With year-on-year net revenue growth of 16% and additional warehouse space operated of nearly 50,000m² Menlo Worldwide Logistics believes its cost-saving focus and Lean principles of continuous improvement are behind a successful increase in its European customer base.
Amsterdam, 2 January 2014
Menlo Worldwide Logistics’ Europe operations concluded a successful year in 2013, adding a total of eight major new projects for both new and existing customers, increasing warehouse capacity by 50,000m² and expanding employment by over 1000 full-time staff at its facilities through Western and Eastern Europe.
Menlo operates a network of 17 facilities across Europe, serving customers in a variety of vertical sectors from high tech, through industrial equipment to life sciences, life style and e-commerce. Tony Gunn, Menlo’s Managing Director, Europe commented, “Our growth strategy is not over-ambitious as far as volumes are concerned. We concentrate on the development of long-term customer relationships, seeking to grow with our partners; continually reducing costs and improving efficiencies throughout their supply chains. In what remains challenging economic conditions for manufacturers and retailers, I’m pleased to say our collaborative approach has had considerable appeal amongst new customers as well as existing ones throughout 2013”.
Menlo, the global logistics and supply chain management unit of Con-way Inc. (NYSE: CNW) offers global supply chain, transportation and forwarder management services as well as warehousing, 3PL and 4PL logistics solutions to a large number of companies across the globe. In Europe, Menlo maintains dedicated and multi-client logistics centres located in the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom. This network can serve as pan-European distribution solution using one or several facilities.
Collaborative and constructive change is at the heart of Menlo’s dedication to continuous improvement on behalf of its customers. Staff at both Menlo and its customer unite in teams to develop innovative processes and to apply Lean tools to find new opportunities in order to create value and reduce costs. 2013 saw Menlo carry out 120 ‘Kaizen’ events (proactive process changes aimed at increased efficiency) across its customer portfolio and 25 ‘Value Stream Mapping’ (VSM) projects. A VSM is an analytical tool utilised to design optimal material flows through an end-to-end supply chain, or part of one.
These Lean techniques, Menlo has found, enable its staff to more easily align their values with those of their customers. “They help us maintain our commitment to continuous improvement in managing supply chains, which has been, and will remain crucial to our success in an increasingly competitive environment, noted Gunn. ”These capabilities will continue to help differentiate Menlo in the pan-European market and provide the foundation to build on our momentum from a successful 2013.”