Servicing the "blue chips"

T.D.G. Contract Logistics is pan European organisation servicing the logistics requirements of major “blue chip” customers across the Continent. Globally, the company has a turnover of £470 million per annum, employs 7,500 staff and has a fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles. Paul O’Donnell, Operations Director gave an overview of Irish operations.

T.D.G. has had a presence on the island of Ireland dating back to the early 1970’s. However, Ireland’s booming economy and the arrival of large retail multiples such as Tesco and Aldi created a conducive environment for the company’s entry on a large scale. The company announced its arrival when it opened a 110,000 square feet state of the art high bay warehouse and distribution centre in Clondalkin, Dublin in August 1999. This was phase one of T.D.G’s development.

Paul elaborated: “our review of the market identified that it had significant growth opportunities particularly in the sphere of logistics, warehousing and distribution. The Irish economy had been growing for a couple of years and was projected to keep growing for at least another five years at significant rates. It is the fastest growing economy in the OECD nations. That made it very appealing to enter the market.”

In addition, the movement of the large retail multiples into the Irish market and their drive towards centralisation, higher service levels, and lower costs caused restructuring within the supply chains of many food FMCG manufacturers and suppliers. The rationalisation of the supply chain presented opportunities for large scale logistics professionals to come in and service those requirements.

“The movement of the supermarkets into the Irish market has caused rationalisation for the supply chain of the suppliers. That obviously hurt some people but gave opportunities to large players such as ourselves,” Paul revealed.

The company warehouse and distribute for FMCG manufacturer Nestle among others from the Clondalkin facility. “Nestle take up virtually the whole (90%) of the phase one facility. We warehouse all their range of products (Nestle), including confectionery, cereals, groceries and pet foods. We receive orders via their sales management system, process those orders into deliveries, pick the deliveries and arrange and undertake their delivery within the 26 counties.We then confirm the P.O.D. back via our management system to their sales system,” Paul explained.

Having successfully filled the original facility the company sanctioned a further extension to the existing site of another 130,000 square feet to bring the total facility to 240,000 square feet. The extension went “live” in October 2000. Phase two services customers such as Guinness, Lever, Tayto Crisps and Fort James.

On behalf of Nestle and its other customers the company delivers throughout the country. “We deliver to everyone from the Tesco NDC in Tallaght to regional wholesalers, or regional stores or a small corner shop in the far reaches of the country. Our ability to provide a professional and well managed distribution service across the island of Ireland is a key selling point and a key strategy,” Paul enthused.

To facilitate the distribution process the company uses a mix of “in house” and sub contract transport. “We distribute in Dublin and the surrounding counties and we use regional partners for onward distribution in the likes of the north west, the west and the south. There is no point in us sending half empty vehicles to Dingle or Dungloe. There are transport companies that can work very closely with T.D.G. and to our quality standards,” Paul explained.

Europe wide the company supply warehousing and logistics services for many “blue chip” companies including Guinness. Having established a good working relationship in the UK with the giant brewer it was a natural progression for T.D.G. Contract Logistics to offer a similar service in Ireland.

“We would see our role with Guinness as very much a partnership to help bring value to their business. We have successfully implemented four different operations with Guinness in the last 18 months in Ireland. At St. James’ Gate we undertake retail keg deliveries, in Kilkenny we manage the primary trunking of bulk and kegged beer, and all the on site warehousing, logistics and stock control. We have recently supplied drivers and forklift truck operatives for their Ballyfermot operation,” Paul explained.

In Northern Ireland the company has been established in the market place since 1993 where it has a 90,000 square feet ambient warehouse facility. “The Lisburn operation has been up and running for seven years now. We service customers primarily in Northern Ireland and we undertake business on behalf of customers such as Kimberly Clarke, Burton’s Biscuits, Erin Foods and a number of other companies.” Paul noted.

Under the expert guidance of Managing Director, Sam Mellon, Finance Director, Mark Lohan, Sales Director, Michael Aylward and of course Director of Operations for Ireland Paul O’Donnell the company is now well placed to take advantage of Ireland’s burgeoning economy. Annual turnover for 2001 is projected at £17 million and is set to rise to £50 million by 2003.

Paul revealed how the company plan to treble its turnover over the next three years. “As a business we are very much a domestic entity. We are a quality driven logistics company with high professional standards. We have a clear strategy to service the FMCG supplier market through shared user operations and a national distribution network. Our ultimate objective is to be the leading provider of value added logistics services to the Irish market.”