Model railway company on track to improve customer service
The largest independent model railway retailer in the UK has linked up with a distribution expert to grow their business, thanks to Liverpool Vision, the city’s economic development company.
The developing relationship between Wavertree-based Hatton’s Model Railways Ltd and Chums, the home shopping company in Knowsley, has seen Hatton’s newly-appointed warehouse manager, Lesley McGhee become a ‘work experience’ employee at Chums to learn the tricks of the distribution and order fulfilment trade.
The link up came when Phil Linley, Liverpool Vision’s East Area Manager, was advising Hatton’s on how they could grow their business further and organised the placement at Chums.
The two companies are among the leaders in their sectors. Hatton’s, a family run company established in 1946, headed by Christine Hatton, is the largest independent UK model railway retailer with a turnover of £11m and employing 42 full time staff.
The growth of the company has meant that the original shop could no longer cope with the stock and dispatch of orders and they recently moved this service to a 12,000ft warehouse employing 13 full time staff, dispatching over 2,000 orders every week.
Chums employs 150 people at their 60,000ft Knowsley site and process 900,000 orders each year. The company specialises in supplying goods to the older generation selling clothing to household textiles.
While at Chums, Lesley spent time in various areas of the warehouse working alongside the Head of Warehousing, the Goods In Team and the Stock Control Manager to study best practice.
Lesley said: “It was a great experience and I would recommend this kind of knowledge sharing to others. You can get blinkered by your own operations and to see how other companies operate gives inspiration for improvements with your own processes.
“I oversee our new streamlined packing process which now gives us the capacity to dispatch up to 5,000 orders every week. It’s a slick operation and the insight given to me by Chums will prove invaluable and help us grow the business further.
Lesley Davies Chum’s HR Manager added: “When Phil approached us we could see the benefit for both companies and it has been a fruitful co-operation. We are going to build on our new relationship and continue to exchange ideas for change and improvement.”
Phil Linley, who has provided business support to Hatton’s for over four years, said: “Times are harder and the public sector is facing the biggest budget cuts ever, which means we, at Liverpool Vision, have to be as creative as we can in helping organisations to survive and prosper.
“I saw an opportunity here that would benefit both companies by making the right introductions to start a relationship that will flourish, bear fruit and bring growth and new expertise to both sides.”
[Phil Linley and Model Railway team]
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