The Publication For The Grocery Trade

The Grocery Trader visits Oakland International

In today's increasingly impersonal food and drink industry, Worcestershire-based Oakland International Ltd stands out. It enjoys a growing client base and reputation as a storage, contract packing and distribution company specialising in frozen, chilled and ambient foods, with expertise in ambient non-food products. Oakland is different because it is very much a 'people' business, focused on the logistical needs of its supplier customers, the training needs of its staff and the good of the local community. The company also prides itself on its ethical, environmentally friendly and socially responsible credentials. Oakland's committed stance has been honoured with a string of awards, including the 2004 IGD Award for Local Community Support and IGD Supply Chain awards runner-up, the 2005 Food and Drink Federation award for Local Community Support, and in 2006 being named Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year. The Grocery Trader went to Redditch to find out more. Heading up Oakland International's fast growing multi-temperature distribution service, occupying 26 acres at Beoley, near Redditch, are husband and wife team Dean and Sallie Attwell. Paul Ziolek, Operations Director, joined them in 2005, reinforcing and adding his ideas and expertise to grow the business. Redditch is an excellent central location, as it enables Oakland's customers to derive huge benefits in terms of stock replenishment access and tap into a wide range of distribution networks cost effectively. Oakland made its UK food industry exhibition debut at IFE2007 in March, and its activities are frequently reported in these pages. Its core business is supplying multi-supplier/multi-product consolidated pallets of goods from various suppliers to retailers and foodservice operations. Oakland's ambient, chilled and frozen consolidation schemes can save suppliers over 70% of the cost of going it alone. Oakland handles more than 300,000 cases of chilled food products per week, and up to 2,000 pallets of ambient food and non-food items and some 500 pallets of frozen food. This business adds up to a £4.2m annual turnover to November 2006, up 67% on 2005. With growth set to continue, Dean Attwell has set a "not unreasonable" £7m target for the 12 months to November 2007. Client satisfaction Oakland's customers include a number of small local Midlands-based food producers, large UK-based suppliers and a variety of European clients. Oakland's proposition is consistent irrelevant of volume, says Dean: "We'll gladly develop and provide a solution for any supplier or retailer who wants to reduce their inbound costs to their customers through our consolidation service. The benefits of using Oakland as a supply chain partner are outstanding. We guarantee our clients picking accuracy of 99.5% on available stock, but consistently achieve over 99.8%." Oakland's chilled consolidation schemes have been so successful that they are now rolling out ambient consolidation, to provide customers with true savings in this area of the supply chain. "Ambient consolidation is an area with potential for huge growth all round," says Dean. "The ambient network is less disciplined than chilled, so there's even more need for a specialist who understands what suppliers want. Currently relatively few companies provide ambient consolidation solutions nationally." A key benefit to Oakland's customers is that unlike other supply chain companies, Oakland has no trucks of its own, leaving them free to choose the best distribution partner for individual clients' needs. The company prefers to work with network partners such as Samworth Brothers Distribution, who share the same core values regarding quality of service. Oakland has the capacity In September 2005 Oakland extended its chilled storage capacity in response to market demand, from 45,000 to 75,000 square feet or 7,500 pallet positions. It has the capacity to add a further 10,000 chilled pallet positions. Oakland's ambient warehouse has 70,000 square feet of dry storage space, and with 26 acres of land to develop "capacity is never going to be an issue," says Dean Attwell. The site can handle over 700 vehicles per week, and operates deliveries and collections between 6am and midnight seven days a week. A proven in-house IT backbone helps make this complex activity manageable. The initial £150,000 investment in Proteus's stock management software for the chilled division, in November 2004, has been consolidated with a further annual investment of £80,000 in IT across the company. Oakland's supplier partners and customers can log in and see where their product is within the supply chain, up to the point of collection by the supermarkets. Completing the picture are 24/7 security, Oakland's own fire engine and a trained fire fighting team that includes Dean Attwell. A family atmosphere Oakland's other directors besides Dean and Sallie Attwell and Paul Ziolek are Sallie's parents, Roy and Ruby Delves. With their son Paul as Managing Director, Roy and Ruby also own independent supermarket operator Harry Tuffin Ltd, a six store and petrol forecourt business along the Welsh/Shropshire Borders. The Delves family additionally own and run the Montgomeryshire Natural Spring Water Company, based at Tuffin's Churchstoke HQ in Powys. Reflecting the directors' family background, Dean and Sallie encourage a family atmosphere in the business, which has a staff count of 82, up 30 on last year, primarily due to Oakland's fast growing chilled operations. Dean expects another 100 to join over the next three years. At 4% per annum, staff turnover, says Dean, is "half the UK average." One in four staff members has English as a second language, with Oakland's workforce and management team including people from Poland, France, Iraq and Iran. Focused on quality The integrity of Oakland's supply chain is crucial: "Our duty of care extends as far as we have control of transport of the goods," Dean points out. As a business, Oakland International is accredited to BRC Grade A standard, with an in-house Quality Assurance department monitoring all activity. "Lots of companies are good at QA in their factories," Dean observes, "but don't always vet their supply chain. That's where we come in." QA expertise is frequently requested via Oakland's 'Distressed Load Management' service. "When a load arrives in a compromised state," Dean explains, "if it's not sorted out quickly it can end in huge losses for that supplier. Our job is to see how much of the load