Team of the Year shortlist profiled

Ceva

Ceva manages warehousing, as well as finance and facilities, training and HR for one of the UK's leading DIY and garden centre retailers at a site in Burton upon Trent.

The company drew up a plan for staff to: ensure they understand what its client requires; turn those requirements into measurable statements; measure and trend the activity; use continuous improvement to better them; develop the team through continuous improvement; never stand still.

Judges said the plan had been well executed and had also led to real improvements.

DHL

DHL launched its supply chain resourcing centre in October 2010 to help staff find internal promotions, and also to recruit for external customers

The centre replaced separate site-based teams, and brought together their diverse skills and knowledge into a single, flexible, centralised team in Daventry.

One of the benefits of the centre has been that it has helped to manage huge vacancy volumes without significantly increasing headcount.

Judges said DHL had put together a "clear and concise submission" and that the project had received very good feedback from staff.

Fraikin

In March 2011 Fraikin was awarded a contract from a client to provide custodial cell vehicles.

Fraikin and Cartwright worked "hand in glove" during the project and put in place a series of mid weekly and weekly reporting meetings.

The excellent teamwork meant that the tight deadlines for production and delivery were met.

Judges said they were impressed with how well Fraikin and trailer manufacturer Cartwright had cooperated on the project. The project was completed on time and with good feedback from all partners.

Gist

Starbucks launched its Renaissance Day in March this year, which involved giving free lattes to customers between opening and midday.

Starbucks, in partnership with Gist: created a store-wide plan to increase store storage space; set up a control room with hotlines for stores to order replacement milk; placed extra vehicles around the UK to respond to hotline calls; delivered replacement milk to stores within a half an hour window.

According to one judge, the day was "well executed" and had demonstrated good collaboration between the partners.

Hermes

Parcels delivery specialist Hermes initiated its Information Systems (IS) Separation programme in early 2010.

For Hermes, the challenge was to separate and migrate all its core IT systems and infrastructure from its base in Bradford to a new platform hosted by sister company Hermes Europe (Hamburg).

The target was to completely move all software and data by the peak period of 2011 - late October through to the end of January.

One judge complimented Hermes on successfully completing a "hugely complex" and "technically difficult" project before the peak period.

Palletforce

Palletforce was praised by judges for its programme designed to inspire young people to think of logistics as a career choice.

The team identified hundreds of children were connected to Palletforce through parents and families of the network's member companies, and came up with a series of initiatives: published a book for children based on life at Palletforce; supported the big read initiative; held a family party to celebrate Palletforce's 10th anniversary, for 650 adults and children; brought teenagers through its apprenticeship training academy.