Aycliffe Today Business AT Business Issue 37 | Page 23

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 23
Stiller Warehousing and Distribution managing
director Matthew Stiller (centre) with resource
manager John Garrett (left) and driver Bill Vince
in front of the firm’s 20 new vehicles – a £1.7m
investment by the Aycliffe firm.
Logistics firm Stiller invests
£1.7m in fleet of 20 new vehicles
By Martin Walker
Logistics firm Stiller Warehousing and Distribution has invested £1.7m in a fleet of 20
new vehicles to keep their truckers motoring millions of miles around the country.
S
tiller has refreshed its fleet of 45 trucks
with 20 new Mercedes Across tractor
units, each rated for 44-tonne gross
vehicle weight operation.
The family-run firm’s vehicles each cover
around 95,000 miles a year, totalling 4.3
million miles covering the length and breadth
of the UK.
To maintain efficiency, as well as safety for
drivers, Stiller’s latest trucks are powered by
second-generation Euro 6 engines and come
fully-equipped with the latest safety features,
including radar emergency stop-assist which
senses oncoming traffic and automatically
brakes.
All vehicles also have a recording accident
camera set-up fitted along with fixed vehicle
phones and GPS trackers, while specially-
made full-width vehicle ‘catwalks’ have also
been installed, which provide a safer working
environment for the drivers when they’re
hitching up their trailers.
The firm’s managing director Matthew
Stiller said: “All vehicles are more fuel-
efficient than the units they have replaced,
but we’ve really done it to keep on top of
our ongoing investment and keeping the
equipment we’re running as new and reliable
as possible.
“We run our trucks 24 hours a day, with
each truck double-shifted doing 95,000 miles
a year, so it’s essential all our vehicles are
100% reliable.
“They’re also safer for our drivers, with the
new driver catwalk in particular improving the
hitching-up process and minimising the risk
of trips or falls.
“The economical lifespan of these trucks
is about three years, so this is a major
freshening up of our fleet.”
Stiller is also spending a further £200,000
refurbishing 50,000 sq ft of warehousing
space to modern standards, including
repairing and enhancing the floor, painting
and recladding internals and installing
modern LED lighting.
Once completed in December, the unit
will create extra palletised storage space for
Stiller, which is already close to capacity at its
22-acre Newton Aycliffe site.
Matthew added: “We’re seeing a lot of
new and existing customers stockpile goods
for next March, which we had anticipated,
so we’re already working on preparing the
extra palletised space we’re creating ready to
accommodate that demand.”
Earlier this year, Stiller completed work on
a £2m, 40,000 sq ft palletised distribution
centre, which improved its vehicle loading
times.
Stiller’s latest investment in equipment,
people and facilities – including two new
warehouses costing more than £1.8m
between them – takes the company’s total
spend to almost £11m in the last three years.
Stiller – which was named Company of the
Year at Aycliffe Business Park’s Make Your
Mark awards in May – has seen sales rise
by more than 20% to £14.8m, while staff
numbers have jumped from 149 to 174 in the
last 12 months.
Formed in 1954, Stiller provides cost-
effective warehousing and distribution
services to businesses in the North-East
region as well as commercial property
lettings and is also a member and major
shareholder in Palletline, a national co-
operative network of 70 companies.
Its Aycliffe site stores goods and parts for
well-known national brands as well as local
businesses including Gestamp Tallent and
3M.
More about Stiller can be found at
www.stiller.co.uk