Significant investment into staff training, new vehicles and new IT systems has payed off for Oldham-based warehousing and distribution company TTX, as they have just been named the 2015 winners of the Tesco Primary Haulier of the Year award.
The firm was nominated by Tesco Primary Managers, alongside other carriers to clinch the prestigious accolade at the retail giant’s annual Primary Distribution Supplier Conference, held at Chester Racecourse on Wednesday 6th May. They join a select group of previous winners including Eddie Stobart, John Raymond Transport and Maritime Transport.
Awarded in recognition of top levels of service, shortlisted candidates were assessed across a wide range of metrics, including the number of loads delivered successfully, overall consistency of service levels, and the quality of communication between the hauliers and the team at Tesco.
“We are delighted to have had our hard work recognised at this level and to have been awarded the Primary Haulier of the Year award,” said Vlad Costache, General Manager at TT Express.
“Over the last couple of years we have embarked on a large scale business review process, putting into place a new management team, re-organising activity, and improving general business and transport management processes.”
“The results have been extremely positive, our profitability has increased significantly and we are a much leaner, flexible and well equipped company. It’s exciting to have confirmation that the quality of our work and service levels is being appreciated by Tesco – one of our major partners,” he added.
Tesco Primary spokesman Anthony Gries said: “TTX was nominated by Tesco Primary Managers for their flexibility, dedication and overall collaboration in helping us to improve our processes to service the distribution centres and stores network across the UK.”
TTX has invested a great deal back into its business, investing in staff by working closely with Oldham Council to help train local young people up to Class 1 standard drivers via the ‘Warehouse to Wheels’ apprenticeship programme, as well as undergoing an impressive fleet transformation in partnership with Renault.
The firms’ extensive renewal programme has been completed in the last few months with the acquisition of 10 new, Range T Renault trucks, which aimed to modernise the entire fleet, only having vehicles in service that are less than 3 years-old. The primary benefits of which are to help reduce overall fuel consumption and costs, but also, to control fleet maintenance costs in terms of the parts, repairs and man hours required to keep the fleet operational at optimal levels.
In addition to this, TTX has completely overhauled its IT infrastructure by investing heavily in new servers, fibre-optic connectivity, and a host of transport management technologies from North-East based software company, Mandata Ltd, to help improve overall service levels and communication, as well as lay the foundations for future growth within the business.
In September 2014, Mandata Vehicle and Trailer Tracking was implemented to provide real-time visibility of the entire TTX fleet, together with an integrated driver behaviour solution to enable TTX to monitor driver performance, and implement training where required. This was followed by a full Mandata TMS and Workshop software package in early 2015, bringing all of the systems together in one, easy-to-manage programme.
Vlad said, “We have tighter control of our business and are more agile as a result of implementing these new systems. Our customers now have the ability to place on-line bookings, see real-time delivery progress and access POD’s on-line and via their own mobile devices, which is of real benefit to them personally, and adds substantial value to the service we provide.”
“Receiving this award has just proved that our investment into new technologies and modernised vehicles has paid off.”
