Strategic Thinking Leads to LPR’s Haulier Overhaul

The current Covid-19 pandemic has provided a number of opportunities for businesses to rethink their processes and indeed has enabled some deep thinking time – a resource which can be in short supply during normal operation.

Some projects which have been in the ‘slow cooker’ for a while can be exposed to a bit more heat, leading them to come to the boil faster than they would have otherwise.

LPR UK & Ireland are one such business, taking advantage of the time afforded to really focus on its plans to open two new depots to support both customer, and its own, growth, as well as undertaking a strategic review and finalising the overhaul of its transport operating systems.

The two new depots, one in the Midlands and one in the south, represent a major investment for the business, both in terms of time and financial investment; and it went a step further, moving to a multi-provider haulier system allowing it to offer a more flexible and agile service to its customers.

The review of its transport and depot offering could not be completed without preparing for the future and it made the decision to further invest in the purchase and installation of two new heat treatment kilns into its new sites, and an additional kiln to be installed into its Irish operation.

The heat treatment kilns form part of the business’ plans to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, when pallets being carried across European borders will be required to meet new legislation.

This strategic planning, the subsequent changes, investments and depot openings have all been created and implemented, with contracts sealed and delivered, without any impact being seen by its customer base.

Simon Wood, Operations Director at LPR UK & Ireland comments on the changes: “We decided at the start of the pandemic that using the headspace provided to strategise was the smart thing to do. Once we had a plan in place it really has been full steam ahead at LPR! The changes that have been implemented over the last few months have been specifically designed to put us in the best position to give our customers great service and also allows us to move our business forward.”