In this article
ERIKS' Flagship Logistics Centre for the Future
Automatic Track and Trace Emails GO LIVE on March 4th!
1st March 2024
Following a period of successful testing and customer trials it has been announced that from Monday 4th March automated direct despatch track and trace emails will be switched on for all UK and Ireland customers. This new functionality is a great step forward for ERIKS as it enables us to further offer an Amazon-type seamless digital experience to our customers and for them to have full insight into the delivery schedule of their orders.
When goods are direct despatched from the ERIKS Fulfilment Centre the customer contact noted on the sales order will receive an email notification enabling them to track and trace their order by simply following the link. It’s important to note that email notifications will only be received by customer contacts if the goods are sent from or are directed through the Fulfilment Centre in Oldbury.
The email notification will contain the following information, firstly, the email subject will say: “ERIKS Despatch notification for your order no. 123” and this will pick up the customer’s order number from the Eos sales order number field. Secondly, the body copy in the email will include a HYPERLINK to transfer the customer contact directly to the carrier’s site. By following this link customers will be able to access the actual tracking status of their goods.
The email will also contain information from the Eos sales order, this includes:
- The Order Line Number
- The Supplied Quantity
- The Part Number Reference
- A short description of all the items contained within the delivery.
The container reference and the servicing branch address and phone number will also be included to ensure the customer has all the information they need without having to speak to or contact anyone – which is what customers (in reality all of us) expect these days.
One important point to note is that this new functionality has been designed so that service managers can ‘switch off’ customer contacts from receiving automatic email notifications, should they think it appropriate to do so. There is more information on the process for doing this on the Eos community.
Talking about the launch of automatic Track and Trace Sally Hill, Chief Operating Officer said, “We have anticipated this moment for some time, but we needed to get it right and therefore we have invested a lot of time and money in testing the system and running live trials with customers. During this process we have worked through the inevitable snags, and we now have full confidence that our customers will be delighted with the information they can easily get and it, once again, this positions ERIKS as being a digitally developed business in the eyes of our customers.”
If you would like to know more about this exciting investment, please contact your local ERIKS Service Centre today.
Making industry’s supply chain work better
17th August 2023
In a world where expectations regarding logistics have changed out of all proportion ERIKS’ Fulfillment Centre of Expertise (FCE) has the size and scale to deliver engineering components in line with heightened supply chain demands. This short video takes you behind the scenes at the FCE where ERIKS’ combination of deep product knowledge and robust sourcing solutions helps negate supply chain volatility and meets your order on time, every time.
The digital infrastructure at the FCE ensures your order is on its way quicker than ever before with 100% traceability, building end-to-end visibility so you can make informed decisions around your planning and your operational needs.
If you would like to know more about this exciting investment, please contact your local ERIKS Service Centre today.
How we built our multi-million-pound investment...
A revolution in industrial fulfilment and service
10th October 2022
All the technology and latest generation equipment assembled to deliver the accuracy and efficiency for an overall service that will be unrivalled in our industry has been compressed into a 2-minute video. The FCE Houses 21 high-tech vertical lifts and has a capacity to hold 11,200 Euro Pallets so we now have the space to stock the products that you need. It also allows us to pick, pack and dispatch these parts with as close to 100% accuracy as technology will allow. Add to that direct dispatch for stocked items and a growing number of supply partner ranges and you get what you need in the quickest possible time.
If you would like to know more about this exciting investment, please contact your local ERIKS Service Centre today.
ERIKS Flagship Order Fulfilment Centre for the Future
Just what the customer ordered
6th September 2022
The customer is always right. Especially when they’re placing an order for products. Now our new state-of-the-art fulfilment centre makes sure that ERIKS will always get it right too.
ERIKS didn’t get to be one of the world’s largest specialist industrial products providers without matching the levels of service of similar businesses. But that’s not good enough. Not good enough for ERIKS, and not good enough for ERIKS’ customers either. ERIKS’ aim is to be the best, by providing customers not only with better products at competitive prices, but supplying them more efficiently, with more accuracy, and more quickly.
If a customer receives the wrong product or the wrong quantity, then it’s only fair that the supplier gets the blame. That doesn’t make it right, but investing around £20,000,000 in a new fulfilment centre can help.
Replacing ERIKS’ previous facility in Halesowen, the new Fulfilment Centre of Expertise (FCE) in Oldbury, West Midlands is now open and operational. And it is a giant leap towards achieving ERIKS’ five key goals of customer satisfaction.
The first goal is to stock exactly the products and parts that customers need, and to stock more of them to ensure greater availability. With 53% more warehouse capacity than the old site, and 22% more racking space for pallet-mounted parts, the FCE achieves that goal from day one.
The second goal is to pick, pack and despatch orders with 100% accuracy. As an Industry 4.0 enabled warehouse, the ERIKS FCE has the technology in place to make that happen. At each stage through the FCE goods are checked using weight, size and bar codes to make sure the right products are delivered, not just for 99% of orders, but every single one.
Goal three is to deliver anywhere in the UK and Ireland in the shortest possible time, and goal four is to offer much improved traceability of every order. Again, the technology for both these goals is already in place and in the process of being implemented and optimised.
And ERIKS’ fifth goal is to support customers’ future growth and digital transformation. With ample warehouse capacity now constructed to meet future needs, and scalable Industry 4.0 technology up and running, everything is ready to do just that.
