Supplier Spotlight: Haldex

We sat down with Brian Robertson, Original Equipment Manager at Haldex, to discuss their role in the Gray & Adams Supply Chain.

What does Haldex do?

Haldex provides innovative braking solutions to the global commercial vehicle industry, primarily for trailers, with a focus on enhanced safety, environment and vehicle dynamics. We are a pioneer of safe braking products.

How long have you been part of the Gray & Adams supply chain?

We have been working with Gray & Adams for over 40 years. It is renowned for its quality and customer support – it is vital that its suppliers buy into that ethos. As a business, we are very aligned to this and that is why we have been partners for so long. We recognise it is not simply all about the initial purchase price but also the performance of our products and the quality of our service.

What are the key opportunities and challenges facing the industry?

Total cost of ownership was a focus for all businesses but, given current financial pressures due to Covid-19, it has taken on an even greater level of importance. Therefore, reduced downtime and ensuring products perform for their expected life span, is now a crucial deliverable for all suppliers. This is something Gray & Adams is very good at, likewise, so is Haldex. For example, we are about to release a new electronic braking system (EBS Generation 4) that offers incredible durability and, in turn, a low cost of ownership.

How can Gray & Adams ensure even closer integration of their supply chain in the future?

If I was to improve what is an already a very strong supply chain, I would possibly increase supplier access to feedback from end users. That is how we can focus on continuous improvement, new features and make our parts for Gray & Adams’ products even better.

Finally, your thoughts about the overall experience of working with the Gray & Adams team?

We have a good relationship. We support one another to ensure the best outcomes for our businesses and for the customers too. We share a commitment to offering great customer service and industry-leading products.

Avara Foods Avara Foods is one of the UK’s biggest poultry processors, working with major food retailers and restaurants, to supply a wide range of fresh and frozen poultry.

Customer challenge With a strong focus on ensuring delivery for customers, Avara has a replacement programme, which sees them phase out trailers after a set period. This programme recently levied the requirement for the replacement of 28 trailers. As a condition, Avara wanted to give this work to a business they could partner with and trust in the long term.

Solution Avara placed this order with Gray & Adams as part of a seven-year deal. Gray & Adams provided 28 bespoke single temperature trailers, which feature ThermoKing refrigeration. The trailers will be used for both in-house transfers between sites and deliveries to customers.

Impact Gray & Adams designed and built 28 trailers that were well engineered and of a supreme build quality. Avara have therefore received products that will both perform and last for the required length of service. In addition to adding replacements to their fleet, Avara wanted to establish a long-term relationship with a supplier, instead of just having a one-off transactional arrangement. In Gray & Adams they found a partner who are focused on delivering customer service excellence throughout the process with a track record they could trust to deliver, now and into the future.

Working collaboratively Covid-19 restrictions created a challenge in terms of timing. However, flexibility and understanding from both parties has enabled them to work together to successfully navigate the macro challenges at play.

Our customer says “Gray & Adams have delivered on their promises. They quickly worked with us to define the solution for replacing our trailers, despite the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic. They also gave us the confidence in the quality of the product required for us to enter into what we hope will be a long-lasting partnership with them.”

IAN ASHLEY, HEAD OF SAFETY AND LOGISTICS OPERATIONS Gist Gist prides itself on working with its customers to deliver innovative solutions that transform its supply chains; with a track record in doing this spanning more than 50 years.

Long-term partnerships For over 40 years, almost the whole life of the Gist business, Gray & Adams has been building its fleet, which currently includes a mix of Double Decks and Twin Evaporator Single Decks, and manufacturing over 50 trailers for them each year.

Innovating improvements Gray & Adams works tirelessly to offer advice, support and solutions that ensure Gist’s fleet is always evolving and growing, in order to accommodate the requirements of the future and deliver reliable and consistent performance from their products.

Gray & Adams actively offer improvements, most recently suggesting a galvanized chassis in response to the wear patterns recorded on their trailers. The team also regularly feed into Gist’s refurbishment programme after the first seven years of a product’s lifecycle, with key market insights to make improvements that will increase its lifespan.

Industry leading service Through regular site visits, calls, online meetings and robust relationship management, Gray & Adams finds the time to learn every aspect of Gist’s business operation. This ensures it can deliver the service they need. For example, the Gray & Adams team developed and delivered bespoke in-house training to the Gist maintenance team to ensure they are always able to manage their fleet and be self-reliant.

