At Andusia, operations and logistics are at the heart of the business. They are a crucial component to ensuring a complete supply chain solution and great service from start to finish.
The department is the definition of small but mighty. Operations Director, Chris May, oversees the department and is supported by Jen, Lauren, Charly, and Lucy. Between the 5 of them they manage Andusia’s entire logistics and operations processes, so if you are an Andusia customer, we are sure you have spoken to one of our lovely lot!
We caught up with Jen Groves, Logistics Administrator, who recently celebrated her 2-year anniversary with Andusia, to find out what it is like to work in the operations team:
- What do the operations team do?
The operations team at are at the heart of the business. We are responsible for organising the logistics of different waste types from point A to B and making sure the process runs smoothly without any issues. We are the first point of contact for all our customers, so we are always here to help.
I personally make sure all relevant documentation such as trans-frontier shipment (TFS) applications are completed in a timely manner, so they are in place for when our contracts start with UK waste suppliers and international end-customers. Of course, keeping the environment in mind, we try to keep mileage and emissions low when planning our routes from our producers in the UK, to our EfW plants across Europe.
We make sure all trucks and loads are booked, check ETA’s from hauliers, track deliveries, chase signed movement documents, a real mix of tasks!
- Could you describe a typical day in the life?
We usually start off by meeting round the kitchen table to brief for the day ahead.
My job consists of lots of planning, so a lot of spreadsheets! Our main concern is making sure that the recovery plants get the waste they need and the tonnage they are contracted to. To do this, I spend a lot of time booking the collections for the coming weeks, taking into consideration the waste type, weights, and distance it is going to be travelling.
Reporting is another important role of mine, so we can see how the business is doing on a weekly basis, and the performance for each of our producers and customers. This enables us to plan our collections for the following week to meet our targets.
It’s a pretty diverse job, juggling lots of different things, but that’s what keeps it exciting.
- What is the most challenging thing about you job? How do you overcome said challenges?
I’d say we get challenges at least once a week, but it definitely keeps us on our toes!
We sometimes have issues with missing paperwork, changes to loads, or late collections. The challenge arises because these all have a knock-on effect to one another. We have also experienced equipment failures at plants or with suppliers, so we have to work quickly to reschedule and swap supply routes to ensure we minimise disruption to both ends of the chain.
The team does however really come together at times like this, and no challenge is ever too big for us to manage and overcome.
- Have you seen any effects on work since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions?
As I’m sure you can imagine, we saw a dramatic fall in the volume of commercial waste during the height of COVID-19- almost a 50% decrease. More recently, we have seen the stabilisation of volumes followed by an increasing level of commercial waste since everything has reopened.
We had to make some changes to pick up points and take on some new hauliers to help with collections due to driver shortages during the pandemic. With their being lots people self-isolating in the UK at the moment we are having to manage that closely so that our logistics remain streamlined.
Nonetheless, it has been great to see the industry show strength throughout the pandemic, the only way is up!