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Elite Distribution is based in Wortley, Leeds. It is a freight forwarding company, which means that it receives stock in from various sources and then forwards the stock on to its destination. The company has a number of contracts including Cotton Traders, George at ASDA and the per una range at Marks and Spencer.
This case study is based on Elite's work for the per una contract.
per una was introduced into Marks and Spencer stores in 2001. per una was originally established as a separate company by George Davis run as a franchise-like organisation within Marks and Spencer. More recently Marks and Spencer have taken over the ownership of the brand. The range is aimed at 18-35 year old women. There is also a sister collection per una dué which is aimed at the 14-18 year old market. The aim for the per una range is to turn around stock extremely quickly from design to store, indeed the majority of clothes are only in stock for about 3 weeks. per una aims to produce a 'capsule' which includes a top, bottom, shoes, hat and t-shirts and belt that all go together with an average price of £35 per item. per una carries out extensive research as to what items will be popular in which stores and stock them accordingly. The company also produces items which are of specialist appeal for certain stores, for example it has produced t-shirts celebrating Liverpool FC's European Champion's League victory for sale on Merseyside and t-shirts with the logo Edinburgh for sale in that city for the duration of the Edinburgh Festival. per una categorises similar stores together and its top 11 stores, known as Peratto, include Marble Arch and its major out of town stores. These will stock all items in the per una range, whilst smaller stores will stock a limited range.
The Elite Distribution warehouse is in operation from 6am until 10pm each weekday and 6am until 6pm at a weekend. Stock arrives in lorries at the company from all over Europe and the Far East. The European stock is transported by lorry over land but stock from the Far East generally comes by sea, although some high value or urgently required items are transported by air freight. If the stock has been transported on container ships Elite is responsible for it as soon as it leaves the docks. If it has come by road the responsibility for the goods is not passed over until it arrives at the warehouse gates. Elite Distribution has hubs in Turkey, Italy and other countries where basic fault checks are carried out on the garments before they are sent to England.
When the stock arrives at Elite a numerical check against the manifest (a sheet showing number of goods expected) is carried out. This is done to ensure that the correct number of garments, regardless of size, have been delivered. For example if they are expecting 3,000 red blouses staff will count them to ensure that they have 3000 but not, at this time, if they have 800 size 10, 800 size 12 etc. If the numbers from this initial count are correct then the delivery will be signed off and the goods accepted. The goods will then be entered into the FCL warehousing computer program and then put on to the per una computer system. The garments are then checked against the manifest to ensure that the correct number of goods per size have been delivered.
A quality check is also carried out at this time. The manufacturer will have produced four perfect copies of each item, one of which is held at Elite. The quality controllers will compare approximately 24 randomly selected items from each delivery with the perfect copy (known as the gold seal) for faults such as button faults, the number of sequins per dress and other possible deviations from the gold seal copy. If the selected items pass this test the batch is released into the system and can be sent to stores. The agreed time for this count check and quality check is a maximum of 24 hours but in reality it usually takes 5-6 hours. If the items do not pass the quality check more items are selected for comparison. If these too fail the check the items are rejected.
When items have been accepted on to the system per una may require some items to be distributed to stores the next day but the majority of stock is put into bulk storage on one of three floors in the Elite warehouse. When a new item is first sent to stores it is sent in what is known as a ratio pack. This means, for example, that stores receive a batch of 1 size 8, 2 size 10, 2 size 12, 1 size 14 and 1 size 16 of the same pink top. This ratio will always be the same for the same item but may be different for another item. For example, blue trousers may be 1 size 8, 1 size 10, 3 size 12, 3 size 14, 1 size 16. Not all items are stocked at every per una store but all stores in the same category will receive the same initial allocation of stock.
Every night per una will send a list to Elite Distribution of what has been sold in each of the stores throughout the country. This enables Elite to send replacements to replenish stock levels in every store. For example if on Monday Leeds Pudsey sold 1 size 10 pink top, 1 size 14 pink top and 2 size 12 blue trousers these 4 items will be sent to the store the following day to keep the stock topped up. per una will also regularly send orders for other items that it is putting on special offer in stores. In addition, customers are able to order items that are out of stock at a particular store. These are picked and wrapped in visible wrappings with the customer's name on so that the shop workers can put them on one side.
