Motor Transport Awards 2018: Team of the Year shortlist

The Team of the Year Award (sponsored by Hiab) shortlist Arrow XL; DPD UK; Hermes; Pall-ex (winners in 2017); TfL and Wincanton all in the running at the Motor Transport Awards 2018, which takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 4 July.

Team of the Year (sponsored by Hiab)

Arrow XL

At 8.30am on Thursday 20 April 2017, a catastrophic fire broke out at the Arrow XL site in Worcester. Within two hours the 220,000ft2 facility was burned to the ground, along with all the stock, yet mercifully no one was hurt. The company quickly formed Team Project Phoenix, and each team member had their own area of ownership and deliverables, as well as a strong resolve to save the business. The actions of the team over the days, weeks and months after the fire led to much praise from clients, and Arrow XL’s operational performance eventually exceeded pre-fire levels. MT Awards judges said the team at Arrow XL had made a “great effort, forced on them by a terrible event”. They added that the team had coped effectively with a crisis in a situation that was not business as usual.

DPD

DPD’s International Operations Department (IOD) is a team making a large contribution to the success of a firm that has traditionally been seen as a domestic player. IOD has created an operation that now delivers 20% of DPD’s revenue and 35% of its EBIT, increasing sales from £108m in 2013 to £200m in 2017. Its ability to create flexible services for customers includes the Air Classic service, which has become an £18m business in just four years. The IOD has become a major source of graduate recruitment for DPD, and there is a strong culture of mentoring and coaching. Judges described DPD’s entry as impressive, said it had moved into a new business area well and delivered above expectations.

Hermes

The Peak Planning and Delivery Team at Hermes – formed of senior leaders from various departments – worked side-by-side to deliver a detailed strategy for the last Black Friday peak. The team ensured that Hermes clients benefited from its most successful peak season to date, which involved processing 40 million parcels in the month of December and achieving record service levels. The team also had to factor in the opening of Hermes’ £31m automated parcel distribution hub in Rugby last summer, designed to handle more than 1 million parcels each day, and raise overall parcel processing capacity by 45%. Judges said the entry from Hermes showed that its team had coped well with the Black Friday peak.

Pall-Ex

The SHINE team from Pall-Ex, which consists of one person from each department, has created a mechanism for improvement across the business and had a significant effect on the culture of the organisation. Projects have included better workforce communication, new fork-lift trucks, driver performance incentives, driver retraining as well as re-educating the warehouse team on correct protocol. Pall-Ex said its success in implementing SHINE through interdepartmental teamwork has enabled it to exceed its initial objectives and deliver recognised benefits to its customers. Judges praised the firm’s comprehensive submission and liked the fact that Pall-Ex had focused on its wider workforce.

TfL

LoCITY was launched by TfL in January 2016 to encourage the uptake of low emission commercial vehicles. The five-year industry-led collaborative programme has brought together fleet operators, central and local government, other public sector organisations, vehicle manufacturers and refuelling and recharging suppliers to improve air quality. Approximately 1,300 individuals from 819 organisations have already joined the programme and more than 2,000 people have since attended a LoCITY event to meet, discuss and learn about alternatively fuelled vehicles. Judges said the team at TfL had embarked on a collaborative project that had helped move the industry forward.

Wincanton

In 2016, Wincanton proposed a joint venture between the training and development and the health and safety departments at its Lea Green, St Helens-based RDC. The multiskilled team has subsequently become a driving force behind the firm’s five-year contract at the Co-op depot on Merseyside. Each department is committed to continuous improvement, best practice within Wincanton, and promoting its status as an industry leader. With its passion and commitment, its vision is to establish the Lea Green RDC as a Wincanton leader in health, safety, training and development. Judges liked the fact that the project had delivered clear improvements and used technology in a very good way.