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Truck and Track Winter 2018 48
PALLET NETWORKS
Logistics business Pallet-Track has been
officially named as one of the UK’s fastest
growing companies in the Sunday Times
Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 listing.
This is the second year in a row the
Wolverhampton business – ranked 31 – has
secured a place in the listing that is supported
by Sir Richard Branson and will involve a
presentation at his Oxfordshire home in May
next year.
Last year, the company also made the grade,
as well as scooping a series of awards and accolades in the past 12
months.
In September Pallet-Track scooped the Growth Award at the 2018
Logistics Awards, organised by SHD Logistics at Shakespeare’s
Globe Theatre in London.
In May, the company was once again identified as one of the
London Stock Exchange’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Europe,’ and
became one of only six companies nationally recognised as such for
two consecutive years.
Back in June and on home turf, Pallet-Track secured the
Wolverhampton Express & Star Business of the Year Award.
Nigel Parkes, founder and managing director, said: “I’m extremely
proud of what we have collectively achieved during 2018, which
has been a year of awards and accolades for Pallet-Track. The
recognition we have received reflects the hard work of the team
and the network which I am delighted to say will continue to grow
into 2019 and beyond with even more new members coming on
board.”
In the last 14 years, the £83 million turnover business, which
comprises 86 member companies, has handled in excess of 22
million pallets and has never lost a single consignment at its
267,000 sq ft Wolverhampton hub or at its two newer hubs near
Wigan, Greater Manchester, andWelwyn Garden City, servicing the
capital.
Nigel Parkes
Fast Track Pallet-Track
Logistics company named as one of Sunday
Times’ 100 fastest growing companies in UK
The Fortec Distribution Network has joined forces with WCG
to help deliver a new initiative to give students an insight into
logistics and the good careers available within the sector.
Key members of its management team delivered their first training
session to two groups of students at the Rugby campus of WCG as
part of their courses in Business and in IT.
One of the speakers was Stuart White, Fortec’s General Manager
Operations, who started in logistics as a warehouse operative
before swiftly moving up the management ladder at a leading
logistics provider then moving to Fortec.
He was joined by Dave Cotton, Fortec’s General Manager Network
Support, who outlined his career and the attractions of the sector,
and Marketing apprentice Harry Laverick.
Also there was Karen Shuter, the joint Managing Director of one
of Fortec’s most recent members, Rugby-based Exact Logistics,
and her Traffic Administrator, Ran Scott, who joined straight from
school.
The initiative came into being after Karen raised concerns about
the shortage of training provision for the logistics industry in her
capacity as chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of
Commerce’s Rugby branch.
Funded by a Skills for Employment Grant, the initiative was backed
by WCG, Warwickshire County Council, the Chamber and Rugby
MP Mark Pawsey and headed by College tutor Deborah Powell, a
logistics specialist with 22 years of experience in the industry.
Afterwards, Stuart White of Fortec, said: “Logistics is an extremely
important industry which supports 23,700 jobs in Warwickshire
alone, but it is often overlooked by students when they are selecting
a career sector.
“It is important to bridge the skills gap and encourage more people
into the industry, so I was delighted to be able to address students
who might otherwise never have considered a career in logistics
and spark their interest in it.
“There is plenty scope for young people to build rewarding and
satisfying careers in the sector which offers many different
opportunities and paths – it is so diverse and also plays a vital part
in our daily lives.”
From January, the further and higher education groupwill also offer
a Logistics Advanced Learning Programme aimed at learners from
small and medium sized businesses.
Further queries about the courses on offer can be obtained by
emailing
Fortec Distribution joins forces withWCG
to introduce students to logistics
Business & IT students shown value of sector
From L-R Karen Shuter, joint Managing Director, Exact Logistics, Stuart White, Fortec’s General
Manager – Operations, Logistics Specialist Deborah Powell, Dave Cotton, Fortec’s General
Manager Network Support, Fortec Apprentice Harry Laverick.