It will be very interesting to see how widely used the HEFFroads concept (p1) is in its first few months of life. Not only could it be a major fillip to the West Midlands food and drink sector, the ability to share distribution and create joint logistics solutions has potential benefits for the entire supply chain.

For the producer, the possible efficiencies are obvious, whether it is your own vehicles being used or not. But the long-term gains may well come from the opportunity to team up with like-minded counterparts in the same area to target new customers with a fuller range of products.

For the marketing desks, it would undoubtedly be a bonus if smaller growers could develop an effective logistics service to take some of the pressure off hard-worked fleets of vehicles dragged to isolated parts of the country to pick up relatively small volumes of product.

And for the customer, particularly the customer keen on optimising its potential in the burgeoning locally-produced sector, the chance to work more directly with the grower to bring a wide range of lines to the back door in one easy load would solve any number of issues and reduce food miles.

Distribution is a major headache for the smaller producer. IT is another, so it might take time for this initiative to make serious headway. But with encouragement and direct involvement from within the industry, it might just work.

Tommy Leighton