Greener deliveries...
straight out of the blue
Kinnarps is rolling out its ‘Blue Truck Concept’ in the UK to ensure that it maintains service levels and upholds its environmental commitment, despite the increases in delivery volume that growth will inevitably bring.
First used in Sweden, and the brainchild of Assar Jarlsson son of Kinnarps founder Jarl, it has evolved over the years to become a pan-European network, unique to the company. The blue liveried boxes are a familiar sight to Swedish road users, being carried on environmentally adapted trucks that run on eco-diesel. The containers are also loaded to an average 91% of capacity and often carry goods from subcontractors on the return journey to maximise efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The same blue boxes will now be used to distribute Kinnarps furniture direct to clients across the UK.
In keeping with the Kinnarps culture of sustainable development, the majority of the blue boxes’ journey to and from Sweden will be via rail. The Volvo train leaves Falkoping, only a few kilometres from the main Kinnarps production site, and travels down through central Europe, arriving at Gent in Belgium. For the time being the journey to UK clients must then continue by road - due to the unaccommodating height of a single railway bridge, just this side of the channel!
Brian Quin, Kinnarps UK’s Operations Director, explains the concept: “The new Transport and Planning (TP) system will minimise environmental impact and increase efficiencies as we grow the volume of local business deliveries across the country.”
He continues: “One of our Swedish drivers uses the analogy of public transport to explain the environmental and economic advantages. If you deliver to a central warehouse and then tranship goods using small delivery vehicles to reach customers, it is like booking individual taxis for each transfer; costly in terms of economics and carbon footprint.”
“By scheduling trucks on optimised routes it is like a bus service that drops off along its journey. In this case with our drivers, who are also trained as fitters, stopping to fit the furniture at each destination. Where an installation is particularly large we ‘book a coach load’, with the truck being used to go directly to one client with its full load ready to be fitted by a team of accompanying fitters.”
The TP system also brings advantages when it comes to planning logistics, potentially enabling Brian to shorten delivery times. He explains: “TP links our ordering and production system directly with our delivery planning systems and it’s very intelligent in the way it works. If the system sees that a large order for Bristol is already planned and in production and we then receive an order for a single chair in Bath, the system will automatically suggest to our planners that the manufacture of the chair is pulled forward in order to include it in the delivery due to head to the West Country.”
“The system also works best with no ‘fixed delivery weeks’, because it plans in an optimal way, always identifying the shortest possible delivery period, which we can then pass on to customers. Of course for projects that demand it, we can always specify a set delivery date and the system locks that date in, ensuring that we adhere to the customer’s schedule.”
Brian concludes: “So, whether we are delivering a single chair or a hundred workstations, it means a Kinnarps delivery is always as efficient, timely and eco-friendly as possible.”
Top: A blue box is loaded on the train in Sweden.
Above: Brian Quin, Kinnarps UK Operations Director.