Select a news story from the following headlines:
The Big Lift at The Storage Place
Sendal UK launches
pioneering new Phthalate free Giving Set
into NHS hospitals
Collaboration is business model of the future
Stuck for Space?
Free-up workspace and let the specialists
take care of the warehousing
and storage
Just a Dotty Story
11th October 2010
Internet trading design company The Dotty House, recently set up in Felling by two friends, now sends their handmade and personalised gifts for children to addresses all over the UK and abroad, with a little help from The Storage Place.
Angela Cooper and graphic artist Sarah Marshall combined their creative talents to produce hand finished children’s personalised canvases destined for the bedroom walls of boys and girls all over the world.
"We can make the personalized canvases up in any language, including Greek and Welsh as they are very popular in Wales. Kids have more unusual names these days but as we hand write them, we can write absolutely anything" comments Angela.
Before starting The Dotty House Angela, from Low Fell, worked in IT for a large pharmaceutical company and Sarah, also from Low Fell, had her own business, a gift shop, called Mosaic, which is now owned by her mum. "We both have kids so it seemed to be a great way to work and be flexible for the children" says Angela.
The internet has had a revolutionising effect on the retail business, just as it has on everything else, including the warehousing sector. And here in the North East one company, The Storage Place, based in Felling South Tyneside, is at the heart of that revolution.
"Storage is at the core of all of our business," says, Martyn Pullan, General Manager of The Storage Place, "But we are about a lot more than just storage. We are probably best known for our heavy industrial storage, but nowadays we are just as likely to be selecting and despatching children’s toys or massage oils to fulfil internet generated orders as we are for storing power station spares.
"We often hold stock for customers and provide a pick and pack service for Lego kids watches, including the Star Wars range, and over the years have become experts on Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Another day we could be selecting and packing herbal compresses from Northern Thailand for our customer Shen Mantra or even bathroom fittings."
The Storage Place has one big advantage over their competitors, which The Dotty House takes full advantage of. "As one of the few bonded warehouse facilities in the north east, our customers can import containers of materials or even finished products from outside the EU, usually from China or the Far East, but delay the payment of Import Duty or VAT on the imported stock until they have actually sold the stock or withdrawn the goods from our storage. This deferred payment status will improve their cash-flow; lower operating costs, and improves their company's competitiveness. The Dotty House, for instance, imports the prepared wood for their frames from the Far East.
"Our clients' bring in a very wide range of goods from the canvases mentioned here to medical devices and industrial components." Concludes Martyn Pullan. "We then take care of everything else from delivering just-in time stock to local manufacturers to fulfilling internet purchases from round the world, saving our customers the cost of setting up and running their own warehouse. They have no staff costs, no need to buy or maintain their own equipment like specialist fork lift trucks. No Health and Safety legislation to deal with, and no insurance. It’s a win win situation."
The Big Lift at The Storage Place
2nd September 2010
What do you do with a large, very large, Test Rig after it has completed its initial trials and needs moving on? Well, you call up The Storage Place at Felling, Gateshead.
That was the dilemma of Aquamarine Power from Edinburgh who had a full scale Test Rig in operation at NaREC (the National Renewable Energy Centre) in Blyth, Northumberland.
Tests were completed successfully, and on time, but the unit was so large that a temporary home had to be found quickly so progress could be started on the installation of their new wave energy converter, called Oyster. Trouble was the Test Rig and its sundry items weighed 40 tonnes and was 10m in length, 2.5m wide and 3.7m high. Not something that you want to move around too often.
The problem was solved by Samantha Harper of storage brokers Variation Warehousing of Nottingham, who specialise in putting people who need space in touch with those people who have space. The ultimate collaborative business model.
"At Variation we don't just shift sheds, we find answers to logistics problems like stock builds, contingency, disaster recovery, marketing campaigns and product launches. In this case we not only needed a big space but heavy lifting gear as well." Commented Samantha Harper "Our links within the industry means we always have a fair idea of what space is available or who can help with a specific problem. In this case it was an easy decision to call The Storage Place."
"We were delighted to be able to help out on this occasion" said Martyn Pullan, General Manager of The Storage Place. "Not only have we been able to store the Test Rig and other large ancillary items at our secure site, we also assisted with the movement of the abnormal load from Blyth to our premises in Felling and had the necessary heavy lifting gear when the load got here. We continue to do business with Variation."
Not only does The Storage Place provide heavy storage and pallet warehousing, they also provide many local companies with temporary workspace - or space to complete specialist projects, such as testing and assembly - where their heavy 30-tonnes lifting gear and independent high voltage power supply - enables their customers to handle projects that they might otherwise have had to withdraw from.
