Member Article

Europa Builds Strong Bonds with Bianchi

Leading independent logistics operator Europa Worldwide Group recently invited the Operations team from Bianchi Como in Italy to its Dartford headquarters to strengthen bonds with its partner during a team-building weekend.

Europa Worldwide Group is a privately-owned operator which delivers air, sea, road and warehousing services, employing around 650 people across 11 sites in the UK plus Hong Kong and is represented in 100 countries.

Europa Road simplified its operating model in Italy in June to improve transit times, drive down costs and provide an even better track and trace function to customers. Previously, Europa Road had five Italian partners including Bianchi, with whom it routed all its export traffic for the whole of Italy. As of June, the business decided to work solely with Bianchi, a choice which reflects a core value of Europa - to ‘drive out complexity.’

Following this new, stronger partnership, the Road team at Europa decided to invite its Italian colleagues to its Dartford headquarters for a personal tour.

Operations Director at Europa Dan Cook said: “We think meeting our partners face to face and getting to know them properly is a really important investment of time in the busy world we live in – particularly when we’re always emailing and phoning them every day! It was really good for our team to put faces to names and to shake hands.

“We arranged for the Bianchi team to spend a whole weekend with us. They sent eight of their Operations team, which we paired with seven of our Operations team. The group toured 1hub and got the chance to look at our operating systems. Once the formal tour was complete, we showed the Italian team the sights of London.”

The day started with a tube journey to Westminster, followed by a trip on the London Eye in a VIP pod and a cruise along the Thames. The group had a dinner in Covent Garden in the evening and both teams really let their hair down and got to know each other well.

The Bianchi group flew back to Italy on the Sunday after an action packed and wholly enjoyable weekend.

General manager in Operations at Dartford Ken Archer organized the trip. He said: “The day was busy and full on but our Bianchi visitors thoroughly enjoyed it and really felt they had been looked after well. There’s no doubt that bringing the staff together has improved and strengthened our relationship with Bianchi and this will certainly help in the day-to-day discussions we have with them.”

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