Oakland International Encourage Staff To Get On Their Bikes!

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Oakland International Encourage Staff To Get On Their Bikes!

Getting on his bike, Oakland International Distribution Manager, Luke Attwell

Family business, multi temperature supply chain, logistics and distribution specialist, Oakland International, has enabled its employees to change their mode of work transportation by signing up to a cycle to work scheme.

Oakland International HR Director, Cory Winstanley, commented: “Oakland International has always been committed to supporting employee welfare as we know and recognise that our employees are our most valuable asset.”

Cycle to work schemes were introduced in 1999 by the Government as a way of encouraging more commuters to ditch the car in favour of cycling to work. Employees at both of Oakland’s Corby and Redditch facilities are now be able to join the Cycle2work scheme run by Halfords.

“Signing up to Cycle2work from Halfords will make it that much easier for all our team members to enjoy and benefit from cycling to work. As we continue to recruit more team members it made sense to introduce the scheme so that all employees could benefit.” added Cory.

Oakland International remains one step ahead of current thinking in terms of staff welfare, with the Government recently encouraging businesses to offer free bicycle loans, employee counselling and free fruit; pedal power is nothing new to Oakland who as part of their green vehicle initiative five-years ago introduced electric bikes, eleven years ago introduced free ‘fruit breaks’ and just last year introduced staff counselling as part of their employee benefits package.

Halfords Business Development Manager, Russell Davies, commented: “At Cycle2work we want to share our passion for cycling to work, by delivering the best in choice, value and service for you. The customer is at the heart of everything we do, using heritage and culture to deliver the ultimate cycling journey. Through our unique solution we are proud to offer a scheme that fits you, enabling everyone to live fitter and healthier lifestyles and we believe that our mission statement aligns with Oakland Internationals values and want to do everything we can to support that.”

By signing up to the Cycle2work scheme Oakland hopes that they can, in a small way, encourage more of their team to leave their cars at home and cycle to work.

Added Cory: “Oakland’s ethos has always been to introduce new welfare and green initiatives where we can into our business, systems and processes, replacing energy rich with renewable alternatives and increasing our use of clean, green eco-friendly options. Continual evaluation and review of employee welfare will remain top of our agenda.”

Wholesaler launches product guide with a twist in industry first

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Wholesaler launches product guide with a twist in industry first

Leading Scottish wholesaler, JB Foods, has taken its desire to inspire customers and chefs to an innovative new level with its latest product guide, before launching it with a special event at Edinburgh New Town Cookery School.

The JB Foods directory for 2019/20 was available to see and smell when it arrived with customers this month thanks to its chocolate scented, Tunnock’s tea cake front cover.

The scented directory, a first in the foodservice industry, contains over 300 new lines and was officially launched to JB Foods employees at Edinburgh’s New Town Cookery School with a bake-off style challenge to get everyone involved.

Charlotte Thompson from JB Foods, a member of the Caterforce buying group, said: “The launch of the new directory has been a huge success and we are extremely proud of what the team has created. We want to be leaders in creativity within the foodservice industry and are using our annual product guide to showcase this. We’ve already received some fantastic feedback from our customers, and our sales team has had a lot fun encouraging them to try and guess what is unique about this year’s product guide. I think it makes our brand really stand out and is a great way to inspire existing and potential customers.”

The wholesaler’s launch day was also inspired by the front cover, which, alongside the tea cake, features a Scottish themed cheesecake topped with some of the country’s most famous products by Tunnock’s, Mrs Tilly’s and Paterson Arran.

‘Team JB’ also took part in a bake-off style competition and were challenged to come up with a range of sweet treats using ingredients that JB Foods supplied to the cookery school. The wide variety of ingredients saw the teams create a number of desserts including Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies, ginger and lime cheesecake chocolate cups, chocolate and orange trifle cups, raspberry and dark chocolate filled sweet party and a variety of mini scones.

Charlotte added: “Launching this year’s directory at the cookery school was the perfect way for our team members to get to know the products further. The familiarity and knowledge we can take from these events can then be passed on to our customers and allows us to provide the best possible service.”

