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the back end and still deliver a single parcel to the consumer in a drop ship fashion and that creates huge efficiencies in the supply chain. That flexibility at scale is a massive part of what we’ve been able to do to deliver efficiency and we’ll continue to do so.” In addition, 99.6% of items are delivered next day – nearly 99.7%, according to Tim – and that continues to improve, as Exertis set tough targets and are always seeking marginal gains. “Innovation is part of it,” he says. “We look for incremental gains and it’s like with cycling and Sir Dave Brailsford and his idea of making marginal gains in various areas that add up to an exceptional result. The approach our team have is one of continuous improvement and they scour the market in terms of opportunities for innovation and engaging our teams in innovation. “Part of that is building business management systems that enable them to start thinking about those micro gains and drive what we call the shift right mentality. The world must keep moving and you have to keep beating it if you’re going to stay world class. The teams are doing a really good job in that space, but a lot of it is around the mindset and getting everybody engaged, which they are doing.” Sustainability Exertis is also innovating regarding becoming more sustainable, such as with the launch of its B2B recycling portal last August, in partnership with its subsidiary MTR. The self-serve portal allows customers to build a quote for the recycling of multiple devices in a straightforward way, and covers various categories such as handsets, tablets and laptops. Once received, all traded-in devices are fully data-wiped using Blackbelt Smartphone Defence – a failsafe mechanism
that prevents any device leaving the facility with data on it. There is the option to provide individual data wipe certificates, if required. “We’ve created a programme that enables retailers to effectively provide that as a white label into their customer base,” says Tim. “It’s relatively early days for it but I think that an inflexion point will come where the requirement for this sort of service will gather. I think that is just going to snowball in the coming years and we’re trying to get ahead of that in the UK by being able to provide it to the marketplace.” As the recycling portal demonstrates, sustainability is vitally important for Exertis and is just part of what the company doing towards making the company more sustainable. “Sustainability is right up there with our diversity and inclusion agenda as key areas that really create emotional engagement and enable us to connect with people, both our employees and customers, about things that they care about,” Tim says. “We care about it at a corporate level, but it’s not just because its the right thing to do, but because it’s a way of engaging our stakeholders.” To this end, Exertis have implemented – and continue to implement – a range of measures aimed at reducing the company’s environmental impact. “This includes using electric vehicles right the way through our supply chain,” says Tim. “But it’s not just in terms of how we have our people travelling, but also how our parcels travel and looking at the logistics footprint and how can we manage that. Some of that is to do with what vehicles are used, and some is to do with creating efficiency in miles travelled. That work is ongoing. “We also use solar panels, such as at our NDC, which is again trying to minimise our footprint in terms of energy consumption. That transcends through everything from how we wrap our parcels, such as being able to stretch wrap to be twice as long when we’re wrapping pallets saves a huge amount of plastic. Simple things like that that come into play around waste.” “We’ve had some stringent targets and we’ve been able to beat those. We put them as 2030 and we’re already ahead of those with a 90% reduction, so we are making fantastic progress.” While that covers scope 1 and 2 in environmental targets, Exertis is also working towards scope 3 goals too in partnership with manufacturers and vendors.
We've had some stringent targets and we've been able to beat those. We put them as 2030 and we're already ahead of those with a 90% reduction, so we are making fantastic progress. “
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