TSB Reference: TSB CB157C |
Partners
Apprise Consulting Ltd (ACL)
Apprise is an independent supply chain and logistics consultancy and training company working within all areas of logistics and supply chain. First established in 2003, the company has successfully grown over the years. Alongside its core team, Apprise Consulting offers the expertise of over 20 Associates who have worked in various market sectors at Director Level, primarily in operations. Their capabilities include Audits of transport and warehouse operations;
Performance measurement and benchmarking; Production and management of outsourcing ITTs (Invitations to Tender); Supply chain, transport and warehouse system reviews. With its comprehensive knowledge of the logistics market place Apprise Consulting undertakes competitor profiling, customer satisfaction surveys and market research for logistics related products and services and provides parcel and pallet carrier reviews.
Its extensive expertise also includes transport, inventory and warehouse optimisation, assistance with transport planning issues, route planning and vehicle optimisation, warehouse and distribution centre location determination, warehouse layout and equipment optimisation.
This experience also includes logistics operations improvement through integrated systems development and change management including human behaviour and informed decision making issues and the trade-offs between technological innovation and human interaction.
Its client base includes major utility companies, retailers, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers, third party logistics (3PL) and the Public sector. Clients include: Bridgestone Tyres; RICS; CILT UK; Gefco; Hagemeyer; Pirelli Tyres; Seafield Logistics; The University of Warwick; Aston University; and Home Decor Innovations.
Apprise Consulting is also involved in providing training courses in many aspects of supply chain operations and is a recognised provider of logistics training courses by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Institute of Operations Management in the UK.
It also assists local universities with the production of supply chain related courses and staff regularly lecture on supply chain topics. They are ideal partners for dissemination within the freight industry.
The Widdowson Group (TWG)
TWG has become one of the major logistics company in the UK with a long and well established track record as a leading provider of world class logistics services. They operate through six separate trading divisions: logistics warehousing, contract packing, transport (with more than 150 vehicles and more than 200 trailers operated via an integrated traffic ICT system including EDI Booking, E-PODS, Live Tracking and E-Reporting), freight forwarding, garage services and the commercial training academy. This comprehensive offering provides customers with the complete range of services expected from their cutting edge logistics business. They have the ability to offer dedicated or shared user storage facilities, using the latest technology to manage their client relationship through their Warehouse Management System which integrates barcode and RF capabilities and Internet stock visibility. The Widdowson Group, with its head office in Glenfield and three other warehouse facilities in Leicestershire, has announced aggressive plans to grow the operation. For this financial year (1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010) the business has targeted a turnover of £22.4m with a net profit of £100,000. Meanwhile, the three year plan will see the company grow to £30m with a three percent bottom line £1m net profit.
Preactor International Ltd (PIL)
Preactor International is a world leader in production planning and scheduling software used by a wide range of businesses. The company was established more than 17 years ago and is still led by its founders including President & CEO Mike Novels, one of the leading experts in planning and scheduling technology in the manufacturing sector. Frequently integrated with ERP, MES and Supply Chain Management solutions, Preactor's breakthrough technology is used by more than 3,000 small, medium and large multinational companies located in 67 countries. Preactor has established partnerships with more than 400 companies located around the world to provide local expertise to support the implementation of the solution for each company. These 1000+ accredited professionals offer a key resource working closely with users to ensure each company's unique requirements are met.
Centre for Factories of the Future (CFFF)
CFFF is an education, training, research and development company based in Coventry. CFFF have many years of experience in EU/European research and development projects including EUREKA, SOCRATES, PETRA, ADAPT, FORCE, COMETT and many national programmes. CFFF is presently co-coordinating an EU Leonardo da Vinci project with a budget of over 300,000 Euros over a two-year period. CFFF undertake work in the computing and IT sector and this involves developing forecasting systems using Artificial Intelligence Methods (AIMs) such as Neural Networks. Many years of research in this area has been undertaken by personnel in the company, including one member of DMU staff, Dr Martin Ziarati, receiving a PhD in this particular area focusing on the automotive market and its supply chain. The company analyses the market needs for inventory and forecasting in the development of forecasting systems using individual AI methods. Presently, the company is working in the automotive and maritime sectors using real data from collaborating companies for the development of its forecasting systems.
