Logistics Automation: Should We Fight the Future?

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As the world’s technologies move on at a seemingly exponential pace, no industry is left untouched by modern progression. As machine capabilities increase and offer the same, or even heightened, levels of productivity at a lesser cost, a question of morals and commercial viability presents itself. At what human cost should businesses employ new technologies?

From automated stock retrieval systems to palleting robots, the logistics sector has seen a huge leap in technological advances. Where once, many decades ago, workers would be responsible for all movement of goods, today machines are used to aid the increased demand levels from clients across the globe.

The main argument against logistics automation is similar to that discussed in our previous blog on autonomous lorries – employment. Across all industries, there is the worry that machines will replace humans in the workplace, leading to job losses. We will always need human employees no matter what, but if industries are viewed as ‘machine heavy’, would it damage their reputation and affect recruitment?

However, as noted above, we feel we must stress that an increase in technological advances does not necessitate a whole automated warehouse. We must remember that technology may be progressively intelligent, but it is not sentient and will always need humans to manage them. From inputting data to managing repairs, job roles will evolve with computerisation. Furthermore, robotics may well make increase safety and reduce any workplace accidents.

Finally, responsible business owners cannot turn their back on the benefits automation offers clients – reduced costs are passed on to customers to ensure they receive the best value for their logistics investment; providing the highest quality services for the best price is a vital part of the Barnes Logistics ethos.

In the end, it’s a balancing act logistics business owners must manage. Responsible business owners have a responsibility to their employees, customers and the future of their company. As technology progresses and the face of logistics automation changes once more, leaders in the sector must adjust in a way which is both fair and effective.

Safe Storage: What Should You Look For?

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There are many factors to take into account when searching for your warehouse provider – from costs, to location, to efficiency. One of the most important aspects to remember is whether your provider offers safe storage for your stock and runs an operation which goes above and beyond to achieve outstanding health and safety levels.

At our headquarters in Rochdale, our warehouse undergoes rigorous safety checks both by our own team of professional experts and outside bodies. 

At a recent safety inspection, we were informed that our premises were of the highest standards seen in the local area. A range of elements including training, processes and warehouse standards were measured – and our Barnes premises were noted as being well above average. 

These inspections ensure that our warehouse teams are working in a safe environment, whether they’re working with machinery, at a height or with heavy stock. They also ensure that the warehouse provides first-class safety for customers’ goods. From the strength and stability of our aisle storage, to the cleanliness of the warehouse floor, to the internal locking measures in place.

Having not only passed these inspections, but being praised for our extremely high levels of health and safety in the warehouse means both our Barnes team can rest assured that they are working in a high quality work environment, and our customers that the security of their valuable stock is our top priority and in a safe pair of hands.

If you have goods to house and are looking for safe storage, get in touch with our team today to find out how we can provide you with the safest solutions. 

Behind Barnes: Transport Manager

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Keeping things running smoothly at Barnes Logistics is a challenging but a thoroughly rewarding task for our Midlands Transport Manager, Laurence Gray. We recently caught up with Laurence about his roles, career journey and his recommendations for others looking to join the industry…

       1.       What does your role as Midlands Transport Manager entail?

My main responsibility as Transport Manager is to keep the Midlands sites running efficiently and effectively.  This means keeping the fleet operational and legal whilst also making sure that we have the right number of professional drivers on the road to carry out the work required. Anticipating potential issues and creating solutions for them is also a vital responsibility. Finally, my role entails dealing with queries from customers and on behalf of our drivers too. 

2.       Can you tell us about your career journey, how did you get your job at Barnes?

Before I discovered my role in Logistics, I worked in a number of industries which included procurement and sales. Over time, I worked my way up in a different company which saw me moving from transport planner to shift manager. Whilst working there, the Midlands Transport Manager opportunity arose at Barnes and I thought this was the perfect career opportunity for me. After attending an interview with Barnes, it really opened my eyes to what I could achieve! It was fantastic that I got the green light for the job. 