can be saved. Our team reacts swiftly to a well-defined brief in identifying the problem, carrying out microbiological surveys if required, and rectifying the load for re-release." Developed in response to requests from owner-driver hauliers, this service is available to UK 3PL's, owner-drivers, transport companies and other consolidators - in short everyone handling goods in the supply chain, as well as manufacturers and retailers. In a recent incident, the Oakland QA team were able to save 92% of stock, in under three hours. Oakland's origins… The Oakland International story started in November 1998, at a former poultry farm, with the formation of Oakland Foods. Utilising his farming know-how, Dean's initial intention was to continue egg production, packing and marketing. However over-supply within the market and Oakland Foods' lack of critical mass meant that in January 2000 they moved away from their core business, food, into storage and contract packing, utilising existing storage facilities. Roy, Ruby and Sallie's expertise came into its own at this stage. Having been involved with Harry Tuffin Supermarkets for many years, they understood how the supply chain system worked, and were able to pass on their knowledge to Oakland's expanding customer base. Within the revised operation's first six months, the company began to win frozen, chilled and ambient storage contracts and moved rapidly into profit. Initial customers included Thomas Morrell Foods, then part of Unilever, a local snow sledge producer and a local frozen dessert company supplying a well-known fast food chain. By November 2001 the business had grown to embrace a mix of chilled, frozen and ambient storage, contract packing and distribution. The name change at this point to Oakland International reflected the increased overseas trade links and a move towards expansion of their depot partners network throughout Europe. Says Dean: "Business with France and the rest of Europe is increasing, as we are seen as an effective and motivated partner to work with." In January 2003 Oakland won a major contract from Highgrove Food Distribution. This marked the start of Oakland's chilled consolidation services on their present scale, and in conjunction with Highgrove, the scheme rolled out to other major UK retailers. The service is being progressively extended into smaller retailers and foodservice outlets, and now includes national support for 3663. Volume potential Oakland's operation handles all types of volume storage and contract packing. "We welcome small customers with growth potential," says Dean. "We review accounts regularly and to date have never rejected a client on the basis of low volume throughput." Oakland's recent launch of the 'Nippy', a chilled and frozen sample delivery service, was developed thanks to customer response and feedback. Happy to help customers with their supply chain arrangements, Dean stresses that they don't get involved in clients' sales and marketing, but will readily refer small producers to brokers if appropriate. Dean and colleagues make frequent presentations to local producer groups. He concedes there's often "a gap to bridge" in terms of standards of conformance, "but nothing that can't be addressed. Our big advantage is that we charge by the case." Contract packing expands In 2002, Oakland won a major contract to pack premium priced ready meal kits for the London market. This experience encouraged their development of the capability to produce ready meals and other food products for customers, utilising Oakland's in-house test kitchen and pilot production facility. Oakland acquired the contract packing company Deltex in 2003, and integrated its activities, staff and customers into the business. The result was Oakland's extensive contract packing department, which can now pack ready meals, re-label product for export, and offer seasonal hamper packing, promotional launch management, assembly, metal detection and product coding. These services, in response to customers' demands, continue to grow in range and complexity, and are all backed by the BRC quality standard. A growing part of Oakland's contract packing facility is dedicated to the tempering of product. This allows short shelf life product to be received and stored frozen, packed, coded and tempered for chilled distribution, giving the retailer maximum shelf life and reducing costs and wastage for the producer. Award winners Last year Oakland was awarded the title of 'Business of the Year 2006' by Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce. "Winning 'Business of the Year' brought external recognition," says Dean, "but the biggest benefit to the company is the pride in the business that it has given our team." Ideas for ongoing community-based activities are generated in house benefiting organisations such as schools, sports clubs and charities. National charity FareShare collects regularly from Oakland's site and redistributes unsold high quality food products to local organisations. Looking forward As UK industry across the board places increased emphasis on environmental issues Oakland is reducing its own carbon footprint with dedicated recycling units, energy-efficient chillers and warehouse lights activated by movement sensors. An internal 'Energy Committee' represents all parts of the business. Regional sourcing is another key development, and Oakland is actively working on this strategy with partners, along with other ideas to help take time out of the supply chain. Oakland is currently out in the marketplace quoting for accounts with throughputs of over 200,000 cases per week, whilst at the other end of the scale concentrating on addressing the needs of smaller suppliers. Referrals from Oakland customers are a growing and welcome source of new business. Oakland believes that its policy of treating clients with respect, open and honest communication and dedication to deliver the highest standards of service, is the reason behind their expanding client base and increased business from existing clients. Dean Attwell envisages more depot partners in Europe and further strategic alliances in the UK. There are exciting opportunities both for Oakland's clients and workforce: "As a business we are capable of growing still further, and we want our people to grow with us." This confidence in Oakland's prospects of major expansion translates into a goal of five times growth in the next three years from the fiscal '07 target turnover of £7m: "You have to set your sights high!" Oakland International Ltd Tel: 01527 596222 www.oakland-international.com