"Storage may be our business" concludes Martyn Pullan "but we are about a lot more than just storage. Our customers outsource their problems to us. Whether that is for emergency situations like disaster recovery or property refurbishment, short-term workspace or, as in this case for Variation, for the movement and secure storage of heavy goods."
Treasure Trove for summer fun
22nd July 2010
Martyn Pullan has been providing a very special delivery service today and collecting a whole trove of treasure for the big Summer Fun Day event to be held next week for disabled children and young people and their families.
The Fun Day, organised by the Gateshead Inclusive Fun Group, a multi agency group, is now in its tenth year, and takes place at Gateshead International Stadium on Thursday 29th July. The Fun Day aims to bring a day of fun and respite to the thousands of young carers, those they are caring for, and all the members of their families. There will be games, a fun fair, go-karting, trampolining, sports, serious and otherwise, for the young people, and stalls providing information and guidance for the grown-ups.
"This Fun Day is only possible with the support and generosity of local people and businesses, like Martyn Pullan of The Storage Place" said Glenda Trewick of Gateshead Council who is one of the small group of agencies and companies known as Gateshead Inclusive Fun Group who organise the event. "In the past it has been so chaotic to collect all the equipment and gifts offered by local companies and finding places to store them till the big day. But The Storage Place in Felling is so close to Gateshead Stadium and Martyn has been so helpful. It has made things a whole lot easier I can tell you."
Martyn Pullan, General Manager of The Storage Place in Felling commented: "Glenda and her group do such a great job on the day for the disabled children it seemed the least we could do when we have such a huge safe and secure storage area close by. And I am also pleased to say that some of our customers have also been able to donate surplus stock to form part of a special stall at the event to raise funds for next year's event.
"We have been very pleased to be able to help. And just like Postman Pat" concluded Martyn "Its mission accomplished."
Sendal UK launches pioneering new Phthalate free Giving Set
into NHS hospitals
6th May 2010
Sendal UK, the disposable plastic medical devices company, based at The Storage Place, Gateshead, will introduce a revolutionary new Giving Set to the UK Health Service in May.
The delightfully named Giving Sets are used in every hospital in the country and is the name given to the plastic tubing which is connected up to bags of blood products, saline, antibiotics or other fluids to be infused into patients. Thousands of these sets are used every day.
"Our new Giving Set is, we believe, the first in the world to be mass produced from totally Phthalate free material," says Rob Bradshaw, Managing Director and joint owner of Sendal UK "and we think everyone working in hospitals will be excited by that because there are known potential risks involved in the use of phthalates."
Disposable Giving Sets have been around for some time and are widely used because they are an easier, safer and more convenient way of administering fluids to patients than any other method. The problem is that the majority of existing disposable Giving Sets are made from PVC, a rigid material, so a plasticiser such as DEHP, which contains Phthalate, is added to make the material flexible and useable.
The new Phthalate free Giving Set being sold from May was developed by the Sendal Group at their Research & Development centre near Barcelona in Spain and is manufactured, using a specially developed UK quality controlled production line, in China. This new product is only one of a whole range of hospital and needle-free disposables marketed by Sendal UK to the NHS Supply Chain network who deliver Sendal products from Exeter in Devon up to Tyneside, with some hospitals also buying direct.
"We have carefully listened
to the needs of hospital staff who use these products", continues Rob,
"and arranged that all
new Giving
Sets will be labelled with
clear operating instructions in plain English only. Staff do get irritated
when they have to plough through several postage stamp sized instructions
in several languages. We will also be making training available for
hospital staff
to make sure they are confident using all of our products."
Sendal UK operates from newly refurbished offices and a really streamlined,
super efficient warehouse operation based within The Storage Place in Felling.
Ron Bradshaw has spent a lifetime selling devices into the NHS, but in March 2006 decided it was time to start his own business and hooked up with The Sendal Group. "Until recently I never knew places like The Storage Place existed. We import a container of products about every two weeks and The Storage Place takes care of all routine operational matters. The flexibility of the arrangement I have with The Storage Place makes it easier for a new company like mine to enter existing markets. It leaves me free to concentrate on meeting customers. I am expecting sales for this new Phthalate Free Giving Set to be very buoyant this year and keep me very busy."
Collaboration is business model of the future
7th April 2010
Two North East businesses are reaping the benefits of working in a truly collaborative way to win new contracts.
Total Maintenance and Engineering Limited (TME) of Ryton-on-Tyne and The Storage Place in Felling, Gateshead are currently working on testing for a defence contract which will take about a further two months to complete. Previously, they have worked together on testing an oil and gas rig for Brazil related to cable laying, building training equipment and testing for an aircraft carrier, and even testing equipment for a confectionery manufacturer.
