks and the demands of promotions.