Strengthens senior leadership to build business growth

Culina Logistics has promoted Nick Thompson to the role of director with responsibility for chilled operations. Nick joined the company in July 2011 and served as  chilled operations manager until the new appointment. Prior to joining Culina Logistics he was most recently with one of the UK’s major food service suppliers where he was responsible for running regional and national distribution centres. He will be based at Culina Logistics’ head office in Market Drayton and report to chief executive officer, Thomas van Mourik.

“We have a great team and an excellent track record for delivering innovative added-value for our customers,” says Nick Thompson. “Since joining the business and discussing our operations with stakeholders I’ve recognised that there is scope to add even more value and raise the service bar higher in the food & drink sector.”

A key aspect of the role will be to develop the Culina Logistics offering for chilled operations and share best practice with the company’s rapidly growing ambient service, which will include identifying synergies and opportunities for greater efficiencies. As part of this process Nick has been meeting with client managers at customer sites to discuss the services available to them and looking at how continuous improvement can add value across the chilled operation.

As an example, one of the company’s clients was already achieving a highly creditable on-time delivery success rate of better than 95 per cent but wanted to do more. Working with the client Culina Logistics introduced a series of incremental improvements that have led to on-time delivery rates consistently reaching 99+ per cent. This success has enabled the client to offer an enhanced level of service into the market place and create new customer-facing messages about the significant improvements it had made.

“We want to think more strategically about how to get the most out of all parts of the business,” says Nick Thompson. “The delivery rates improvement we introduced with this client illustrate what can be achieved by working even closer with the customer.”

The new appointment is the latest stage in company’s plan to double the size of the business within the next five years.