3.       What does a typical day (or week!) look like for you?

At Barnes, my week varies depending on what is required from me. Ensuring that everything is running efficiently and to the best possible standards is really important and from here, I can look ahead at further improvements. At the beginning of the week, I work on financial reportings and oversee compliance tasks. Once this is done, I attend a site visit in Redditch to check that things are operating as they should. Typically, throughout the week I will be involved in the arranging and interviewing of candidates and conducting driver inductions. Monitoring the service schedule frequently to ensure targets are achieved on time and working on probations reviews are also essential tasks. My job role can extend away from the office as sometimes I will be required in the yard where I will usually find myself inspecting tyres which have low tread to see if they need replacing. As Midlands Transport Manager however, I would say that that the most important role is speaking to the drivers to check that things are going as they should and speaking with our customers to ensure that Barnes are providing a five-star service. 

4.       What would you recommend to others looking to join the industry?

I would say that within the Logistics sector, there are always opportunities available. It is a vast and dynamic industry offering plenty of varied jobs. Therefore, even if one role might not suit you, there are still plenty of different positions which could be more suitable for your skill set so I think it’s important that you don’t give up on the industry if things get tough. It is also worth considering that Logistics is an industry which is staying put and is ever-expanding as companies will always require items moving safely and securely from one location to another. There will always be the need to supply and deliver goods across the UK and the globe!

Rochdale Storage – The Ideal Solution

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Rochdale: storage’s ideal solution. As experienced warehousing and logistics providers, we’ve put a huge amount of effort over the years as our business has grown into where our headquarters should be based.

What space offers value for money and return for our customers? Does the warehouse provide the very best in safety? Which location will allow us to offer convenience for drivers?

Following thorough research and pooling together our professional teams’ long-standing experience, we made the decision to base our headquarters in Rochdale.

The town lies just outside of Manchester – a city whose growth, wealth and business opportunities have soared exponentially over the past decade. Now standing as the UK’s second largest economy, Manchester is a hub for investment. With Rochdale lying less than 10 miles away from the city, our warehousing is the ideal partner to support business growth.

Not only is Rochdale storage advantageous for Manchester companies in terms of delivering goods to store, but our warehouses’ location also means that the transportation of stock to customers throughout the country is smooth and accessible. Sitting just off the M62, our Rochdale storage warehousing solutions offer easy access to Liverpool, through to Leeds and further out towards Yorkshire.

With the M6 only an hour away, Lancashire, Carlisle and Scotland can be accessed to the North, and easy travel down to Birmingham, Coventry and beyond to the South can be achieved.

Located in the North West of England, the Welsh border is a mere 50 miles away, providing connection to not only one country, but two – the Holyhead ferry route offers direct access to Dublin with up to six crossings a day.

No matter what sector your business deals in, there’s no better place to safely store your ambient temperature stock than Rochdale. As part of the Manchester’s rapidly growing enterprise scene within easy reach of motorway access to the North, South, Wales and Ireland for customer distribution – make your next storage move Rochdale.

Roadside Littering: Protecting Our Country

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With climate change and the rapidly-shifting natural environment a trending topic at the moment, we felt it would be pertinent to discuss roadside littering, its effects and what should be put in place to prevent it.  As a logistics company, we spend a huge amount of time on the road and with that in mind, littering is an issue we feel obliged to address.

Just recently, BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker spoke on the programme about the issues of littering and the sheer lack of excuses for leaving behind rubbish.  Commenting on his local park over the Easter bank holiday weekend, he found it left strewn with waste from people that had spent the day enjoying the sun just feet away from a bin.  Understandably, there aren’t always bins on roadsides, but this certainly doesn’t give one the right to dispose of something out of their window.  It doesn’t take much to keep a hold of your rubbish and throw it away when you’re near a bin. 

