UK news

Norbert Dentressangle delivers for BPI recycled products

Norbert Dentressangle – through its wholly-owned subsidiary, TDG – is providing a new warehousing and distribution solution for leading UK polythene manufacturer, British Polythene Industries PLC (BPI).

Norbert Dentressangle will be responsible for the provision of a national warehousing and distribution operation to serve BPI’s three recycled products operations at Rhymney in South Wales, Stroud in Gloucestershire and Heanor in Derbyshire.

BPI is the leading manufacturer of polythene film, bags and sacks in Europe with manufacturing capacity in excess of 275,000 tonnes per annum. BPI Recycled Products is the leader in the field of polyethylene recycling and one of the largest recyclers in Europe, with the ability to reprocess in excess of 64,000 tonnes each year of post-use material from commercial, retail, industrial and agricultural markets. With market leading brands such as The Green Sack® and Visqueen®, the recycled products division is the UK's largest producer of both refuse sacks and waterproofing membranes.

Previously, BPI Recycled Products manufacturing plants operated independently and were responsible for their own transportation.

Through the implementation of a national distribution centre at Heanor and the introduction of centralised management and planning of inbound and outbound transportation across all three sites, Norbert Dentressangle’s solution will maximise co-loading and round trip opportunities, improving vehicle fill and reducing road miles to deliver substantial cost savings and environmental benefits.

The new operation also harmonises service levels across all three sites, offering customers an improved and consistent Day 1 for Day 3 service throughout the UK with a next-day service where required.

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NORBERT DENTRESSANGLE DELIVERS FOR BPI RECYCLED PRODUCTS 2/…

The operation involves the collection of around 60,000 tonnes of waste product for reprocessing, the movement of product from the manufacturing plants to the NDC and for the delivery of more than 100,000 pallets of finished product to customers per annum. Employing a permanent workforce of 36 colleagues, it will be served by an optimised core fleet of six dedicated, BPI liveried vehicles, supplemented by Norbert Dentressangle’s national shared network.

Following the initial ‘go-live’ in Spring 2011, the new operation is being implemented on a phased basis in order to minimise risk and promote understanding and acceptance amongst all key stakeholders.

Prior to this, TDG had worked closely with BPI Recycled Products in a consultative capacity to review its logistics operations and to design the optimal solution. These things, combined with the company’s successful track record in the provision of efficient, cost-effective and flexible national logistics solutions to other multi-site manufacturers such as Pilkington and Premdor, gave BPI the confidence to embrace such a major step change.

In the future, Norbert Dentressangle will work with BPI to implement continuous improvement initiatives and identify opportunities to extend the benefits of the new model.

Ken Oswin, Operations Director for BPI Recycled Products said: “We were impressed by the innovation, forward thinking and the flexibility of the solution, as we continue to raise the bar to meet our customers’ increasing service and cost expectations.

“BPI Recycled Products is a UK manufacturer, reprocessing waste from UK companies and, as well as providing environmentally friendly products, is committed to minimising the impact of its activities on the environment. By optimising opportunities to back-load our delivery vehicles with raw materials, thereby maximising vehicle utilisation, the new solution is also an extension of this commitment.

“This is a major project which was potentially fraught with risk however, the early transition has been managed extremely well and service levels have been maintained throughout the implementation. We look forward to working in partnership to realise the full cost, service and environmental benefits and to further exploit and extend our operational best practices in the future.”