Hurst’s fleet provides customers with consistent service

Manufacturing more than 3500 PVC panels and 500 composite doors per week for a national network of over 1800 installers needs a reliable and constant delivery service.

That’s why Hurst Doors has heavily invested in their own dedicated fleet of 24 Mercedes vans and a huge transport operation.

Each van travels around 100,000 miles a year to help deliver more than 200,000 door products nationwide and Hurst’s Sales Director, Mark Atkinson, said: “When you’re sending around 4,000 items out every week you need to have control over the distribution and delivery of them and having our own transport fleet is a real benefit for both us and our customers and ensures everything arrives safely and reliably.

“We used to outsource to another delivery company many years ago but now we don’t have to rely on couriers or external delivery providers, which minimises damages, provides traceability, and gives us complete control.

“Our fantastic Transport Manager, Jon Brake, who organises deliveries nationwide from our manufacturing facility in Hull. It’s a big operation and a real USP for Hurst; time is a precious commodity today and deliveries must be on time and in full and thanks to our transport fleet and wider distribution capability we can provide that service across the whole of the UK.

Hurst’s distribution is now helped by a recent £200K investment in a new 430sqm extension to its 50K sq ft manufacturing facility in Hull to enable a greater consistency of service in its dispatch of PVC panels and composite doors. The extension features a dedicated loading area for the vans to be loaded overnight ready for the next day.

“After doubling the fleet space was very tight. The extension has provided more space for the vans to reversed in faster,” explained Mark.

“We have built our reputation on our OTIF, which is 99.8% on panels and 97% on composites. This investment will make it easier to achieve these targets and reassure customers that we are doing everything we can to increase and ensure consistency of service.”