The RSPB and Keep Britain Tidy have reported that shrews, bank voles, wood mice and other animals can get stuck in discarded bottles and die.  The ring pulls on cans also pose a threat with smaller animals choking on them, and hedgehogs can get their heads stuck in empty cans.    According to the Local Environment Quality Survey, there had been a significant decrease in plastic bag littering after the introduction of the 5p charge.  It is of course encouraging to hear that people are reducing their plastic consumption – however, it has also found that littering remains a significant problem. 

Every year Highways England clear 180,000 sacks of litter from motorways and major A roads, a shocking statistic that shouldn’t be this high.  In 2015, the cost of picking up litter was £1 billion in the UK, money that is spent purely due to the carelessness of drivers.  That statistic alone should be an eye opener:  imagine all the other important areas of our country which that sum of money could be spent on.  It has never been easier to recycle and to dispose of goods with an abundance of recycling centres open, and we as a country have the potential to make a positive change on the natural and urban environments of the UK – all it takes is for everyone to contribute in some way, no matter how big or small. 

How could this issue of roadside littering be tackled?  More awareness could be raised with television campaigns and in the media, showing the effect littering has on our natural environment or a representation of just how much it costs to clear up litter in the UK every year.  When it comes to roadside littering, the implementation of road signs to warn against littering or fly tipping would be a good way to reinforce the issue.  Alternatively, using service station signs to let drivers know there’s also an opportunity to dispose of any rubbish. 

In the UK, local councils can charge up to £150 for littering from a vehicle, but perhaps the severity of littering needs to be addressed with the potential for a more expensive fine.  More CCTV could be supported with tougher fines, which then go on to offer an even better chance to discourage anti-social behaviour in the future. 

When you’re next on the road and in a safe area to get out of your cab, we encourage making a conscious effort to pick up any litter you see, this can make a small contribution to a much bigger environmental campaign to keep our country clean.  Professional drivers can be leading examples to all road users.

Let us know on Twitter what you do to help prevent littering in your area or on the road.

Self-Driving Lorries: Could Public Fear Help Our Industry?

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Automated, self-driving lorries have been a contentious topic which have grown from rumour to near-reality in recent years. We’ve voiced our concerns about the introduction of semi-autonomous vehicles when the planned ‘platooning’ technique was announced last year – from the decrease in road safety to the threats to employment.

But it seems that it is not just those in the road logistics and professional industries who are troubled by the looming threat of autonomous HGVs: Logistics Manager revealed the results of a survey which found that self-driving lorries were the second most frightening technological advancement, coming closely behind conscious machines.

The fact that self-driving HGVs are only slightly bested in the ‘fear factor’ by, essentially, the concept of robots which can think for themselves outside of human control, is telling.

When delving deeper into the 2,000 respondents’ worries, the reason ‘I don’t trust that they’ll be reliable and as quick to react as a human would’ was a top response, with an incredible 62% sharing this fear. This was a concern raised in our post last year, and the fact that it’s shared by the public only strengthens this.

Interestingly, when probed about their top concern, the respondents also cited that the possibility of machines replacing human workers was worrisome. Given that the study was asking the general public rather than a group of professional logistics workers, it’s understandable that autonomous lorries don’t evoke the same fears of job replacement for our nation’s professional drivers – but the fact that it is still a concern in general shows that we are not happy with the morality of people being replaced by machines.

The less trust the public has in the new technologies behind driverless HGVs, the more barriers the Government will face to implement them on our roads. As well as supporting our dedicated professional drivers, this public fear could also help to boost our industry’s image. The discrepancy between the public’s feelings towards the haulage sector and the reality of their reliance and the high standards of safety has been a topic which we’ve explored previously.

But when forced to think about the impacts of autonomous lorries on our roads, society must reflect on the fact that current drivers are, in fact, an incredibly safe and reliable workforce. Quick reaction times, practical human intelligence and expert training makes our professional drivers the dependable, reliable and indispensable part of the logistics chain.

