Do new distribution depots automatically mean there will benew jobs the minute it opens? It would be nice to think so, but some businesses choose to develop existing skills and staff rather than recruit new logistics and supply chain professionals to the team.
For example, a brand new fresh and frozen food depot currently being built for STEF-TFE will be staffed by existing members of the workforce to start with. They will transfer in from two existing sites over Christmas, to be ready once the new depot opens for deliveries in January 2012.
Located at Fauverney, between Dijon and Genlis, the new site has been chosen for its reach into Switzerland, Germany and Italy, using the A39 and A41 motorways. The two existing sites may recruit to plug any major gaps, but will continue to ship between 200 and 500 tonnes of food a day, holding a stock of around 300 tonnes.
From Fauverney, traffic managers will continue operating the delivered wholesale outbound food shipments that go down to the Mediterranean coast and cover eastern France. The difference will be a ‘cabotage’ operation, with returning trucks collecting goods for onward despatch the length and breadth of France.
STEF-TFE eastern region director Jean-Marc Platéro told journalists that the firm also has regular orders for routine deliveries to
Spain, Italy, Benelux, Germany and Switzerland. But, he adds, there will be supply chain & logistics recruitment opportunities once the new depot builds momentum: the business plan is to use the location to develop additional volumes of new cross-border business, as existing management teams adapt to the new site.
The existing sites have been established for more than 40 years: Fauverney will meet the expectations of existing clients, who will also keep existing contacts at STEF-TFE. And if the investment in bricks and mortar comes to 10 million euros, the real investment is in the 120 staff at the current sites at Chenôve and Saint-Apollinaire, who are worth rather more than
that to the future of the business.
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