A new logistics partnership has been announced – with Brackmills business C Butt Ltd now working exclusively with fellow Northamptonshire company Engineered Foam Products (EFP) to supply all its national freight services.
This three-year deal is the culmination of a successful 12-month project, which has seen the two companies working together to streamline EFP’s logistics, reduce driver waiting times, reduce carbon emissions and to maintain a high on time delivery standard, the key EFP performance metric.
The partnership is the result of an increasing demand for thermally efficient expanded foam products from the construction and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) sectors – sectors which are working hard to adapt to and meet the revised building regulations thermal performance targets, in line with the Future Homes Standard.
Jonathan Butt, joint MD of C BUTT, said: “With our joint focus on sustainability and efficiency this partnership means a higher volume is being shipped with fewer trailers every week. We have integrated our teams with the manufacturing teams of EFP, we attend their daily production planning meetings, have a dedicated transport manager on site and use our own fleet for the vast majority of jobs. The environmental benefits have been significant and for EFP, a company which shares our commitment to sustainability, this has been an exciting development.”
With the environmental impact of operations at the heart of both EFP and C Butt Ltd, the co-location of both businesses on Northamptonshire is just one of the environmental benefits. C Butt Ltd has optimised deliveries by upscaling trailer capacity and reduced road miles through geographically scheduled deliveries. Their permanent on-site presence also enables real-time monitoring of trailer movements to streamline loading and unloading.
Highlights from this new partnership to date include:
• C Butt’s planning and fleet management has meant a reduction of smaller, rigid vehicles. Their fleet of mega trailers also means less vehicles on the road due to increased trailer capacity, increasing from 65-70m3to 80-90m3
• C Butt’s on-site presence has enabled real time monitoring of trailer movements. Data is relayed to central transport planning, to help streamline loading
• Geographically scheduled deliveries has led to a marked reduction in vehicle distance travelled
• A sign on glass system provides customer POD (proof of delivery) details in an instant
Ken Dyer, Transport Supervisor for C Butt and EFP’s on-site representative, said: “When you are dealing with numerous moving parts and a small goods in/out loading bay, freight management can present its challenges. Over the last six months though we have seen less congestion at pinch points, better vehicle utilisation and with standing trailers close by we can ensure empty trailers are in the right place when needed.”
David Vallance, CEO of Engineered Foam Products, added: “Prior to working with C Butt our Northampton site was close to logistical capacity. So, when we won a large construction contract in 2020, we knew we needed to reorganise to be prepared for a very strong bounce back, to pre-pandemic levels of demand. With C Butt Ltd at the reins of our logistics we have been able to confidently grow and cater for any order uplifts whether forecasted or not, this level of supply previously would have been extremely challenging.”
“We are convinced that C Butt are the right logistics partner to support our growth ambitions and this contract is a key part of our commitment to keeping pace with the increased demand and delivery of thermally efficient materials expected in the coming years.”