A booming organic herb supplier has moved to new premises to maximise efficiency and keep pace with 30 per cent year-on-year growth.
Having outgrown its facilities at Hawkfield Business Park in Bristol the producer moved into a new warehouse in the city’s Quadrant industrial Estate in May 2016, boosting its warehouse space from 9,000 sq ft to 19,000 sq ft and increasing the number of pallet spaces from 650 to 1,400.
Pukka Herbs’ ranges of teas and wellbeing products have enjoyed sales growth of up to 30 per cent year-on-year for the last ten years.
“We were stuffed to the gills and needed to find somewhere bigger,” said David Anderson, the firm’s head of projects and IT. To make operations more complicated, the company’s previous space was split across two warehouses, with a third party facility 15 miles away.
In March 2014 Pukka Herbs conducted a review to examine its processes and ensure it keeps in line with best practice moving forward. And with the help of consultancy firm Go Supply Chain Consulting, it determined its warehousing requirements for the next 5 to 8 years.
The herb producer is now confident it has a warehouse that can maximise the efficiency – without the need to hire more staff. “Thanks to the improved productivity and efficient layout of the new warehouse, we are in a position now where we can maintain our headcount without the need to bring in temps for long periods,” said Anderson.
Pukka Herbs supplies a range of ethically sourced, organic herbal products to customers for sale in the UK and internationally. Its clients include supermarkets, wholesalers and specialist shops as well as online and mail order customers.