Our customer says “The relationship we’ve built with Gray & Adams goes beyond the durability, return on investment and bespoke nature of the products, which are engineered for our precise needs.

They understand every aspect of Gist’s operations, making solutions that work for us through their informed and expert teams. Not only this, they meet our tight time scales, source spare parts when we can’t access them elsewhere and are keen to share their expertise - upskilling our maintenance department and taking the time to deliver training workshops to ensure that we are self-reliant.

They go above and beyond the service we see elsewhere in the industry to ensure that our needs are met, keeping an eye on what is coming next to innovate and engineer the future alongside us and futureproof our fleet. There’s no challenge too big or too small and we feel supported, with a flexible approach and a ‘can do’ attitude that extends far beyond our expectations. Alongside their quality products, the attention to detail in their service ensures that we will be working with them for many years to come.”

MICK PETHARD, GENERAL MANAGER ENGINEERING

Oakland International Oakland International is an award-winning integrated supply chain specialist, who offer a one-stop-shop for contract packing and food tempering solutions for both B2C and B2B markets.

Customer challenge Oakland International has been established for over 20 years as a supply chain business, delivering packing and tempering solutions to its customers across a range of sectors. It is now pursuing a strategic decision to add distribution to their considerable offering. Due to its exceptional customer service and account management, this proposition is forecast for exponential growth.

Oakland International came to Gray & Adams for a fleet of trailers to service the demands of its new distribution solution. The new trailers needed to be of a premier build quality that could withstand the severity of the distribution chain, to ensure down time is minimised. For this reason, although price was a factor, the key driver of decision making was quality and trailers which are best-in-class.

Solution In its first order with Gray & Adams, Oakland International commissioned 20 trailers. The Gray & Adams engineering team worked to define specifications for a tri-Axel, 26 pallet, dual evaporation enabled trailer with an under-slung tail lift and multi-compartment temperature controls, which could unquestionably withstand the rigour of day-to-day operations and deliveries.

Impact In line with the requirement for trailers that could handle the impact of their usage, without the need for down time, the Gray & Adams engineering team designed a fleet that is exceptionally durable. This ensures Oakland International will have bespoke products that offer a lifetime of value.

Working collaboratively Oakland International and Gray & Adams have synergies in their values. Both are family businesses that treat all stakeholders with a long-term view. They also share the same sustainability aims, with both having a massive respect for the environment. Both also value a pragmatic and candid approach to decision making, which helps get the project completed.

Our customer says “We won’t be looking around anywhere else whilst growing this new fleet. We will be returning to Gray & Adams to fulfil the whole plan. The longevity of product is exactly what we need and exactly what you pay for. Their build quality is best-in-class. To put it simply, things don’t tend to fall off Gray & Adams trailers - they are built so well. We are planning for them to become our long-term partners and look forward to building our relationship further.”

SHAUN FOLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL Turners of Soham Turners’ reputation for providing professional and innovative supply chain solutions is based on extensive experience operating a fleet that travels throughout the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.

Long-term partnerships Having worked together for 25 years, Turners (Soham) Ltd and Gray & Adams have a synergy across their values and a strong partnership built on integrity and trust.

Turners of Soham know that they can run Gray & Adams trailers for 10 – 15 years and, as a result, they order over 50 trailers per year to sustain their 750-strong refrigerated fleet.

Innovating improvement A relentless focus on continuous improvement, engineering expertise and a ‘can do’ approach has seen Gray & Adams develop a complete set of vehicle specifications across Turners of Soham’s diverse fleet, which are completely bespoke and optimised for the ever-changing needs of their business. These are reviewed regularly to ensure commitment to continuous improvement and a dynamic opportunity for Turners of Soham to access the very latest innovations.

Gray & Adams further ensured that Turners of Soham are firmly in the driving seat when it comes to innovation, when they recently engaged in a partnership between Turner’s of Soham and Cambridge University, to build a new aerodynamic design for the Turner’s fleet.

A uniquely personal service The personal service created by the Gray & Adams business is no accident. Not just bespoke in its product delivery, Gray and Adams creates opportunity for its customers to transform ways of working through responsive service delivery which is tailored to the operational needs of every business they work with.

