Bringing Aycliffe Business Park Together | 9
of the set up work which has been carried
out by our team under the leadership of our
General Manager, Brian Simpson.
“We’re now looking forward to operating
alongside Coveris Rigid and helping them to
continually improve the logistics solutions
over the next five years and beyond.
”
Coveris Rigid, part of the worldwide
Coveris group which is owned by Sun
Capital, acquired the Drum Park site last
November and has been working with Stiller
to get the site geared up for storage and
distribution.
It has now been fitted out with racking.
Half of the unit will be used for warehousing
which will be managed and operated by
Stiller, and the other half will be utilised by
Coveris’ manufacturing operations from April.
The company will then be producing
food-packaging products and Stiller will be
distributing them from its Chester-le-Street
location.
Coveris Rigid Operations Manager Ian
Donal said: “We have a very defragmented
logistics set-up, with sites split between
Scotland, Cramlington and Newton Aycliffe,
and for the first time we’ll be able to have
everything on one site, so we’ll save a lot of
money on logistics.
“More importantly it will mean we’ll be
able to be more efficient in the way we
service our customers, so it’s good news for
them as well.
“Out of all the tenders we received for
this project, Stiller’s was by far the most
attractive offer to go forward with.
”
Stiller has revealed it is now recruiting
drivers from Romania to cope with growth
and a shortage of UK drivers, due mainly to
Driver CPC Training.
Paul added: “We’re now recruiting at all
levels, including lorry drivers. Some of our
staff will transfer and some may transfer
from other areas, but we’re definitely
recruiting more drivers.
“We recently recruited a driver from
Romania through an agency and it has
worked really well.
“Importing drivers direct from Europe
is possibly something we’re going to do
regularly, as there is a shortage of drivers
locally. It seems to be a little bit better now,
but what we’re really lacking is experienced
drivers.
”
But the Aycliffe firm has also launched
its own training programme to help its
inexperienced drivers get up to speed, some
of whom have been recruited through the
armed forces Career Transition Partnership
Scheme.
“There are a fair few inexperienced
drivers, newly-licensed guys, but they lack
the experience. With that in mind, we’ve set
up a fairly comprehensive, in-house training
programme for these guys, which is an
intense programme, teaching them every
aspect of the job.
“We’ve also written a new driver’s
handbook which details all the legal
requirements of the modern-day driver. At
this time it’s only in English, but we may
have it translated into other languages in the
future.
”
“This is a fantastic deal for the company
and we’re absolutely delighted.
”
Managing Director Paul Stiller (right) with his
young recruits - Keiran Jones, Jessica Tweddle,
Ryan Bailey, Jessica Walton and Lizzie Brophy.
An inside panoramic view of the huge Coveris
Rigid site at Drum Park, Chester-le-Street.
Paul Stiller (sitting) with Gillian, Matthew
and director Andrew Winney (right).