RICO ESTABLISHES NEW LOGISTICS BENCHMARK IN IRELAND

Rico Logistics has established a new benchmark for distribution companies eyeing the Irish marketplace.

Starting from scratch, and in the space of just six weeks, the UK company established a sophisticated Forward Stock Location (FSL) network covering the whole of the Republic, on behalf of a global document-handling client.

The network stores thousands of different part lines, which are distributed to pick up and drop off (PUDO) points throughout the Republic, where they are collected by the client's 60-plus engineers.

Service logistics director John Southwell said that FSLs in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway were supported by seven manned PUDO locations, with a further six intelligent electronic box sites for engineers working in remote rural locations.

“I'm pretty sure that in Ireland we are the first company to bring everything like this together onto a single platform,” said Mr Southwell.

Rico was asked to set up the network after impressing the client with its service standards in the UK, where the two have worked together for several years.

“They liked our pro-active way of doing things – such as texting engineers to notify them that deliveries have been made, and the way orders can be tracked and traced via the web using our own system,” Mr Southwell said.

Dublin sits at the heart of the Irish operation. From its central warehouse there, Rico takes delivery of inbound air shipments from destinations across Europe and forwards them to specified locations.

The firm's unique trace system enables the client to follow any order through the system, recording details of drop off and collection.

“The management information gathered by our system can give a company the best insight it has ever had into its own operations,” Mr Southwell added.

Mr Southwell said Rico's policy was to work with other logistics companies, where necessary, to ensure a seamless service to the client, and believes his firm's experience in Ireland can be usefully applied for the benefit of other customers.

He added: “We are intensely proud of our achievement with this project. Despite the tight timeline and the complexity of the service, our skills, knowledge, experience, and positive attitude have enabled us to make it a real success and to deliver real value to our customer.”