The day was supported by a number of JB Foods suppliers including Mrs Tilly’s, Tunnock’s, HB ingredients, Pidy, Lakeland Dairies, CSM, Ferrero and Heygates.

For more information visit https://www.jbfoodservice.co.uk.

Tek Troniks Awarded UKAS Accreditation for the 4th Consecutive Year

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Tek Troniks Awarded UKAS Accreditation for the 4th Consecutive Year

Tek Troniks have received confirmation, from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), that their accreditation to ISO 17025 has been achieved for the 4th consecutive year, following an audit in May 2019.

This year Tek Troniks applied for an extension of scope, for laboratory and site calibration activities, which was successfully granted. The accreditation now covers temperature calibration from -80 °C to +140 °C, previously -45 °C to +140 °C, both in the laboratory and on a customer site.

Another extension of scope is the addition of UKAS accredited Temperature Mapping. Tek Troniks carry out their temperature mapping based on the World Health Organisation standard.

John Dyer, Laboratory Manager, at Tek Troniks says “Being UKAS accredited is extremely important to us and to our customers.”

“Having accreditation to complete calibration on a customer’s site reduces our customer’s sensor downtime hugely and has proven very popular with our customer base.”

“Temperature mapping has become more popular over the last few years, especially in large cold rooms and racked warehouses. Mapping has always been an important part of our business, UKAS accreditation strengthens the service that we offer.”

Firm wins second three-star Great Taste award

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Firm wins second three-star Great Taste award

A CUMBRIAN smoked salmon company has won yet another coveted three-star Great Taste Award.

Grants Oak Smoked’s Traditional longsliced smoked salmon was praised by judges for its ‘beautiful presentation… melting texture…. delicate and complex taste…”

It was one of only two UK smoked salmon products to get the three-star accolade.

Run by the Guild of Fine Foods, more than 12,000 products from across the globe were blind tasted by 12 panels of experts made up of top chefs, cookery writers, food critics, restaurateurs and fine food retailers. Less than three per cent of entries received the three star award.

Two years ago Grants’ premium product, its Traditionally Smoked Rope Hung Scottish Salmon, also won the prestigious three star award.

The company’s owner, Jonathan Brown, said: “Once again we are delighted the renowned Great Taste experts have recognised the dedication, expertise and quality of our products.

“To win three stars with two separate products in such a short period of time is a fantastic success. For the Grants Traditional longsliced – one of our core products – to win three stars represents an amazing achievement. It signifies the emphasis we have placed on quality for more than 30 years.

“We only source the finest salmon from suppliers with the highest aquaculture and environmental standards. Each fish is then hand trimmed, cured and smoked the traditional way, over real oak chips, under the personal supervision of our master smoker.

“When I started the company, hand-delivering single sides of smoked salmon to Lake District chefs, I vowed quality would always be the benchmark which set us apart, and I am thrilled this latest award recognises that.”

From its base in Maryport on the Cumbrian coast, Grants supplies smoked salmon and other products to restaurants, hotels, retailers and catering companies right across the globe. It employs more than 100 people.

Mr Brown added: “As a family company, we are very proud of our Cumbrian roots and always do our utmost to promote the area and its produce across the globe. Awards such as this help us in this process. Everything we have achieved would not have been possible without the dedication and support of every member of our team, some of whom have been with us for decades. This award also recognises their hard work and excellence.”

Lunar Freezing Lands Scotland’s First Carrier Transicold Vector® HE 19 MT Unit

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Lunar Freezing Lands Scotland’s First Carrier Transicold Vector® HE 19 MT Unit

Aberdeenshire-based Lunar Freezing has become the first company in Scotland to take delivery of Carrier Transicold’s new flagship Vector^® HE 19 MT (High Efficiency, Multi-Temperature) trailer refrigeration unit. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier, a leading global provider of innovative heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies.

Mounted to a 13.6-metre Gray & Adams trailer built at the company’s plant in nearby Fraserburgh, the trailer will transport fresh fish landed in Peterhead to Germany, Holland and throughout the UK.

