March 2004 - US-based Essential Industries, a family-owned business is a full-service provider of maintenance solutions. Its products comprise polymers and resins for floor finishes, a variety of detergents, raw materials for the coating industry, and packaged finished goods for the sanitary maintenance supply industry. Essential Industries has decided to outsource its European warehousing and distribution activities to Storeship.
An integral part of Essential’s European market strategy required a logistics service provider that could provide fiscal representation for both hazardous and non-hazardous goods on the Continent. Essential considered both the Netherlands and Belgium to be suitable locations. In the Netherlands, they were assisted by the NFIA and NDL/HIDC, while in Belgium they arranged their own fact-finding trip.
Based on Essential’s requirements, NDL/HIDC conducted a thorough investigation of warehousing-service providers and then drew up a list of suitable choices. It then organized and accompanied representatives from Essential on a series of tours scheduled over three days. Tom Gitzlaff, Essential Industries’ Vice President of Operations, states: “NDL/HIDC was very thorough. They met and accompanied us on every visit and organized every detail, even including arrangements for lunch. Each provider was well prepared, and our meetings were very productive because of NDL/HIDC’s involvement. In contrast, we organized our own trip to Belgium, which was not nearly as effective. I would highly recommend that any company requiring logistics services in Europe utilize the services of the NFIA and NDL/HIDC.”
In the end, Essential Industries selected Storeship as its full-service logistics provider. Not only was Storeship able to meet all of its requirements at a competitive price, but it had a winning attitude about helping Essential establish the right supply-chain mechanism. Tom Gitzlaff reports: “We are very confident that with Storeship, we now have the right logistics partner to penetrate the European market.” |