In fact, the infrastructure now in place at the ERIKS FCE is capable close to achieving all five goals outlined above, but also, in the months to come, of delivering additional advances, greater progress and even more extensive speed and accuracy than many customers would imagine possible.
So enjoy the accuracy and efficiency of the newly-opened FCE, with every order you place. And meanwhile, watch this space. This 11,000m2, Industry 4.0-enabled, extensively automated warehouse space, that’s transforming the fulfilment of your orders now and for the future.
A revolution in industrial fulfilment and service
6th April 2021
On a business park in Oldbury, right in the heart of England, there’s a quiet revolution going on – a revolution that is changing the world of industrial fulfilment.
Oldbury, once at the centre of the industrial revolution that transformed the world, is now home to our major new industrial fulfilment hub, from where we plan to revolutionise the way in which we support our customers throughout the UK and Ireland.
In today’s fast-moving industrial world our customers face more challenges than ever before: global market disruption, commoditisation, competition from new technologies, trade tariffs and skills shortages are all combining to create a perfect storm. Survival and future growth depend on the speed, agility and effectiveness with which companies respond to these constantly shifting pressures. In turn, this depends on the resilience and flexibility of their supply chains.
That’s why we’re developing a new fulfilment centre of expertise. This will form our UK headquarters and hub for our interconnected network of service centres at strategic locations around the country.
So, what will make our new Oldbury fulfilment centre so special?
Our goal is to create an industrial fulfilment centre that sets new standards for our sector. We want to be able to achieve levels of accuracy, speed and service that have never previously been achieved – either by ERIKS or any other industrial distributor.
To that end, we’ve a multi-million pound investment programme, which covers both the new fulfilment centre and headquarters in Oldbury, plus some of our regional engineering facilities.
At Oldbury we will have:
- Over 11,000 square metres of warehouse space
- 21 vertical lifts
- More than 400m of high-speed conveyors
- One of the most advanced warehouse management systems anywhere in the UK
- Sophisticated scanning and weighing systems for every order
- Robust I4.0 configured IT infrastructure with real-time monitoring
This investment is critical to ensure we:
- Stock exactly the products and parts that your customer needs
- Pick, pack and despatch orders with 100% accuracy
- Deliver anywhere in the UK and Ireland in the shortest possible time
- Provide full end-to-end traceability
- Support your future growth.
If you would like to know more about this exciting invest, please contact your local ERIKS Service Centre today.
Here's our infographic in PDF.
Our Next Step To Delivering Better Customer Service
17th March 2021
This summer, we'll be celebrating the opening of our industry-leading fulfilment centre of expertise in Oldbury, in the West Midlands. This 11,000m² site, with extensive warehouse facilities, loading bays and office space, is to become our new UK headquarters and will be one of the most advanced logistics and fulfilment centres anywhere in Europe.
Our goal is to build a facility that acts as the launchpad for the next stage in the development of ERIKS UK & Ireland, while enabling us to deliver ever higher standards of customer service. These will include faster speed of ordering and delivery, greater breadth and depth of product availability, intelligent stockholding based on exact customer needs with end-to-end traceability.
We’ll be keeping you up to date with the latest developments at Oldbury, as the build and fit-out continues. If you’d like to learn more about this multi-million pound investment, and how it will help your business even further, then please get in touch with your local ERIKS Service Centre or take a look at the latest video showing the progress of work to date.
The Lifts Are Alive
11th March 2021
We are extremely pleased to share with the you the latest progress at our Fulfilment Centre of Excellence.
We are proud to hit our first major milestone on our journey following the installation and commissioning of the first 15 fully operational Lean Lifts on the premises.
Check out the video to see this exciting progress first hand and don't forget to check back for further developments in the very near future.
ERIKS Fulfilment Centre of Expertise
18th December 2020
As Europe’s leading specialised industrial services provider, we’re always looking to the future, to create ever more value and choice for all our customers, large and small.
We are delighted to announce a multi-million-pound investment programme in an exciting new fulfilment centre and head office in Oldbury, in the West Midlands. This will dramatically increase our capability and capacity to fulfil far more deliveries than ever before, with accuracy, speed, and efficiency for all ERIKS customers.
The new site is located right between two major motorway junctions on the M5, providing excellent transport links, and covers over 11,000m², with extensive warehouse facilities, loading bays and office space. The new building has already been constructed and we are now in the process of fitting out, in readiness for its opening in summer of 2021.
Once complete, the new fulfilment centre will be the most advanced of its kind in our industry, with a combination of advanced storage solutions working with the latest warehouse management technology controlling automated vertical picking systems, rapid transit conveyors and integrated vision and weighing equipment. Our goal is to deliver 100% pick accuracy, with full traceability, to ensure every customer order, no matter how complex, is fulfilled precisely and on its way in the shortest possible time.
The new computerised system will also enable us to offer our customers far greater visibility of orders, from sale through to delivery, while creating a dynamic new digital platform on which we can develop exciting new customer service options for the future.
Our CEO for the UK and Ireland, David Gillies, explains, “This is an exciting development for our customers, and a huge endorsement by our parent company in both our team and the ongoing success of our business. We recently celebrated our 80th year as a major industrial services provider and are excited to be embarking on the next phase of our development. The new fulfilment centre will become our primary hub and headquarters in the UK & Ireland, enabling ERIKS to set the standard in quality, accuracy and value of service provided to all our customers.”
