GETTING CLOSER TO OUR CUSTOMERS... KINAXIA WELCOMES ABF LOGISTICS MANAGERS

Kinaxia hosts logistics managers from Associated British Foods as part of a visit, tour and conference at our K3 site in Trafford Park.

When Associated British Foods decided to take logistics managers in its UK grocery division on the road to meet and learn more about their suppliers, we were thrilled that Kinaxia was chosen as their first destination.

Among the 12 logistics and supply chain managers who spent a day with us at our K3 bonded warehouse site in Trafford Park were representatives from brands including Silver Spoon, specialist foods supplier Westmill, AB Sport Nutrition, AB World Foods, Jordans Dorset Ryvita and Allied Mills.

The group, who travelled from as far away as London and Norwich, held their own internal conference at K3 then toured our state-of-the-art facility and met with a number of senior Kinaxia leaders, including chief executive Michael Conroy, regional distribution director Carl Wagstaffe, sales director Emily Cozens and Richard Smith, managing director of our primary transport business.

Our team gave a presentation about Kinaxia’s service proposition and plans, and the occasion fitted in well with our strategy of getting closer to our customers, delivering tailored logistics solutions and showcasing the superb facilities we offer them.

Carl said: “The day gave everyone the opportunity to meet in person and explore how we can work closer together in the future.

“It’s always good to host people on site and show them around, as it gives them a better understanding of our expertise and the sector-leading facilities and network assets across the business, as well as providing opportunities to discuss greater collaboration. 

“We were thrilled that ABF’s first event of this kind was hosted by Kinaxia, and we would like to extend this opportunity to others as part of our service excellence strategy to get closer to our customers.”

Maddy Jones, ABF’s regional category leader, freight and logistics, explained that the initiative is to showcase 3PL partners at their own sites, and said the event at K3 was a great success.

“The ABF UK Logistics Managers’ Forum is an internal conference to share best practice, information and knowledge,” she said.

“The K3 site was a great environment for us to get together as a community and to learn more about Kinaxia. We’re very proud of our suppliers, and meeting them and seeing their operations gives us a much better understanding of what they can offer.

“The visit was a very positive event. It was really good to meet senior leaders from Kinaxia and to learn about the business as a whole. Kinaxia has an impressive breadth of facilities across its network and tremendous strength in depth, and the event has helped us to understand the potential for further collaboration in the future.”