A WREXHAM distribution firm is celebrating a major business boost after gaining top grades for a vital storage standard certification at its new £3m warehouse.
The team at McCarthy Distribution are delighted by news the company has been awarded AA status following a recent inspection for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standard for Storage and Distribution.
The 21 metre high centre, known as Elm Point, was officially opened in March this year by Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths.
For the Wrexham Industrial Estate-based business, it represents a dedicated drive by the entire 75-strong work force to ensure the top grade they held at their former site in Gresford for five years was maintained at their new state-of-the-art complex which has doubled the firm’s capacity.
Lee Travis, Quality Compliance Supervisor, was one of the main members of the team leading the bid to ensure the inspection was a success and said: “It’s a massive pat on the back for the whole team and we have all been so determined to ensure that Elm Point maintained the consistently high standard the company has been proud of for several years now.
“It was absolutely crucial for McCarthy Distribution that we made sure we got the AA grading. It’s a standard which our valued clients demand and it’s one which we care about upholding so all round, it’s been a real relief to get the news.
“It reinforces everything that the company stands for and builds customer confidence knowing that a key supplier of theirs is managing their products to a very high standard.”
The BRC introduced the Global Standard for Storage and Distribution in 2006 to work alongside global standards covering the production of food, packaging and consumer products.
Some of McCarthy Distribution’s clients are food manufacturers and store items at Elm Point such as raw ambient ingredients, which don’t need refrigeration, and food packaging. It is vital for the firm’s customers to be confident they are being stored correctly to ensure food safety.
The companies who entrust their products to McCarthy Distribution can be reassured that the firm has passed stringent annual checks where inspectors will look for firm evidence that the quality and safety of any product in their care is looked after to the highest standard during their storage and distribution.
Successful companies have to meet a 20-page, 162 point criteria to show they employ best practice and are committed to ongoing improvement.
Lee said: “The standards are extremely high and rightly so. We have to manage what we do here very effectively and consistently to avoid any problems when handling our clients’ products while they are being stored or distributed by us.
“To reiterate, it’s all about our customers’ confidence and them knowing that we, as a key supplier, are managing the products to a consistently high standard.”
Mike McCarthy, McCarthy Distribution Managing Director, said: “I am really proud of the effort and dedication from the whole team to ensure we retained our very high standards at our new site and impressed the inspectors to gain the AA status.
“A special mention must go to Lee Travis and Mike Scott who oversaw the whole process in partnership with Elm Point warehouse manager Jim Jones and this terrific news is testament to the hard work of the whole Elm Point team.
“Gaining AA status was crucial to the ongoing success of the business. It sends a clear message to our very valued clients that we take the responsibility of looking after their products during storage and distribution very seriously and this is the backbone of everything we do and take pride in at McCarthy Distribution.”
Elm Point is set on a four-and-a-half-acre plot just across the road from McCarthy Distribution’s existing offices on Wrexham Industrial Estate. It can house 11,000 pallet spaces to cater for dozens of daily shipments for companies throughout the UK and abroad. It is thought to be one of the tallest warehouses in North Wales.
The new building has 42,000 square feet of warehouse space, a further 6,500 square feet of modern office space and an additional 15,000 square foot canopy area outside where vehicles load and unload.
McCarthy Distribution, a haulage, storage and distribution firm, was set up in its current guise 25 years ago. It now has 75 people on the payroll and a 30-strong fleet of vehicles.
For more information go to www.mccarthy-group.co.uk
