At Andrew Porter Limited we are renowned for our first class facilities and our continual investment in staff, vehicles and training.
So we were delighted to welcome features editor of Cabinet Maker magazine, Leanne Kirtley, for a tour of our headquarters to learn more about how we stay a step ahead of the competition in the world of furniture logistics.
Leanne was given a full tour of our facilities by our sales director, John Best, and her four-page feature can be read in full in this week’s issue of Cabinet Maker. We’re pleased to once again also be featured on the front cover, for the second time during our 20th anniversary celebrations for our furniture logistics division.
Throughout the feature, Leanne highlights the many aspects of our facilities and services which highlight our attention to detail and commitment to quality.
Leanne comments: “Compromise is a concept we are taught to get used to from an early age. Whether it be compromising on the location of your dream home in order to get the right price, or compromising on a film at the cinema to appease a certain family member. Even supermarkets are no stranger to the concept, with online deliveries often offering a ‘substitute’ item as a compromise for something no longer in stock. And while we understand that compromise is, at times, inevitable, we can’t disguise our disappointment when we are unable to have something our own way. So it came as something of a pleasant surprise this week when we were asked to pay a visit to a company for whom compromise on the quality of its service is never an option.
“Andrew Porter Limited is a household name when it comes to furniture logistics, and rightfully so. After 20 years of growth and development in the market the award-winning firm still exhibits the same level of commitment to perfecting its offer, as can be seen from the level of investment the business has put into the specialist training, vehicles and equipment. Cabinet Maker has been hearing stories for a while of the remarkable standards and second-to-none facilities Andrew Porter benefits from at its Chorley-based facilities, so we decided it was high time they stayed at home for a change and let someone else hit the road, which is exactly what we did.”
Leanne’s tour begins at our docking bays, where products are loaded into the spacious warehouse, and continues throughout the facility.
She explains: “Furniture that arrives to be stored at the warehouse, for whatever the length of time, will then be taken to the appropriate place for storage. This could be across one of three mezzanine floors, which themselves represent circa £1m of investment made at the business in 2001. They are accessed by a sizeable lift, which John promises could hold all of Andrew Porter’s 100 strong staff with room to spare. The lift allows staff to load products, via trolleys, and quickly and safely take them to their ‘picking’ position, where they will rest until they come to be delivered.
“The rest of the warehouse space is devoted to some 7500 pallet bays designed to hold boxed furniture. It’s an impressive sight to behold, one that anyone familiar with the ending of Indiana Jones adventures with the Raiders of the Lost Ark may be forgiven for making comparisons with. The bays stretch for an eye-watering distance in every direction, most noticeably up. And here once again we have the chance to see just one more of Andrew Porter’s many enhancements to the day-to-day working of its warehouse. Articulated fork lift trucks mean the pallet bays can be positioned closer together to make better use of the space without forfeiting manoeuvrability, and each truck is fitted with a camera and a screen that enable drivers to view the very top shelves from the comfort of their seat on the ground.”
And Leanne is particularly impressed with our in-house training facility, where our crews hone their handling skills.
“But if we were already feeling positive about what we had found during our tour of Andrew Porter, we were about to get an additional surprise. This came in the form of an actual two-storey mock house, built into the warehouse itself. John estimates that is probably the only one of its kind in the UK furniture logistics industry but, as he explains, it is just another part of what makes Andrew Porter so unique.”
The tour completes with a view of our on-site truck wash, which keeps our large fleet of vehicles sparkling clean. Leanne comments: “It may seem a small thing, but once again it’s a factor that Andrew Porter just isn’t willing to compromise on, reasoning that a customer’s first impression of the business may well come from the first few seconds of a delivery, therefore putting them at ease with a clean and liveried delivery vehicle, as well as a uniformed crew is important.”
If you’re a manufacturer, importer or retailer interested in our furniture logistics services, contact us today to find out how we can help you.
