Fowler Welch and Dairy Crest plc have announced they have entered into advanced discussions to form a multi-million pound strategic partnership for storage and logistics at the dairy company’s national distribution centre (NDC).
The partnership is expected to be in place by the beginning of June 2016, with Fowler Welch taking over the running of all transport operations at Dairy Crest’s state of the art NDC at Bermuda Park, Nuneaton.
Under the proposed 10 year partnership, ambient, chilled and FMCG supply chain specialist, Fowler Welch, will work with Dairy Crest to maximise the capacity of the site as a strategic chilled foods storage and distribution facility for manufacturers and retailers throughout the Midlands. In addition, part of the NDC will continue to be used for Dairy Crest’s Cathedral City and Country Life brands.
The impressive Nuneaton site is equipped with automated putaway and retrieval systems and with 12,000 pallet locations has capacity for a throughput of 70 million cases a year.
The distribution centre will form part of Fowler Welch’s national network solution, enabling the FMCG supply-chain operator to provide added-value services to manufacturers and growers in the Midlands.
Commenting on the link-up Fowler Welch managing director, Nick Hay said: “We have worked with Dairy Crest to develop a unique solution that will allow both companies to maximise the value of the site. It is a clear demonstration of our philosophy of listening, responding and delivering.
“This is a major milestone for us as we will have achieved our strategic goal of having a logistics platform in the Midlands offering manufacturers and growers national reach to all retailers on a shared-user basis.”
Commenting on the proposed partnership, Mark Allen, Chief Executive, Dairy Crest said: “Dairy Crest’s distribution operations have a well-recognised track record of excellent service to our retail customers, through distributing brands including Cathedral City, Clover and Country Life. Since the Sale of our Dairies business in December 2015, we have been looking to work collaboratively to ensure the efficient use of our supply chain assets. We believe that by entering into this strategic partnership with Fowler Welch, we will have an attractive proposition to new and existing clients that builds on the strength and services of both organisations.”