There is no-one in Gray & Adams who isn’t accessible to its customers, from the bottom to the top. The level of shared understanding of the Turners of Soham operation extends far beyond the day-to-day contacts and this detailed understanding across the whole Gray & Adams team allows for unparalleled customer service, no matter who the customer is talking to.

Our customer says “The customer service we receive from Gray & Adams is exceptional. Not only do they take the time to truly understand every element of our business, they bend over backwards for us, time and time again.

For Turner’s of Soham, the difference is personal. They deliver a tailored all-round experience unlike anything else in the industry, which is consistent, open and responsive. Their careful evaluation of our needs, both current and for the future, alongside their flexible service and detailed knowledge of our business ensures that we get the perfect service every step of the way. “

TIM KING, GROUP FLEET ENGINEER

Shop Local: The Urban Delivery Challenge

Ian Smith, Group Engineering Manager at Gray & Adams, shares his insight into solving the challenges of delivering in urban environments for its customers.

The Growth of Urban Deliveries The decline of the traditional ‘big weekly shop’ has led to a huge rise in the practice of ‘topping up’ from more convenient, smaller, local retailers. The implication of this is that our customers now need to deliver higher volumes to their high street shops, whilst also reducing their journeys to cut carbon emissions. This paradox presents a number of tests for operators.

Top Challenges 1. Maximising payloads 2. Diminishing loads

3. Turning circles

4. Vulnerable road users

5. Fuel efficiency The most obvious challenge is the restriction to maximum vehicle size, due to manoeuvrability requirements. The available space within cities, means the height and width of vehicles need to be of a reduced size; this is something enforced by both operational feasibilities and law. Sourcing smaller vehicles is a challenge that can be easily overcome. Sourcing smaller vehicles which deliver the large payloads required, however, is a bigger challenge. The test for delivering in urban environments is how to achieve large volume deliveries with a smaller vehicle.

This is not the only challenge, however. Most operators will run multi-drop deliveries, when stocking up inner city stores. This introduces the challenge of dealing with diminishing loads. When a load is reduced, the remaining stock can overload axles or kingpins, due to the increasingly unevenly distributed weight, which can cause terminal wear. Gray & Adams’ engineering team must contend with the challenges of the tight turning circles required for manoeuvring and the increased measures required for protecting the high volumes of vulnerable road users in urban areas. Delivering in urban environments is a challenging operation, which requires specialist engineering.

Bespoke Solutions Engineering at Gray & Adams involves designing the best product for the task, rather than delivering an off-the-shelf solution. Delivering in urban environments is one such challenge we help to resolve through tailored design and engineering.

Our sales team meet with customers to assess their requirements. We then begin the cross-department process of developing a specification. This process involves a clear analysis of what the customer needs, as well as the complexity of it. As part of this, our electrical, structural and mechanical engineers, along with our legal team, design team and management team, work to examine different areas of how this product could operate, looking to stress test solutions and confirm a feasible option. Only once each internal party has reviewed and signed off the final specification, is the product presented to the customer and then signed off for production. This problem-solving process allows us to collectively engineer solutions which resolve the challenges that urban operators face. For example, to allow the delivery of large volumes with a small vehicle we look to utilise variations of double-deck units. This enables us to maximise payload, whilst maintaining a smaller size. To allow for the tight turning circles required, we design bespoke systems, validated by computer simulations to ensure acute angles of manoeuvrability can be achieved, where required, in support of our customers delivery objectives.

“Having worked with Gray & Adams for 26 years, we have first-hand experience of their track record in providing engineering solutions which allow us to overcome the many challenges of delivering in urban environments.

We have engaged with Gray & Adams on a number of key projects for James Hall & Co over the years, and their innovative and high-quality solutions have now become part of our standard specification.

The longevity of our relationship shows the strength of our partnership and exemplifies the trust we place in Gray & Adams to keep delivering for us. The speed of reaction to technical enquiries and access to key personnel within their organisation is pivotal when deciding which suppliers we work with, given the ever changing sector that we operate in. This enables us to make key decisions with confidence.

We are currently working on some further engineering innovation from Ian Smith and his team in the urban delivery space, which will hopefully be completed in the coming months.”

IAN FARNWORTH, FLEET ENGINEERING MANAGER, JAMES HALL & CO LTD Gray & Adams Ltd South Road Fraserburgh Aberdeenshire AB43 9HU CornerWIN Version 2020-03 20/08/2020 15:49