Swift Couriers - Case Study
Case Study
Forging successful partnerships
Dave Simpson, sales director of Swift Couriers, which provides a comprehensive, same day, high quality service throughout the M4 corridor.
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In just twelve years Swift Couriers has established itself as one of the leading same day courier services in South East England. With a current staff of 100, the company has expanded from its original Newbury base with satellite depots in Swindon, Reading, Oxford and Heathrow Airport, providing a comprehensive, same day UK, high quality service throughout the M4 corridor.
Swift Couriers has a simple vision of being the customers' 'first choice' courier service where a partnership philosophy of 'trust, honesty and integrity' is actively promoted. The company's approach to innovation, flexibility and dealing with change puts it in a position to 'meet and exceed customers' requirements' for on time delivery of same-day, next-day and international deliveries and with 80 vehicles ranging from 7.5 tonnes to motorbikes it can provide its clients with tailor made services.
Driven forward by managing director Steve Huntley, Swift Couriers has assembled a strong management team and built up an empowerment culture where people at all levels of the business feel as though they can really make a difference. A partnership approach with customers, using the principles of total quality management helps Swift align its objectives with them to meet their ever-changing requirements.
One of Swift Couriers' 79 vehicles being loaded at the company's Newbury base. |
Finding good partners
Having tried traditional methods to identify 'good partners', Dave Simpson, Sales Director, came across the Courier Exchange on the Internet and has, for the past two years, used it to great effect to improve utilisation of his fleet, extend the reach of his business and build successful relationships with quality couriers in other parts of the country.
"We analyse the jobs available on Courier Exchange looking for best fit. We never compromise quality for the sake of quantity," says Dave. 'We have developed clear guidelines to make the most of the services offered."
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"We analyse the jobs available on Courier Exchange looking for best fit" |
Dave believes that Courier Exchange has brought his business major advantage in terms of:
- Significant cost efficiencies and increased profitability per journey.
- Gaining two significant long-term contracts through using 'hotshot' element of the site
- Creating an added value national service for a number of Blue Chip companies through using other members of the Courier Exchange
- Operational efficiency by putting jobs on the exchange that do not fit Swift's profile and to avoid customer disappointment.
- Backload efficiency has been improved by posting jobs from locations you know in advance you will be returning from within the next few days. This pro-active approach to optimizing return journey capacity using the Courier Exchange has also led to Swift getting to know other couriers in other parts of the country.
- Credit control for backloads too has improved using Courier Exchange's
credit control facility and posting regular runs on the exchange.
Being part of a large 'virtual' network
The most significant advance for Swift has been that the Courier Exchange has helped the business drive forward its partnering approach with both customers and other couriers, to deliver added value services. "It is important that we have total control of all elements in the collection and delivery process. The combination of our own IT-driven systems with Courier Exchange gives us a 'total quality' information tracking system. Courier Exchange is a natural extension of our relationships with our customers," says Dave.
Swift uses the Courier Exchange 'star' accreditation system to identify high quality operators to ensure compliance to pre-determined criteria and key performance. In an 18- month period Swift has achieved a 99.35% success rate in terms of nationwide collection times within a 45 minute timescale, achievement of national delivery deadlines and meeting all the MOD's stringent security requirements every time.
Having built up good working relationships with other couriers through the Courier Exchange, Dave Simpson sees the move to 'pick and pack', total procurement services and the ability to offer customers regional distribution services being the next logical step for the business.
Involving staff
Lyall Cresswell, managing director of Courier Exchange, left, pictured with Dave Simpson, sales director of Swift Couriers. |
He is getting key operational staff to 'buy in' to the benefits of using Courier Exchange to make their jobs easier. He showed that three jobs off the Courier Exchange earned Swift better overall margin than 50 other jobs across the businesses that day. "We can now think about the work available in a much more pro-active way and develop reward and recognition programmes which benefit everyone."
Community & Information
As a larger operator Dave Simpson monitors the 'chat pages' and is happy to pass on information about operational, employment law and other key issues to smaller operators.
So from disillusionment with paying fees to be a member of associations where the 'people were just n