Let’s hope that the future will bring even more awareness and recognition for our nation’s dedicated professional drivers!

Behind Barnes: Human Resources

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As part of our Behind Barnes campaign, we recently caught up with Toni Gilmore, to find out all about her position as an HR Assistant at Barnes Logistics…

  1. What does your role as HR Assistant entail, Toni?

My main duties include making sure all legal documents (such as Drivers Licence etc.) and training is up to date. I also monitor probation reviews, recruitment and organising interviews with managers, as well as Inputting driver hours and reviewing wages reports.  Finally, I look after all holiday and employee allowances.

  1. Can you tell us about your career journey, how did you get your job at Barnes?

I went to Leeds Metropolitan University and studied Psychology.  When I finished my degree, I found an interest in HR and wanted to pursue a career in it.  My first job was in customer service and admin, and I then became a Shipping and Transport Coordinator within the same company. I saw a job posting advertised by Barnes Logistics and with my background in shipping, admin and my degree in Psychology, I was well experienced for the position.

  1. What does a typical day (or week!) look like for you?

The job can look very different from week to week as it depends on what is happening at different depots. Typically, the beginning of the week is focused on wages – collecting and filing all the information from the previous week from all the depots, for example, driver timesheets and tachograph information. This is logged in our system so we can create a wages report and send out purchase orders to agencies where we’ve used their drivers. In a typical week we would also arrange interviews, liaise with managers regarding any driver training which is due and arrange for that to be completed, enrol new starters onto the HR database and generally keep all the systems up to date.

  1. What would you recommend to others looking to join the industry?

I am a big believer in finding an entry level job in your desired career and working your way up. It also helps to research any professional qualifications specific to your desired role in order to stand out from other applicants.

If you think you have what it takes and are interested in a career in the transport and logistics profession, get in touch!

How Will a No Deal Brexit Affect Just In Time Logistics?

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The Brexit negotiations have taken more twists and turns than anyone could have imagined when the vote to leave the EU was announced back in 2016. With deals going nowhere and extensions to talks, it’s given business leaders even more time to think about how Brexit will affect their industry.

We’re already seeing the more obvious effects of leaving the EU – customs workers striking this month over the lack of clarity have led to miles and miles of queues at Calais for professional drivers. A simple act such as this has wide-reaching consequences – drivers will not only be frustrated, but their health is put at risk as they remain in the cab unable to move in traffic queues and longer hours are spent on the road. Playing the blame game is all too easy but, ultimately, futile – strikers take such a stand only because of serious concerns for their workplace.

These strikes give a taste of what may be to come in the long term: should No Deal become a reality, drivers will doubtless face long queues when leaving or re-entering the country. But as well as the toll this will take on drivers’ hours, physical and mental health, it will also have an effect on businesses. And Just In Time logistics will be an industry which will be hugely altered should no deal be agreed between Britain and the EU.

Just In Time relies on the efficiency of forward planning to ensure a smooth logistics operation, with new stock transported when levels are low but not depleted. If this month’s queues at Calais are any indicator of what a No Deal Brexit might look like, it would be understandable for business owners to be concerned that delays at borders could lead to a break down in the Just In Time system.

However, at Barnes Logistics we believe that there really is no need for panic. As well as being utterly counter-productive, the fact remains that the majority of businesses have been planning for this eventuality for years. By analysing customer spending habits, we have seen businesses across a whole variety of industries strategically stockpile and more effectively manage key goods.

Although delays at borders may lead to longer delivery times, this is a simple reality which both businesses and customers must face and embrace. If goods have been stockpiled, businesses have safeguarded their ability to make products and sales – with the only net affect being that businesses may have to wait a little longer than previously for their goods to arrive. As long as there is clear communication between both parties, both can plan and prepare accordingly.