“We’ve had many years of fantastic service from Carrier Transicold and the chance to be the first in Scotland to introduce their next-generation system was one we didn’t want to miss,” said Jim Bruce, engineering manager, Lunar Freezing. “The new Vector HE 19 is lighter, quieter, offers improved pull-down capacity and has the most efficient cooling system of any trailer we’ve had in the fleet. This brings real benefits for our business, and we fully expect it will become the standard unit for us moving forward.”

The new Vector HE 19 system utilises Carrier Transicold’s all-electric E-Drive™ technology, which combined with a new multi-speed engine design, delivers up to 30% in fuel savings when compared to the existing Vector 1950 unit. These figures have been independently verified against the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the Association Technic Energy Environment (ATEE) partial load fuel burn standards. At the same time, the oil drain interval for the unit’s engine is doubled when compared to its predecessor.

The Vector HE 19 units use of a fully hermetic scroll compressor and economiser helps to deliver a 40% increase in refrigeration capacity during pull-down, while reducing the chance of refrigerant escape by 50%. The system is also 19% more efficient when plugged into the electrical grid on standby, meaning Lunar Freezing will see reduced diesel, maintenance and electricity bills.

“We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Lunar Freezing since 2001, supplying both trailers and a rigid truck body for their busy fleet,” said Stewart Massie, sales manager, Gray & Adams. “Most recently, they have worked with us on a project to trial and test a new rear buffer arrangement, which has proven so successful that it has been incorporated into this new trailer. Being based so close to our factory, they are a great fleet to work with on research and development projects.”

Lunar Freezing operates a fleet of 10 Carrier-cooled trailers, each averaging around 100,000 kilometres a year and on the road up to seven days per week. Founded in 1990, the company offers fishing, processing, cold storage, and transportation of fish products across the UK and into Belgium, France, Holland and Germany.

For more information on Carrier Transicold and its products and services, visit www.carriertransicold.co.uk. Follow Carrier Transicold on Twitter: @SmartColdChain.

About Carrier Transicold

Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping of temperature controlled cargoes with a complete line of equipment and services for refrigerated transport and cold chain visibility. For more than 45 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, direct-drive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier, a leading global provider of innovative HVAC, refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies. For more information, visit www.carriertransicold.co.uk. Follow Carrier on Twitter: @SmartColdChain.

Free taster sessions of Mentor’s new forklift managers course at IMHX

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Free taster sessions of Mentor’s new forklift managers course at IMHX

Mentor FLT Training, the UK’s leading provider of forklift and safety management training, has announced that it will be running free taster sessions of its new Managing Forklift Operations course at IMHX 2019 this September.

To help busy managers fit training around daily demands, the course will be available in two formats:
as an online e-learning course — the first of its kind in the UK — and via face-to-face delivery.

Mentor is giving IMHX visitors the exclusive opportunity to get a first look at the course. Sessions will take just 10 minutes of visitors’ time but will provide valuable insight into course content.

Managing Forklift Operations is AITT accredited, and specifically developed by Mentor for managers and supervisors responsible for overseeing forklift use on site.

Not only does the course help businesses meet their legal responsibilities under Approved Code of Practice L117, it also demonstrates the associated benefits of best practice for operations — giving managers the skills and confidence to help keep their business safe and profitable.

The new e-learning format is concise and easy to navigate, with engaging content, interactive video and hard-hitting statistics all divided into manageable sections to aid online learners. It offers managers the opportunity to learn whenever and wherever suits them, and over less hours than the classroom-based alternative.

Taster sessions are open to all and will run daily on the Mentor stand (20C89) throughout the show. To book your place, visit https://www.mentorflttraining.co.uk/events

Throughout IMHX, Mentor will also be giving stand visitors the chance to take home exciting prizes with their on-the-spot safety quiz.

Open Tuesday 24th to Friday 27th September at NEC Birmingham, IMHX is the UK’s largest intralogistics event and is free to attend. Find out more and register here: https://www.imhx.net/en/home.html

For more information about the course, please click here or contact Mentor on 01246 555222.

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