Pall-Ex is reaching great heights with Tile Mountain by transporting almost 35,000 pallets of tiles annually – the equivalent height of Mounts Everest, Kilimanjaro and McKinley combined.
The logistics giant is benefitting from the online retailer’s rapid growth, having seen its account grow year-on-year since taking on distribution in 2013.
Tile Mountain’s acquisition of key industry names, including Tons of Tiles and Capitol Tiles Group, has also led to additional volume for Pall-Ex and its nationwide network of SMEs.
The transportation of fragile goods increases the risk of damages, but the firms have worked closely to improve the packaging and movement of tiles to reduce these risks.
Bulky and off-centre goods are at greater risk of damage when transported by forklift truck, but a full evaluation of Tile Mountain’s freight transportation identified how smaller, centrally packaged pallets could reduce this while also improving trunk fill.
As a result of the freight evaluation, 98% of deliveries are completed successfully.
With more than 90% of deliveries for Tile Mountain being direct to the customer, the launch of Pall-Ex’s MyNexus software has been of major benefit to the retailer’s customer service team, helping to reduce customer calls due to providing full visibility on all consignments.
Jeremy Harris, managing director at Tile Mountain, comments:
“Tile Mountain chose the network based on price, service levels, reach and ability to do both B2B and B2C deliveries.
“As an online retailer, successful transportation of goods to the customer is a high priority for us, so the measures Pall-Ex has advised ensure we’re all working to actively reduce the risk of damages.
"The MyNexus software is bringing pallet distribution into the same realms and levels of visibility as parcel networks. At a time where customers expect to know where their order is, what time their order is being delivered and who will be delivering the goods, Pall-Ex is providing customers with far greater clarity."
“The software has allowed a greater automation of process, reducing the need for extensive phone calls with Pall-Ex to find out the whereabouts of pallets and their estimated delivery times.”
Kevin Buchanan, Group managing director at Pall-Ex, comments:
“It is testament to our service quality that such a potentially fragile product can be successfully transported via a network and that such a dynamic partnership has developed between the two companies.
“Like Pall-Ex, Tile Mountain are very focused on achieving good value for their customers and we have worked together to overcome various challenges which has ultimately strengthened our partnership with each other.
“We’re delighted to have reached this milestone and look forward to developing it further in the years to come.”
In 2017, Pall-Ex underlined its commitment to working with Tile Mountain by revealing joint livery.
Pall-Ex now handles around over six million pallets annually via its International network of hauliers.