Warehousing winners take a bow at UKWA Awards

Jul 23, 2014 Warehousing Ireland Events, Materials Handling, News Comments Off on Warehousing winners take a bow at UKWA Awards

---

Companies and individuals across the warehousing and third party logistics (3PL) sectors were rewarded for excellence at UKWA’s Annual Awards for Warehousing 2014 ceremony, which was held recently at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

Roger Williams commented:  “UKWA’s Awards are established as symbols of achievement in the 3PL sector and emphasise the importance of logistics within today’s economy. The high quality of the entries we received underlines the professionalism that runs through the modern logistics industry.”

A total of ten awards were presented and the winners were:

•  Best New UKWA member (Sponsored by Toyota Material Handling )

Winner: Fenland Haulage and Storage  Fenland were selected by the harshest of UKWA auditors ‘Inspector’ Charles Watt who found the company runs one of the most impressive storage outfits he has seen for some time.

• Environment Award (Sponsored by Dexeco Solutions )

Winner: Paul Ponsonby Limited  Developing from the smallest of bases this company has grown exponentially whilst managing to introduce driving and management policies which should see the company as carbon neutral in the next year.

• Technical Innovation Award (Sponsored by Bito Storage Systems)

Winner: Swisslog  The company impressed the judges with its ability to maximise the use of space with its Autostore solution, increasing picking efficiency and drastically reducing the area previously taken up by the same goods.

• Training Award (Sponsored by RTITB)

Winner: Eddie Stobart (ESL)  A new, dedicated, £1 million training academy is at the heart of Stobart’s drive to maintain staff standards, seeing 750 new starters inducted per year which has seen accident frequency rates drop to 0.06%, a fall of 50%+ in a year, as did RIDDOR reportable accidents on ESL sites in 2013.

• Team of the Year (Sponsored by Clarion Events )

Winner: Boughey Distribution  Boughey’s IT team have proved outstanding, absorbing a massive (116%+) uplift in business IT support cases with 85% resolved within 24 hours last year. Several in house projects saw processing costs down over 25% and the group introduced BougheyNET drastically improving customer service.

• Customer Service Award (Sponsored by Briggs Equipment UK)

Winner: Eddie Stobart (ESL) with A G Barr  A completely redesigned facility in Milton Keynes was a bespoke operation for established client Barr which went ahead with no noticeable effect on service levels spoke volumes to the judges.

• Warehouse Manager of the Year (Sponsored by Knapp UK Ltd.)

Winner: Natalie Wilkinson, Potter Logistics   Five years in her role as boss at the group’s Ely Distribution Centre led to Natalie’s design and implementation of a reward scheme which increased ‘near miss’ reporting and produced a jump in the group Safety Audit of 96% whilst she also managed to improve stock accuracy and saved on overheads.

• Young Employee of the Year (Sponsored by Hoppecke Industrial Batteries)

Winner:  Lily Arnold, PF Whitehead Logistics  Lily’s dedication at a young age, she started in 2011 at just 16, has led to her role supporting many valued warehouse and pallet distribution clients, often working with no complaint beyond her contracted times to ensure the job is done.

• Junior Manager of the Year ( Sponsored by Aisle Master )

Winner:  Nick Godden, Wincanton  27 year old Nick started in 2007 as a fork lift truck driver and has reached the level of Shift Supervisor with a management job firmly in his sights. He has proved adept at managing people and extracting the best from processes and systems.

• Chairman’s Award (Sponsored by Hörmann )

Winner: Iain Speak, Bibby Distribution  In the personal gift of the UKWA Chairman, John Maguire, the award went to someone who, although unable to take up an official UKWA post, has worked whenever possible to further the works of the Association – Ian Speak of BIbby Distribution

Over 400 UKWA members and their guests, together with suppliers to the warehousing industry, attended UKWA’s Awards for Warehousing 2014 ceremony.

The main sponsor of the event was Jungheinrich UK Ltd.

---