SCALA Consulting

Executive Director Chris Clowes features in the latest edition of Drapers, sharing his thoughts on another huge shift in the retail landscape:

Next week sees the first meeting of the year for our Grocery & FMCG and Home Appliance and Homeware Supply Chain Best Practice groups. With sessions on the agenda covering supply chain resilience, service delivery levels into retailers, international trade challenges, the UK labour market and a guest retail speaker from the grocery sector, it's going to be a fascinating day, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone for the first time since the Autumn. If you would like to know more about joining any of our Best Practice groups, including our new one for small and medium 3PLs, please get in touch through our Linked In company page or our website. #supplychain #logistics #networking #bestpractice

"Retailers will be strapping in for a tricky year, creating a perfect storm for the logistics businesses that service them. As well as navigating their own operational cost increases due to the tax changes ahead, some logistics operators will face pressures to reduce prices to mitigate customer costs further down the line". SCALA Executive Director Chris Clowes talked to Motor Transport recently about the challenges facing the logistics industry in 2025. Read more below: #supplychain #logistics

SCALA Executive Director Chris Clowes has an extensive background working both with and for 3PL operations. He is frequently engaged in 3PL tender projects with our SCALA clients and also facilitates our rapidly-growing SCALA Best Practice Forum for small and medium 3PLs so he knows his subject! Chris sat down recently with Kate Jones from Iron Mountain and Tom Rice from Astro Lighting for a fascinating debate around the big question in logistics operations - should you stay in-house or outsource to a 3PL? It was a fascinating (and surprisingly amicable!) discussion and is well worth a listen. You can access the podcast below, and if you would like further information on how SCALA can help you with that decision-making process, please get in touch through our Linked In page or the SCALA website. #3PL #supplychain #logistics #bestpractice

Some SCALA clients come to us knowing exactly WHAT they'd like to do to improve their warehouse and just needing expert advice on HOW to do it. Some clients know there are a number of possible solutions to their warehousing challenges and just need external support evaluating which is the right solution for them. Sometimes, clients bring a warehousing challenge to us that they simply have no idea how to solve. Whatever the issue, our team can help, and are always open to having an informal chat to talk through requirements to find the right level of support that we can offer. Please get in touch if you'd like to know more about how we can help.

SCALA are currently supporting a wide range of clients who are in the process of making changes to their warehousing arrangements. We are often approached by businesses needing assistance with these projects, which can range from optimising a current warehouse in order to maximise efficiency, designing an extension to a warehouse where a business has the space to expand or looking for completely new site options where capacity has been exhausted. Our warehousing consultants have the range of experience together with evaluation, modelling and simulation tools to evaluate and fully design new DCs and to improve existing operations by optimising ⚪Storage methods ⚪Handling techniques ⚪Automation options ⚪MHE equipment specifications ⚪Staffing numbers and organisation ⚪WMS systems requirements and specifications If you'd like to know more about how SCALA can help to improve your warehouse operations, please do get in touch. You can contact us directly through the message button on the SCALA Linked In company page. #warehousing #supplychain #logistics #bestpractice

The SCALA team are regularly called upon by clients undertaking M&A to assist with the process from a supply chain perspective - a perspective which otherwise can often be overlooked or under-prioritised during the due diligence phase and beyond. Sometimes our involvement is only required pre-M&A; sometimes, following our assessment and recommendations, we are asked to continue providing assistance into the post-M&A stage, helping to implement the changes we have suggested. If you are currently undertaking, or considering, a merger or acquisition and would like a conversation to see how SCALA can help to ensure potential supply chain challenges and benefits are comprehensively assessed, please get in touch through the message button on our Linked In page. Meanwhile, SCALA's Phil Reuben shared some of his thoughts on this topic recently with SupplyChainBrain #supplychain #logistics #manda #bestpractice

SCALA CEO John Perry featured last week in the Yorkshire Times Christmas Spotlight feature, sharing some of his business experience and wisdom along with his views on Christmas and what's to come for our industry in 2025.

We've been really fortunate to have worked with a host of fantastic people this year and just wanted to say thank you to all our clients, associates, suppliers and connections on here who have engaged with SCALA throughout what has been a very exciting year. We wish you all the best for the festive season and we're already looking forward to what 2025 will bring! #logistics #supplychain #consulting

"At SCALA, we've worked with countless businesses during M&A transitions, and one thing is clear: the supply chain is where value is realised - or lost" SCALA Executive Director Phil Reuben shares his strategies for success when undertaking M&A in the latest edition of Air Cargo Week. To read more on this topic, take a look at our recent Good Practice Guide which you can download here: https://bit.ly/3zJGnqq #logistics #supplychain #consulting #mergersandacquisitions