First Look at Stapleton’s New Erdington ‘Super Hub’

Stapleton’s Tyre Services latest and greatest 100,000 square foot warehouse has been developed to be the leading tyre wholesaler’s UK “super hub.” Positioned near the literal mid-point of England, the new depot is central to the company’s existing warehouses. Previously the largest of these were developed to be Northern and Southern hubs, but now they will be fed by the large Birmingham location, which is coincidently located a stone’s throw away from Goodyear Dunlop’s Tyre Fort in the Erdington area, Birmingham. Tyres & Accessories recently met Ashley Croft, head of Stapleton’s supply chain, for an exclusive first look at the new facility.

The first thing you notice after you arrive inside the Erdington, Birmingham location – which is impossible to miss owing to the largest Stapleton’s signage in the company fixed to the road facing wall outside – is that the new super hub is already stocked with a full-range of about 3500 stock keeping units (SKUs).

A total of 180,000 tyres are already in place on the facility’s modern racking system, with room for around 250,000 in total. Next you see that Stapleton’s has managed to gain additional space and efficiency at this warehouse by doing away with the kind of mezzanine floor that is common in other similar sized sites. One advantage of doing this is that it currently allows the company to stack racks of tyres six stillages high. Another is that this way of operating takes out one element of manual handling that was previously necessary with mezzanine centric systems.

In order to achieve the desired productivity and efficiency gains of moving into the new site, Stapleton’s has invested heavily in latest generation of high level order picking machines, with the most recent delivery from Jungheinrich comprising of custom-built lifters which are designed to travel round the warehouse following automated picking routes optimised for efficiency. This is said to reduce picking times by some 25 per cent. Such is the precision of the Birmingham site’s design, the new fleet of picking machines have just 100mm of clearance on each side. Using high level platform machines means the picker just has to choose the right tyres from the pre-selected stillage and load them onto the picker. These machines, together with other necessary storage and handling equipment, mean Stapleton’s has so far invested a total of £1 million in fitting out the new warehouse.

While staff training relating to the new way of running the warehouse continues, it is clear that in an ideal world Ashley Croft would like to implement elements of the new system to the company’s other sites, wherever applicable. This can already be seen at the company’s Guildford depot, which although it only stacks three stillages high at the moment, has been influenced by the thinking behind the recent advances in Birmingham.

Stapleton’s adoption of the new Birmingham super-hub is not unrelated to the July announcement that it had agreed terms with Pirelli to purchase CPK Auto Products Ltd. The Erdington site is located 20 miles away from the CPK’s original distribution centre in Burton. Following the transaction, somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 tyres stocked at Burton were transferred to the new premises, with a number of staff also moving to jobs in Stapleton’s. The CPK acquisition, according to the company, further cemented the company’s “commanding position.” In real terms the fact that the new warehouse fills a relatively blank spot on Stapleton’s map has resulted in significant increases in sales generated by the company from customers in the wider Birmingham/midlands area.

Stephen Childs, head of range planning and marketing for Stapleton’s, outlined the strategy behind the purchase: “This move expanded our trade distribution operation, meaning yet more improvement in efficiency and customer service. Our aim has always been to provide excellent value for money alongside great customer service, and this acquisition further underpins our winning approach.”

Leading tyre distributor flourished in 2010

During 2010 as a whole Stapleton’s, which can probably be described as the UK’s leading tyre distributor due to significantly increased turnover this year pushing it ahead of its main competitor Micheldever, continued to grow. Stapleton’s will achieve a record annual gross turnover of more than £300 million and – as we can see – has significantly expanded its distribution operation. The company also scooped the prestigous Wholesaler of the Year gong at this year’s TAFF Awards in October, something that representatives of the firm described as the icing on the cake.

Trading director, Steve Parker, stated that the company had a long established reputation for service, coupled with unrivalled UK coverage and product range. “It’s the combination of our outstanding customer service and our comprehensive and competitively priced range of premium, mid-range and budget tyres that has contributed to our recent success,” he said, adding: “Our customers voted us the best in the industry, and this year our achievements in tyre unit sales, expansion and industry acclaim confirm that.”

Earlier this year the company also further expanded its delivery fleet of commercial vehicles. Over £600,000 was invested in 22 new vans –including six Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Panel Vans, seven Renault New Master Panel Vans and nine Isuzu 7.5 tonne trucks. Liveried with the company’s corporate identity, these have been fully merged into Stapleton’s fleet and provide customers with twice-a-day, same-day or next-day delivery service nationwide. The 15 strong trailer fleet has also been replaced with new, larger trailers supplied through Montracon.

Chief Executive Officer, Kenji Murai, reflected on the past year by commenting: “We’ve had a ground breaking year but despite this success we will not be complacent. Our commitment remains to our customers, who are at the heart of everything that we do.”

Related News:

• Stapleton’s: TAFF Award is Huge Vote of Confidence

• Growth in Mid-range Market Size and Influence: Leading wholesalers

• Stapleton’s Opens 100,000 sq. ft. Birmingham Warehouse

• Stapleton’s Confirms Pirelli CPK Purchase

• Pirelli Sells CPK Tyre Wholesale Business to Stapleton’s