Partner Article

New bread contract secures jobs at Scunthorpe depot

A depot in Scunthorpe has won the contract to provide warehousing and distribution services to leading bread brand Roberts Bakery.

Run by logistics giants Bibby Distribution, the depot on Foxhills Industrial Estate has already taken on 10 new employees to service an initial 12 month trial with the family bread company.

Confirmation of a longer-term partnership is good news for the workforce.

Additional pickers (product sort to order), warehouse supervisors and drivers have helped manage warehousing and customer delivery requirements in and around South Yorkshire for the Cheshire-based bread company.

Ian Firth, Divisional Development Manager, Bibby Distribution, says: “By leveraging the scope and capacity of our considerable national network, we’re able to help support Roberts Bakery in its ambitious growth plans and create new employment opportunities in Scunthorpe.”

Fresh daily baked goods - some 25,000 a week – already come into the site from Roberts Bakery plants in Northwich, Cheshire and Ilkeston in Derbyshire and are then picked, packed and distributed to 160 supermarket and convenience store customers in Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster.

The contract extension will look to grow on that solid foundation utilising Bibby Distribution’s extensive national depot network and food and drink logistics experience.

The Scunthorpe site already works with a number of leading names in the food and drink industry including Kellogg’s and First Milk and has a proven track record.

Frank Roberts and Sons Ltd Logistics Director, Mark Owen said that the Scunthorpe depot had impressed during the trial and had been appointed as a key partner in realising growth targets efficiently.

“By working with experienced logistics partners we can focus on our core strengths, which are baking high quality bakery products and making deliveries from our main site in Northwich. The model is also scalable which could help provide national distribution capability in the future.”

He continued: “As far as food miles efficiency is concerned the partnership is already proving its worth. We have already saved over 700km a day by using their Scunthorpe base to reach our customers.”

Bibby Distribution use a range of articulated trucks and trailers for the contract, plus a number of 7.5-tonne rigid vehicles.

Mike Roberts, Deputy Chairman of Frank Roberts and Sons Ltd said: “We approached Bibby Distribution because as well as having a national supply chain capability, like us, they are a long-established independently-owned business that retain family values of service and quality at their core. The team at the Scunthorpe depot have done an excellent job so far and we looking forward to working with them in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Welton .