Meachers Global Logistics – the perfect logistics choice for your business
Let’s discover a bit more about Meachers Global Logistics and how they 
could help your business with their supply chain management services Originally starting out as a coal business more than 50 years ago, eventually expanding and diversifying into the general haulage industry, with the company Meachers Transport being born in 1958. Initially serving the dock merchandise sector before branching out into warehousing. Over the years Meachers has acquired numerous companies to continue the expansion of the organisation, proving to be very successful in their specialised services. 1996 saw the opening of a new distribution centre in Derby. During 2009 the rebranding process started with the introduction of Meachers Global Logistics, being aptly named to describe the services offered by the company in which it provides a complete logistics solution both in the UK and globally. Meachers also hold AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) and customs bonded status as well as being accredited by a number of industry associations.
Meachers are proud to have achieved the constant recognition as one of the top 100 companies within the industry.
Whichwarehouse has had the privilege of advertising the services of Meachers Global Logistics now for almost 5 years and we are proud to have such a fantastic logistics company covering the South of the UK as well as The Midlands and other countries. Being versatile and specialised within their chosen sectors they are able to provide supply chain management solutions to numerous organisations. Having been in the logistics business for more than 50 years, we were keen to speak to Meachers about their industry thoughts over the past few years since the recession struck and to discuss what changes they noticed and their expectations for the future.
So which types of companies make up the Meachers client base?
Meachers Global Logistics works closely with companies of all sizes, from SMEs to multinationals, across many sectors including, but not limited to; manufacturing, public sector organisations, health care, chemicals, construction, aerospace, retail, leisure, FMCG, aggregates. Meachers supports not only importers and exporters, but manufacturers and operators who have outsourced some or all of their requirements to a reliable and trusted 3PL partner.
What factor did Meachers feel was the biggest difficulty they faced during the recession and how did they overcome any issues?
Gary Whittle, Commercial Director, advised that since the recession trading patterns had shown great volatility, they experienced significant peaks and troughs and customers asked for supply chain management services at minimal margins.
When we enquired as to any new systems that Meachers had introduced, which they felt assisted the business in the way their clients goods’ were handled, they confirmed that a new bar coding system and a booking-in portal was now being utilised. The former allowing for better accuracy and the latter ensuring more efficiency for the use of resources. Over the last couple of years, they have seen a significant increase in the volume throughput in their warehouse.
When asked if they felt that the economic situation in previous years, since the recession back in 08/09, had affected the storage and logistics industry, they said they had definitely seen an impact with regard to the process that companies are managing their inventory and ensuring less redundant stock, lower inventories and more JIT requirements. Meachers advised that this had had a positive effect for them in the long term although slightly negative initially. Some of their clients had reduced their volumes, disposed of dormant stock and reduced stock levels, and that their clients were becoming more reliant on Meachers in their supply chain process therefore making Meachers contribution more valuable in the long term.
When we mentioned the demise of major chains such as Blockbuster, we asked Meachers if they felt this would impact on the storage and fulfilment industries; in that more and more companies will move into selling their products online and handing over the complete logistics requirements to operators such as Meachers. Gary, confirmed that he did feel this would be the case and that he envisaged companies will try and ascertain greater efficiencies through shared user sites and a change in their POS requirements to online thus increasing the number of ecommerce businesses.
Meachers Global Logistics are not ones for waiting around for something to happen but instead they prepare for forthcoming changes and this has stood them in good stead over the years and has ensured their continued success today. Whichwarehouse hope to continue working with Meachers in the future and wish them further continued success, as of course we do, all of the 3PL providers that advertise with us.