PICTURE : TOM BANKS
BY DAVE ROBSON
WAREHOUSE ROYALTY
VIP stops off at Stiller as part of 80-destination road trip
UK Warehousing Association CEO Clare Bottle with Stiller managing director Matthew Stiller , warehouse manager Gary Auston ( right ) and Sean Soulsby , CEO of Stiller ’ s adopted charity The Children ’ s Foundation .
The boss of Britain ’ s leading trade body for the warehousing industry motored along to Stiller ’ s Aycliffe site as part of a series of celebratory car trips .
To mark the 80th birthday of the UK Warehousing Association ( UKWA ) – as well as 2024 ’ s “ Year of Warehousing ” campaign – UKWA CEO Clare Bottle is driving around the UK in her branded Tesla to visit 80 warehouses .
Stiller was number 16 on her itinerary , which began in Wellingborough in January and is due to take her through until mid- October .
On arrival at Aycliffe , she was given a warm North-East welcome , plus a tour of the vast site , by Stiller MD Matthew Stiller , warehouse manager Gary Auston , business development manager Thomas Prentice and the CEO of Stiller ’ s adopted charity The Children ’ s Foundation , Sean Soulsby .
During her two-hour stay , Clare was shown around the extensive , 350,000-sq ft Stiller complex , including the new dedicated facility for its contract packaging and assembly service .
Clare told Aycliffe Business that her quest to visit 80 warehouses is going well so far .
She said : “ I ’ m loving it – I want to showcase to local areas that a warehouse in your community can be a real force for good .
“ People sometimes imagine that a warehouse is a bad thing – I don ’ t know why , probably because they don ’ t know much about it . “ If you ’ ve never been inside , you might think it ’ s not relevant or a good thing , but a warehouse can have fabulous charitable-type links , as well as create great job opportunities and career prospects for people in the community .”
Clare said it was her first time visiting Stiller , which was founded in 1954 and last year posted an impressive £ 21m turnover , employing more than 200 people at its Aycliffe base .
As well as celebrating 80 years of the UKWA , Clare said her mission to visit 80 warehouses was about raising the profile of the industry – and getting the movers and shakers to take notice of a sector that ’ s vital to the UK economy .
She explained : “ Consumers and businesses need the activities that go on inside warehouses , so we ’ re doing a bit of showcasing what we do for local communities and , in parallel , trying to capitalise on the fact it ’ s an election year and talk to politicians , policymakers and parliamentarians about why warehousing is such a good thing for the economy .
“ Because of our connection to logistics and freight transport , we ’ re often seen as a sector that needs to be regulated – a sort of necessary evil .
“ But we want to shift the rhetoric because if you look at any part of the economy , whether it ’ s healthcare , defence , retail or manufacturing , none of those things can function without the logistics to back them up .
“ It still never ceases to amaze me the range of different goods you see when you go to warehouses . Everything you can imagine goes through a warehouse at some point .
“ And we hear a lot from both big political parties about how they want to fuel more growth because our economy is stagnating . Well , one thing they could do to facilitate that growth is to unlock some of the things holding us back in warehousing – things like the planning system , which doesn ’ t work well for developing new warehouse buildings .”
During her Stiller tour , Clare was shown the new contract packaging base , 1.1km away from head office and , according to business development manager Thomas , “ another important string to our bow ”.
And she was particularly struck with the work of The Children ’ s Foundation , which uses Stiller ’ s fulfilment centre as a base to store , pack and distribute its boxes for new parents – boxes full of childcare essentials , along with developmentally stimulating books and toys .
Matthew Stiller , who was presented with a certificate to mark Clare ’ s visit , said : “ It ’ s lovely to have a direct link to the head of your trade association .
“ I ’ m pleased at UKWA ’ s renewed focus on training and career development within the sector .”
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 15