"We come to The Storage Place in Felling because it offers us more height than we have available at our normal works at Ryton and whilst we have 20-tonne lifting gear there, we can get access at Felling to 30-tonne lifting gear. That means that we can tender for the bigger contracts which we would not otherwise be able to handle," says Ron Stroud, Managing Director of TME.
"TME has been a customer of ours for around ten years" says Michael Meredith, Managing Director of The Storage Place. "We have a closer relationship with them than the usual customer/supplier, a much more collaborative working model which allows both companies to get the best out of our arrangement. It is a two-way benefit."
Ron picks up the story "When we are tendering for offshore work in the oil and gas and defence sectors, knowing the additional availability of work-space at The Storage Place gives us greater flexibility, we can organise timing to suit both companies and can work together on the tender in a more collaborative way than the normal business relationship. The big advantage is that we only pay for the extra space and facilities as we need them, we don’t have a big overhead to cover in between contracts.
"With the run-down of the shipbuilding sector in the north east, there are not many places that can now offer the kind of testing space available at The Storage Place" continues Ron "Without it, a customer would have to go to Hull or Portsmouth. It could mean that around £20million of work in the area would now be at risk."
As the economy comes
out of recession, the need for additional space to meet new orders
can be overwhelming; but financing that expansion
can be a problem. The Storage Place provides temporary workspace
– or space to complete specialist projects, such as testing and
assembly – and can handle heavy industrial goods up to 30-tonnes (with
access
to over 100 tonnes) backed up by an independent high voltage power
supply.
"In difficult times," concludes Michael Meredith, "when no one wants to make long-term commitments, outsourcing has always been an accepted solution, as has short term emergency situations like disaster recovery or property refurbishment. But our tough economic climate today means that we should all explore alternative business models. We think hiring specialist workspace as you need it makes a great deal of sense."
Stuck for Space?
Free-up workspace and let the specialists take care
of the warehousing
and storage
By Michael Meredith
15th March 2010
Business storage is about much more than simply finding somewhere to store those records and documents for seven years. Though that can be a big problem for solicitors and accountants.
Today, more and more manufacturers and service companies are looking at outsourcing to effectively manage their storage and warehousing requirements, on a long term basis or for those short term emergency situations like disaster recovery or property refurbishment.
Outsourced storage is growing by between 8% and 15% per year due to business customers looking to control their overheads. That is not surprising when you look at the advantages. There is really no limit to what can be securely stored in a well managed storage facility. From boxes or bags of small components, to chemicals and bulky consumer goods like bathroom and kitchen units to large plant and machinery. The Storage Place in Felling, for instance, offers a broad range of storage services to suit all businesses.
Manufacturers
A manufacturing company which outsources its storage requirements
can maximise its existing building and site space for its core
business. Such arrangements free up management time and reduce
fixed overheads, as only the space used at any given time is
paid for. The Storage Place can accommodate everything from buttons
to heavy industrial goods with a range of handling equipment
from
specialist narrow aisle Fork Lift Trucks and heavy duty Fork
Lift Trucks to 30 tonne cranage capacity.
Importers
For importers who bring in container loads of goods for onward
distribution, or manufacturers bringing in components from outside
the EU, using
a Bonded Warehouse facility has decided advantages. The payment
of duty and VAT on the stored goods can be deferred until they
are sold or leave the warehouse, offering huge cash flow benefits.
The Storage Place is one of the few independent warehouses in the north east with a bonded licence and a Container loading and unloading facility, with experts on hand to provide advice and guidance on HM Revenue & Customs regulations and documentation.
Online trading
A number of on-line trading customers not only use The Storage
Place for secure storage, but take advantage of the pick-and-pack
facility
to retrieve and despatch individual items on a daily basis.
Temporary
work space
In difficult times, when no one wants to make long term commitments,
outsourcing has always been an accepted solution. Currently,
as the economy comes out of recession, the need for additional
space
to meet new orders can be overwhelming; but financing that expansion
can be a problem. The Storage Place provides temporary workspace
– or space to complete specialist projects, such as testing and
assembly – and can handle heavy industrial goods up to 30-tonnes
(with access to over 100 tonnes) backed up by an independent
high voltage power supply.
If you need additional space, whatever the reason, short term or long term, talk to The Storage Place for an attractive low-cost, commitment-free solution.
Michael Meredith is Managing
Director of The Storage Place
Felling, Tyne and Wear 0191 438 1616
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