MSA Ltd
MSA is a software development and consultancy business established in 1993 which provides state of the art software solutions for the transport and job related industries along with technical services for support and development of bespoke products. Their core expertise involves the development and implementation of real time systems with an emphasis on automation with its flexible and adaptable AUTO-MATES brand software. Their support services include Specialised Mapping and Routing, Bespoke Integration Services including Third party and Accounts integration, Optimisation Functions, Tracking, Mobile/Wireless Working Support, EDI Integration or Customer Interfaces, Job input, Web input, Scanning, Stock, Warehousing, Secure Network Configuration, Server and Cisco Configuration and Supply, Web Design & Interfacing and CRM. The MSA FLEET AUTO-MATES brand encompasses auto-job and its enterprise version. MSA provides software for the transport and job related industries and provides technical services for support and development of bespoke software. MSA have an in house development team and do not outsource any of the design or development work to third party providers. Their unique software packages are designed to provide total control of freight operations and optimise business performance. They offer competitively priced quality software that can meet specific business needs either through off-the-shelf packages or by developing bespoke packages which can be set up remotely over the internet. Full technical support and training is available for customer’s staff. Core capabilities of MSA are ensuring software reliability, using agile development strategies, ability to work closely with users for bespoke work, availability of a high level of technical support and research and development capability to ensure their products to keep ahead of the competition.
PSL Optimization Software (PSL)
PSL is a specialised software solutions company with over twenty years of experience developing advanced systems for the manufacturing and distribution industries. PSL’s software applications, whether an out-of-the-box package, integrated into other systems, or a bespoke optimisation development, deliver cost savings to their clients by applying advanced optimisation techniques to commercial planning problems. Their particular areas of expertise are resource scheduling, optimised cut planning and optimised packing, which have generated highly efficient solutions helping their customers to reduce shipping, storage and packaging costs. Their expertise in the logistic area includes transport resource management and load planning, order management and logistics planning, primary distribution planning, ship scheduling, vehicle routing methods, and the development of state of the art user interface systems for data maintenance. Their customer base includes David Wilson’s Trailers, Moores Furniture Group, The Ramsey Timber Group, California Doors, Custom Made Kitchens (CMK), and more recently Pemberton Leisure Homes, All Metal Services Ltd, Compac Furniture and DM Design.
Eitheror Logistics Software Solutions
Eitheror is a specialised software solutions company which develops integrated applications that communicate using the internet. Their products include Desktop applications for bookings and real time despatch, mobile PDA applications for drivers-engineers and customisable websites for customer online bookings and payments. Their Job routing application allows customers to define routes, auto assign jobs instantly and visually optimise routes. They offer expertise in the design and maintenance of websites, Windows desktop applications and Windows Mobile applications. EitherOr also provide search engine optimisation to increase website ranking. Either Or have a team of software developers that use Microsoft's latest technologies (Microsoft .Net 2005, Microsoft SQL Server 2005). Core applications are designed for Microsoft Windows XP and allow one or more users to manage jobs, customers, drivers, warehouse tasks, stock and vehicles. The mobile application is designed for the Pocket Pc and allows drivers to get their jobs and send back completion notifications and location in transit using GPRS. The Web application utilizes Web services to facilitate communication.
Phil Baker (J7 Rewards Ltd)
An experienced manufacturing and lean consultant with a proven track record nationally recognised in motivating change and successfully applying modern solutions and management techniques including those involved in business process improvement, culture and human behaviour change and the introduction of lean practices throughout organisations. Work has also been undertaken in the areas of logistics and project management and in a variety of sectors including automotive, fmcg, ceramics, mail order logistics, local government, NHS, packaging gas and electrical controls assembly, plastic injection moulding and education. Clients include Lucas, jFranklin Mint, Cameron Price, DHC controls and Yale locks. He also has experience of quality standards, accreditation and supplier development through hub and spoke development networks.
De Montfort University (DMU)
De Montfort University (DMU) through its Centre for Manufacturing will contribute their considerable research, industrial and project management experience in the fields of discrete event simulation, genetic algorithms, biological control logic, adaptive systems, performance metrics and database design. They have been involved in several collaborative EPSRC funded research projects involving the use of modeling and discrete event simulation and lead an EPSRC feasibility study to examine the potential for using biological control logic to develop autonomous operations planning systems. This experience has been utilised in a number of research, educational and consultancy projects for leading UK aerospace and automotive organisations. De Montfort University (DMU) - David Stockton is Professor of Manufacturing Systems Engineering within the School of Engineering and Technology.
Professor Stockton is Director of the Centre for Manufacturing and leads the Lean Engineering Research Group within this centre. He has amassed over 20 years research, industrial and project management experience in the fields of cost modelling and the optimisation of manufacturing systems design. This experience has been utilised in a number of research and consultancy projects for leading UK aerospace and automotive organisations. Dr Derek Steeple has extensive management experience of warehousing, distribution and managing a transport fleet. Additionally he has over 10 years experience of supply chain management and skills in running customer supplier problem solving forums.
Professor Stockton has also applied genetic algorithms to a range of operations planning problems including aggregate planning, MRP batch sizing, facilities layout and assembly line sequencing. Professor Stockton has published 20 journal papers and over 50 conference papers and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology journal and the Manufacturing Committee of the Association of Cost Engineers.