Crisis Logistics managing director Edward Grant-Salmon

KEEPING THE COUNTRY MOVING

Crisis Logistics has kept some of the globe’s best known brands on the road during the past 12 months and helped deliver PPE to support the UK’s fightback against coronavirus. Managing director EDWARD GRANT-SALMON reveals how the multi-million pound independent logistics firm also managed to expand its business in 2020 and talks about its growth plans for the future.

Last year brought many businesses to a standstill but not Northampton-based logistics specialists, Crisis Logistics.

Throughout three nationwide lockdowns the firm kept products belonging to some of the world’s biggest brands and organisations on the move, helped to deliver the UK’s stock of PPE, food and drink and supported some of our most vulnerable citizens through food drops.

For most businesses this would be more than enough to handle but at the height of the first national lockdown the firm also pressed ahead with its exciting plans to move from its old premises in Holcot and Wellingborough into a purpose-built 15,000 sq ft base in Hannington.

Managing director Edward Grant-Salmon said: “We’re very pleased that we pushed ahead with our decision to make the move last May. The move has been fantastic - particularly for our drivers who for the first time are based at the same premises as our office staff. Our drivers are on the road most of the time so the fact they now come back to a base where they can see other team members has been really good for morale –although obviously any social interaction is currently in line with Government guidelines.”

When the firm was looking for help to make its new base feel like home to its 350 drivers and around 50 office-based staff it immediately turned to fellow Chamber members for support.

T3 Signs produced Crisis Logistics’ new signage, Syncro Office Technology organised their printers and GPW Consulting looked after their health and safety needs.

Edward said: “We’re delighted to be Silver Chamber Business Partners and are always keen to support the local economy as around 85% of our business comes from Northamptonshire.

“Looking back on last year, working with fellow Chamber members was just one of the things of which we can be proud. We did a lot of work for the Government and indirectly for the NHS, which included delivering PPE to vaccine centres. It means a great deal to us to know that we supported our country’s infrastructure during these difficult times.

“During the pandemic we’ve loaned vehicles and drivers to Northamptonshire County Council and a number of local charities to help deliver supplies to those in need around our county. We’ve also donated food and toiletries to fellow Northamptonshire Chamber members, the Hope Centre, which supports homeless and disadvantaged adults. We were proud to help the charity provide food parcels to families in need all over Northamptonshire and to get them to where they needed to go.”

The future is also looking bright for the thriving firm which has seen its business grow dramatically during the last few years. Over the past six years, the company has grown significantly, with an underlying turnover of £16m, and it has plans in place to enable it to grow to well in excess of £20m.

Its continued success is driven by two things – firstly its ethos that ‘Customer and Cash is King’ and secondly its commitment to providing a high-quality service to its customer base of around 900 clients.

Transport planner Alex Malai

The high level of service it offers was recognised when it achieved the ISO9001 quality accreditation. “We’re very proud of our ISO9001 quality accreditation because we take quality very seriously,” said Edward. “The quality of the service we offer is down to our friendly and professional team – some of whom have been with us for 20 years. Everyone in our Operations Management Team, our Accounts Team and our drivers have all played a role in our success. There’s a real family

‘WE’RE PROUD TO atmosphere here and our team means everything to us.

BE THE LOGISTICS “We’re proud to be the logistics partner for PARTNER FOR SOME some of the world’s best-known organisations

OF THE WORLD’S and brands and to have the support of so many

BEST-KNOWN ORGANISATIONS’ local businesses. The reason we have such a thriving customer base is that everyone receives the same high quality of service from us –whether they use us once a year or 20 times a year. “In addition to our top-quality service we also have 350 vehicles, ranging from small vans to large articulated lorries. The combination of our high levels of customer service and high volume of vehicles means we stand apart from our competitors in the surrounding area. Our clients also appreciate that when they need us they can contact a team in the county, rather than a call centre somewhere else. They know where we are and we know our customers very well and what they require from us.” So, what is next for this exciting firm? Well, it has recently taken on three new, young staff members and not content with its success in the logistics market the firm has got its eye on other sectors that it is keen to make inroads into. Edward explained: “We have an incredibly strong sales pipeline for our logistics business and we’re also looking at other markets such as the storage market and the parcels market. We are actively looking to acquire a new warehouse with the capacity to store 15,000 pallets and the parcels market is another area which we could easily grow alongside our existing business.”

Visit: www.crisislogistics.co.uk Call: 01604 642127

FACTFILE: CRISIS LOGISTICS

COMPANY BACKGROUND: Crisis Logistics was founded in Northampton over 27 years ago by Glenn Simons and his father. In later years Glenn joined forces with Charles Grant-Salmon. Both men continue to be involved with the business, with Charles acting as the company’s chairman and mentor, but they took the decision to bring in a younger team to take the firm forward.

It is now headed up by Charles’ son Edward, who is managing director, operations directors Eamon J Fayed and Roman Stajila and sales director Zealia Gharu.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Crisis is an independent, same day logistics specialist. It offers cost effective, efficient freight and courier solutions and is located in the Golden Triangle of Logistics. Its friendly team understands how important every consignment is to its reputation and is committed to offering reliability and a high-quality service.

JOINING NORTHAMPTONSHIRE CHAMBER: “We joined around a year ago to raise our local profile. We’re impressed with the social media side of the Chamber. I’ve been in various meetings, where I haven’t met anyone or linked to them on social media, and yet they already know a lot about us from seeing us on the Chamber’s Linkedin accounts.

“Eighty-five per cent of our customer base is in Northampton, so we like to feel part of the community. When we moved sites, we made sure we gave as much business as we could to Chamber members.”