At the end of the day, Just In Time relies on thoughtful forward planning to ensure maximum efficiency – and this will remain the key to its success whatever the outcome of Brexit.

Best Storage in Manchester

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When it comes to selecting the best storage warehouse for your businesses’ products, decision makers must take a number of factors into account.  Here at Barnes Logistics, we offer a secure warehouse, a range of flexible storage solutions and the implementation of JIT (Just In Time) Logistics strategies is there a better place to start when searching for the best storage in Manchester?

 

Our state of the art warehouse in Rochdale is an ideal choice for the best storage in the Manchester area, with convenient access off junction 20 on the M62 for distribution across the UK and even further afield to Europe. Offering 50,000 sq ft of secure storage space, we can accommodate a high volume of stock from our clients; and our fleets operate from more a than seven sites across the country to support a nationwide client base.  The key to our offering is flexibility: we offer flexible storage solutions including short, medium and long-term contracts to support our customers’ needs.

 

We also pride ourselves in using JIT logistics which, for one thing, allows us to play a vital part in reducing global waste, as well as offer the most efficient logistics services to our customers.  The demand-pull strategy of JIT logistics means that stock is only delivered when it is required, and our top of the range production scheduling software allows for the correct levels of stock to be ordered. Through the use of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), suppliers and customers can communicate to ensure stock demand is up-to-date and is only obtained when a customer makes an order.

 

We recently had a visit from the Road Haulage Association – who rewarded us with an outstanding report which outlined how Barnes Logistics provides the best storage in Manchester with top safety measures implemented at all times and high quality software to contribute to the smooth-running of the warehouse.

 

Want to find out how we can assist you with the very best warehouse solutions?  Get in touch with our team today. 

Behind Barnes: Transport Planner

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This year, we’ll be taking a look behind the scenes at Barnes Logistics and shining the spotlight on the people who make our business the success it is. From our professional drivers to HR managers, it takes a large team to ensure we deliver the highest quality Just In Time logistics services to our clients.

 

Today, we caught up with Joe Haywood, our Transport Planner in Rochdale…

 

What does your role as Transport Planner entail, Joe?

My role involves many things! My job is, broadly, to ensure we have the right number of professional drivers and lorries on the road to meet our clients’ demand and for deliveries to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. You need to be a great communicator, and be able to keep a cool head in high-pressure situations.

 

What does a typical day look like for you?

I start the day planning for the next: we have scheduled rotas and plans in place for the week and I refer to these daily to keep on track. I have to take aspects such as holidays, sickness and any other reasons a driver may not be working that specific day, and to accommodate this. I also manage the servicing of our vehicles – I work very closely with our drivers to learn about, and rectify, any vehicular issues.

 

Can you tell us about your career journey?

I have been working in the transport sector for over five years now, starting at 18 with a role as a Transport Administrator. This got my foot in the door, and whilst I moved up the ladder, I also decided to take time out to travel through Asia and Australia! In June 2018, I joined the Barnes team and have been using the skills and experience I’ve gained throughout the years to Rochdale.

 

What would you recommend to others looking to join the industry?

Transport is a rewarding and exciting industry – but it can be challenging! You have to be an organised person who’s always switched on. New issues come up each day which I haven’t dealt with before, so I have to apply my experience and industry knowledge to each new challenge. It’s always satisfying when you leave the office knowing that you have planned everything correctly and left with it running smoothly.

 

If you think you have what it takes and are interested in a career in the transport and logistics profession, get in touch!

 

 

OUR ACCREDITATIONS

 

Contact Details

Tel: 0161 684 3070
Email: admin@barneslogistics.com

About us

Barnes Logistics’ fleet operates from more than seven sites across the country and supports a nationwide client base.

Our Service

We supply ‘just in time’ logistics support and warehousing to businesses across the UK.

Registered Office

Barnes Logistics Ltd
Cowm Top Lane
Rochdale
OL11 2RG