Kinley Systems

Back to all Case Studies

How Kinley reduced fulfilment costs, increased their logistic capacity and eliminated inventory issues by using Express & Global as their 3PL supplier

Based in East Sussex, Kinley Systems supply architectural landscaping products to a range of clients throughout the UK and around the world.

 

For several years, Express & Global have been Kinley’s core supplier of outsourced pick and pack, inventory management and storage – in addition to parcel and freight carriage within the UK and import / export to international destinations.

Prior to coming on board with Express & Global, Kinley had struggled to find a fulfilment house that could cater for their complex product and logistical needs. Having worked with other pick and pack suppliers, they had suffered from poor order picking accuracy and found their stock being mismanaged, resulting in large stock discrepancies and stock write-offs. In addition, these suppliers had lacked the carrier relationships required to move the complex mix of both oversized parcel and freight shipments around the UK and beyond, resulting in disjointed and poor service levels for their customers. They presented the following challenges to Express & Global:

  • Oversized and heavy core products, palletised in bulk and shipped to customers in either long length parcels or on pallets.
  • Complex, multi-line orders made up from large SKU ranges of often very similar (but different) products.
  • A large and seasonally fluctuating stock-holding, with a requirement to store oversized goods up to 6m in length.
  • High volumes of goods moving in and out on a daily basis with a large product range.
  • Import / Export requirements for both parcel and freight shipments

Express and Global have been delighted to meet these challenges with the following solutions.

  • Utilising our relationships and buying power with UK & world leading parcel carriers, we identified the optimum carrier for Kinley’s long length parcels, to provide excellent service levels at highly competitive rates.
  • As a TPN (The Pallet Network) depot with outstanding relationships with global freight carriers, we were able to feed Kinley’s freight shipping requirements into a well established network to get their pallet deliveries completed on time and in full – again for the best available rates.
  • As a result, Express & Global has catered for all of Kinley’s logistic requirements from a single point of contact and on a single invoice.
  • Our extensive and varied warehousing space has allowed us to provide flexible storage to cater for sizeable increases and decreases and all oversized stock, with Kinley only being charged for the space they use.
  • By properly organising and identifying stock, and through meticulous staff training and signposting, we provided an efficient space for accurate picking and packing of orders.
  • We implemented our standard stock control processes and inventory management software to ensure accurate and reliable stock management.

As a result, we have successfully provided a one-stop solution for Kinley’s fulfilment and logistics needs. We have achieved the following goals for Kinley:

  • Elimination of stock discrepancies and write-offs.
  • Exceptional levels of pick accuracy across all product ranges.
  • Increased storage and daily shipment capacity, allowing for both order and stock-holding spikes as well ongoing volume growth.
  • Capability to send both parcels and freight through the same supplier, with a single point of contact for customer service and a single invoice – all while reducing overall shipping costs.

Ben Dupont, Operations Director at Kinley had this to say:

“We’re delighted to have finally found a 3PL supplier that allows us to fully outsource our order fulfilment, while still providing a great service to our customers. Express & Global are first port of call for any logistic requirements we have”

We look forward to continue working with Kinley as they expand and we take pride in being part of supplying such a fantastic product to people around the UK and beyond.

If you’re interested in outsourced fulfilment for some or all of your products, contact us now. We have diverse B2B & B2C experience shipping everything from landscaping edging to fashion products.