Davis Turner
Davies Turner is one of the largest UK-based supply chain management, warehousing, and freight logistics solutions. With 21 Branches across the UK, including depots in Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and Heathrow, the company generates an annual turnover of around £160m.
Davies Turner’s growth to date has all been organic. Edward says that the secret of that success “has been the ability to re-invest back into the business. We are financially secure and own many of our buildings freehold. We are constantly innovating our wide range of products to our customers and our dedicated staff provide expert knowledge and professional customer service which in turn generates loyalty back from our customers.”
When Davies Turner first moved into the Dartford depot back in 1993, they inherited a fleet of diesel fork-lift trucks, but because of the level of pollution that the engines created, at the first opportunity the fork-lift trucks fleet was changed to LPG.
The challenge
Fast-forward 15 years and the warehouse FLTs, currently a new fleet of Jungheinrich trucks, still operate on LPG.
Edward finds LPG the most effective, clean solution for such a busy depot: “Some of our hubs use electric but Dartford needs LPG as we run at almost at 24/7 capacity. Electric charging just wouldn’t work as we wouldn’t get enough hours out of the batteries to keep the trucks moving, so that’s why LPG is ideal in Dartford.”
Davies Turner is firmly committed to honouring their environment policy and so reducing their carbon footprint, and 15 years on from the first change to LPG, they continue to take responsibility for protecting the environment.
Edward has been the Branch Director at the Dartford depot for three years and when the LPG contract with the old supplier came up for renewal, he and Branch Administrator Dawn Taylor decided it was time for a procurement exercise. Cutting costs was the prime reason to move – and AvantiGas and another supplier were brought in to pitch for the contract.
The results
“We made the decision to go with AvantiGas… The two suppliers in the mix offered very similar prices, but what swayed it for us was the level of customer service and attentiveness from Tony Edwards, our AvantiGas Area Sales Manager, and the install team we met from AvantiGas. They were very conscientious of our needs and offered more of a personal feel to the process, which was the big sway for us. The price we have been given has projected a 30% annual cost saving.”
The installation was two one-tonne skid unit vessels with a further two one-tonne storage vessels attached, which service a fleet of 14 fork-lift trucks, using around 35 tonnes of LPG annually. Edward was pleased with the work carried out: “The installation went very smoothly, no issues or disruption when the engineers came on site to carry out the technical work – it came across as an easy process.” As for ordering, “the process of phoning for a delivery has worked well and the physical delivery has been very good, no issues at all there.
“We’ve been very pleased with the whole package and from the experience received so far from AvantiGas, I would be happy to recommend them to other businesses and consumers. The attentive customer service and the smooth transition from our old supplier to AvantiGas has stood out for me.”