Supporting Your Tile Needs Through Brexit and Beyond

A significant amount of resource and planning has taken place in the last 2-3 years to ensure we are well placed to support our customers with the timely supply of their product needs through the Brexit transitional and final period.

As part of one of the largest tile purchasers in the world, we spend over £90m on goods and over 70% of this relates to a core of less than 30 manufacturers. These are companies we have worked with for many years, most are leaders in the tile industry, who not only provide quality products but also have the systems and production/supply chain capabilities to support our needs. We also work extensively with leading freight providers and have invested in systems and processes to ensure we know where our goods are at any time during transit. We are well advanced in completing all documentation and necessary certifications for the transition.

We hold over £20m of stock, at cost of goods, mostly in two large warehouse sites in Leicester. This is managed by the intercompany Microsoft Dynamics system and ensures stock is attached to relevant orders in the supply chain ordering system and replenishment orders ensure back up is ordered as required.

Brexit planning has brought a focus to the company with regard to its EU supply chain and how to leverage the scale and specialism to further drive competitive advantage. We are convinced our position means we will have a significant advantage over most companies with our scale, flexibility, specialist knowledge and advanced systems.

We have implemented the following additional steps to ensure the risks are being managed through the supply chain:

•    Extra warehouse site with +50% increase in stock planned throughout early 2021 and beyond if required.

•    With potential issues at ports, a flexible supply chain, using numerous routes into the UK and several ports of entry has been created, enabling stock to be diverted from any problematic routes.

•    Global supply options mean that for any disrupted EU supply the potential exists to resource products from alternative factories in the wider supplier framework.

•    Further systems improvements through Q1 2021 will enable even greater visibility down the supply chain for forecasting.

•    Agreements have been reached with freight suppliers ensuring we’re in an advantaged position to meet our clients’ needs.

An internal team across departments including supply chain, IT, finance, logistics and transport has been in place for over 2 years ensuring that, as new guidance is issued and process and registration requirements change, we will be ahead of these needs.

If you have any specific product forecast questions, please talk to your Parkside sales contact.