ADVANCE NEWS

2014 at Advance

All The Highlights of The Year ...So Far

Welcome to The Advance Group Christmas Newsletter 2014. It’s been another exciting year for us, so we would like to share some of the events over the past year and things you can expect to see throughout 2015…

New IT System

2015 is set to be another incredible year with the enhanced capabilities of the newly installed IT system. The installation is complete and training is due commence in January 2015 in preparation for the ‘go live’ date of 1st February. We’re all really excited as the system is expected to reduce workloads, giving us more time to focus on customer service and supplier negotiations. Clients will receive further information on the new system throughout January 2015 ..

New Premises

In March 2014, we completed the purchase of new premises, adjacent to the main Forwarding and Packing building. Packing currently occupy one of the units for production overflow and projects and the other used by Forwarding for our transport and warehousing. If anyone has any requirements for storage, please contact our Transport Manager, Tim Hyde for further details. Tel. 01332 865 656

Badges at EMA

Earlier in the year we were presented with an opportunity to hold our own clearance badge at EMA. The project was driven by Danny Orme, Import Manager and we felt it was an ideal opportunity to improve the companies import services. The new badge has increased control over shipments and allows us to offer clients rapid clearance and delivery on all shipments routed via East Midlands Airport. As a result, we’re completing a record number of UK deliveries on our own equipment.

Badges at Felixstowe

Following the success of the EMA badge, Director’s made the easy decision to apply for a new clearance badge, this time at Felixstowe container port. The additional control over Felixstowe customs has generated a lot of new business and reduced clearance costs.

Tour of Felixstowe

Steve Hodson, along with a group of our clients were invited for a tour of the UK’s largest container port. All guests were reported to have had a fantastic day which included a complete tour of all the facilities and even managed view some of our own export containing on the quay. The sheer scale of the operation couldn’t be captured in the photos but we would strongly urge anyone with an opportunity to take the tour.

BBP Media Editorial

We’re featuring in BBP Media’s December edition, focusing on transport & logistics. The editorial gives a brief insight into our core services, developments throughout 2014 / 2015 and biggest achievements since starting the business in 1993, some of which our long-standing clients may already be aware of but if not, it should make for an interesting read. The publication is distributed throughout the Midlands – please feel free to visit www.bbpmedia.co.uk

? Christchurch Cathedral, New Zealand Bell Restoration

Advance Packing Ltd. assisted long standing client and well-establish Bell Foundry in the East Midlands. During the earthquake of February 2011 the spire of the Cathedral tower fell, resulting in further damage to the Cathedral bells. Restoration took place along with recast of the fifth bell and they’re now safely back in New Zealand.

New Client Referral Scheme

During the course of 2014 we have received a lot of support from existing clients and referrals. As a result, we will be introducing from Jan 2015 a scheme which serves to reward our clients for such valuable and appreciated recommendations. If you feel we have superseded all expectations and our services could be of benefit to any partners or associates, as a small token of our appreciation we are offering a ￡25 Marks & Spencer’s gift voucher for the referral. Please contact the office for further information. Tel. 01332 865 656

Competition … Win a bottle of Champagne!!

All jobs booked through December and January will count as an entry into our prize draw with the winner being announced in February.

Growth of Staff Numbers

We’ve brought on board another four members of staff - Chris Brookes (Accounts Assistant), Danny Orme (Import Manager), Gary Thorpe (Packing Quality & Production Manager) and Sherice Lowe (Export Operator). Their combined knowledge and experience has contributed to improving methods across Operations, Accounts and Packing.

New Packing Services

Gary Thorpe puts us in a stronger position than ever as an experienced packer of larger and heavier items. In December, Advance Packing also invested in a new fork lift with a 4000kgs weight capacity to handle larger items on site at our works in Melbourne.

Advance site visit

We would like to offer all clients, existing and potential the opportunity to come down and visit our site at Melbourne. Please contact Jayne Allard if you wish to have a tour of our premises. Tel. 01332 865 656

European Trailers

In August, Rachel Smith was appointed Trailer Freight Operator and she’s doing a sterling job of maintaining service levels. We’re looking to develop trailers next year by selecting a handful of UK Partners to offer our clients quicker response times on quotes, scheduled departures, consistency and on-line tracking.

Advance Accounts Dept.

We’ve made some astounding changes over the last year and more recently with the improved reporting facilities of up/down trading clients. Our Accounts procedures are more effective than they ever have been and this was clearly demonstrated in October when we achieved 96% monies in. Chris, Deborah and Jayne - we would like to say a massive thank you for all of your efforts!

Events

Sales Director, Steve Hodson is an avid supporter of local events and this year sponsored a charity golf day at Willesley Park Golf Club in aid of prostate cancer, The Melbourne Festival and more recently, attended the Midland International Trade Expo (MITEC) held at Derby’s Ipro Stadium. If any of our clients would like to recommend any local charities, we would like to hear about them..

Feedback

We would love to hear about your experience with Advance Forwarding and/or Advance Packing. The feedback from our clients will prove invaluable for our developments and continued efforts to improve services throughout 2015. Each feedback form we receive will also count as an entry into our prize draw. Please email all of your comments to Jayne Allard -

Jayne.allard@advance
forwarding.com

Increased volumes

Advance Forwarding achieved 25% increase in turnover over the last financial year.

AFL Transport

Tim Hyde steps into the role as Transport manager. Tim’s doing a great job and Drivers are performing brilliantly, not to mention the fleet now operating to maximum capacity whilst continuing to maintain the high level of service our clients have come to expect. This is likely to develop even further next year with talks of increasing our fleet numbers.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our loyal clients for the support they’ve shown us over the course of 2014 and to our dedicated team of staff handling day-to-day operations. Have a very merry Christmas and a super New Year!!