Elite Distribution employs pickers in the warehouse whose job it is to work their way around the warehouse collecting the goods needed for each store from a list of the goods ordered for each store. The pickers tend to work on one of the three floors in the warehouse. They assemble the goods on rails, which then are loaded on to lorries to go to regional distribution centres. The picking for each store takes place 4 hours before the lorry is due to leave for the regional distribution centre. A quality check is carried out on about 10-15% of the items picked to measure the quality of picking. Elite Distribution has a good reputation on the standard of its picking and the pickers pride themselves on the quality of their work.
Lorries leave the warehouse between the hours of 9am and 9pm. They go to ten UK distribution centres and three centres for franchise operations (these are on the continent). The distribution centres request the time they want the lorry to arrive and this dictates the time it leaves Leeds. The lorry needs to arrive on time so that it can link in with other goods that are to be distributed to allocated stores. Lorries leave Leeds for each of the distribution centres every day.
| Regional Distribution Centre | Daily Departure Time (Monday to Saturday) |
| Tonbridge (SE East England) | 9am |
| Neasden (Greater London) | 12 Noon |
| Long Eaton (Midlands and East Anglia) | 1pm |
| Enfield (Essex and Outer London) | 2pm |
| Hardwick (North West England) | 2pm |
| Westfield (Scotland and Northern England) | 4pm |
| Hyde Park (Ireland) | 4pm |
| Swindon (Southern England and South Wales) | 6pm |
| Exeter (West Country) | 6pm |
| Thorncliffe (Yorkshire) | 9pm |
| Hemel (International Distribution) | 9am |
Every Tuesday the first lorry leaves Leeds at 9am for the regional distribution centre at Tonbridge in Kent. It arrives in Kent at 5pm on Tuesday evening. The Tonbridge centre is responsible for deliveries to stores in Epsom, Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne, Maidstone, Guildford, Canterbury, Croydon, Bromley and Shoreham.
Each lorry leaving Elite Distribution will be loaded in order so that the store needed first is packed onto the lorry last. For example, on a Tuesday the truck leaving for the Guildford Marks and Spencer store is due to leave the Tonbridge distribution centre at 5.30pm in the evening, only 30 minutes after the arrival of the delivery from Leeds. Therefore the garments for the Guildford store have to be available for quick off loading. On the other hand the lorry leaving for the Shoreham store does not leave until 3.30pm on Wednesday and is the last needed off the lorry and is therefore loaded onto the lorry first in Leeds.
Not every store gets a delivery every day. For example, on the Tuesday lorry from Leeds there are no garments for the Epsom store as no delivery is planned for the next day. Deliveries for Epsom are loaded on lorries leaving Leeds on Monday, Wednesday and Friday only.
The largest stores, Croydon, Bromley, Guildford and Shoreham will get deliveries every day but Maidstone, which a smaller store, gets a delivery from only twice a week
| Store | Departure Time |
| Shoreham | 3.30pm Wednesday |
| Tunbridge Wells | 2.00pm Wednesday |
| Eastbourne | 7.00am Wednesday |
| Maidstone | 6.45am Wednesday |
| Bromley | 9.30pm Tuesday |
| Canterbury | 6.00pm Tuesday |
| Croydon | 6.00pm Tuesday |
| Guildford | 5.30pm Tuesday |
Questions - Transport, Distribution and Storage
- Why are the stores loaded in reverse order of when they are needed at the distribution depot?
- What special events in Yorkshire might per una produce items for?
- When does Elite become responsible for goods sent from overseas?
- What is the perfect copy of a product known as?
- How many lorries leave Elite for distribution centres each week?
- Why does per una send out ratio packs when a new item is introduced to the stores?
- Why is it important that the goods received match the perfect copy?
- Why should the pickers work be subject to a quality check?
- Why do some stores not receive replenishment every day?
- Why doesn't Elite check that it have the correct number of goods in each size when the lorry arrives?
