Yusen Logistics has been awarded the nationwide retail and trade distribution contract by Smeg UK.
The high-end consumer products manufacturer has partnered with Yusen Logistics, replacing Canute Group, to enhance its supply chain offering.
The arrangement sees the operator handling the entire Smeg range, from small and major domestic appliances to commercial and medical units, at its dedicated appliance cross-docking facility in Marston Gate, Bedfordshire. Here, collections from Smeg's warehouse are consolidated for onwards delivery to trade customers across the UK and Ireland.
Mike Giddings, MD for Smeg UK, said: “This is an important step for us as we look to enhance and expand our service offering. Yusen Logistics has a proven track record for delivering premium brands at premium service levels in the appliance industry, and we have already seen improvement in the operation which we look forward to continuing.”
Nick Rees, commercial director for Yusen Logistics UK, said: “We’re excited to be representing such an industry leading brand.
“Smeg UK is known for their iconic style and premium brands, and it’s great to be able to support them to ensure the delivery of their products reflects this.”
Canute Group
Smeg’s previous partner was Canute Logistics, part of the group that went though a pre-pack administration earlier this year.
Canute delivered a “full range of more than 750 Smeg products through their growing infrastructure network of major retailers and distributors” for the company.
Canute Logistics supplied 30,000ft² of warehousing space and a 24-hour logistics operation mixed fleet under the terms of the deal.
David Emslie, Canute group sales director, told MT: “We lost the contract through a competitive tender which was running through the summer months.
“Smeg’s business model had changed in the last year with stock management responsibilities being controlled from Italy. Thus they no longer required a Midlands warehouse as they had reduced stock levels and decided to consolidate all activity back at to their existing Portsmouth warehouse.
“We had a very successful relationship with Smeg in the Midlands for four years, but the change in business practice and the highly competitive nature of some of the tender responses for the Portsmouth operation did prevent Canute from continuing as Smeg’s chosen supplier.”
Yusen takes flight with AeroSystems
Yusen has also just announced a deal to Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) for warehousing, inbound freight and onward distribution to Airbus, one of Spirit’s largest customers.
Spirit designs and builds aerostructures in both the commercial and defence sectors. Within Europe, Spirit is one of the largest airframe suppliers to Airbus and a key supplier of major wing structures to both the Airbus and Boeing programs.
Yusen Logistics is handling the warehousing, inbound freight and onward distribution of products of a variety of sizes, from smaller replacement parts up to larger wing panels for the client. It is also enabling certain inbound ocean and air freight solutions to Spirit’s UK Hub for onward delivery of key materials to Airbus’ final assembly lines in Broughton, Toulouse and Bremen.
