What do we stand for and what do we do
Specialist transportation + Contract warehousing and fulfilment
If you were to analyse the DNA of our company, it would be best summed up by the following: Friendly, Helpful, Hard-working, Professional, Honest, and totally committed to Customer Service.
These tenets underpin our entire operation and have provided the building blocks of which we have grown the company. As the integrity of the operation is vital to maintaining the above, we feel we have a created an ethos by which the company stands.
Once on-board, customers tend to stay with us for extended periods of time. We build strong and enduring relationships, and these have stood us in good stead throughout the years. We never take the short-term view in any business decision.
This approach, more than anything else, has resulted in the success we have enjoyed in the last 20+ years. Having a compact management team helps reinforce these beliefs and maintains the strong platform on which we have grown.
AWARDS
Customer Care Award Finalist at the Motor Transport Awards 2020
Customer care means going out of your way to ensure that your whole operation is geared to consistently exceeding your customers’ expectations. We want to see commitment from all levels of the company and, of course, testimonials from customers and the results of customer satisfaction surveys. This award is open to all third party logistics and own account operators (where the transport operation plays a significant role in the delivery of excellent customer service) running fleets of 11 or more commercial vehicles.
Customer Service Award Winner at the Birmingham Business Excellence Awards 2019
The chink of champagne glasses and a rousing cheer confirmed it. Paul Ponsonby Ltd was announced the winners of the Customer Service Excellence award at the annual Birmingham Business Excellence Awards held at the ICC in the city.
Linda Wildman and Paul Hancock went along to the gala black tie evening on Thursday November 7th. Dinner, entertainment ensued culminating in the announcement and presentation of the award. We were particularly delighted by the many messages from our clients who’d read online of our success all of them, saying it was well deserved.
Sterling customer service is one of the building blocks of our organisation and is what has led to our success and our keeping many loyal clients these past 21 years. We’re delighted to have been recognised by the BBEA and the sponsors ICC.
Customer Care Award Finalist at the UKWA Awards 2017
The UKWA Awards reward excellence in the third-party logistics sector and attract entries from some of the most influential companies in the logistics and materials handling industry. Each nomination has been considered by the UKWA Awards Judges and three – in some cases four – finalists for each category have been selected.
Environmental Award Winners at the UKWA Awards 2014
The UKWA Awards for Warehousing reward excellence in the third party logistics sector and attract entries from some of the most influential companies in the logistics and materials handling industry.
Paul Ponsonby Limited were amongst this years winners and were presented with the Environment Award.
Paul Ponsonby said ‘We are delighted to have won the environment award this year having invested heavily in new warehouse lighting and a vehicle tracking system. We feel like the last few years we have really turned our attention to reducing our impact on the environment and our efforts have paid off.’
UKWA Young Employee of the Year – Joanne Dolan – Sales and Marketing 2012
This category is open to any employee, outside management, under the age of 25. The finalists will be able to demonstrate:
- A number of key personal attributes and a sound professional competency
- Commitment to the team
- Future potential
UKWA finalist for Customer Service Award 2011/2012
The judges will be seeking evidence of customer insight and a customer focused culture within the organisation. The finalists will be able to demonstrate:
- An in-depth understanding of customer needs;
- Effective ways of measuring the results of their services and customer satisfaction.
UKWA Newcomer of the Year 2006
This a corporate award given to the company showing the highest professional standards of warehousing on joining the UKWA. The judges will consider the initial inspection reports of members recommended by the UKWA inspectors.
Motor Transport Award finalists three times and winners twice for Customer Care Award
Judges will want to see:
- What processes are in place to understand what KPI’s are important to your customers
- How you monitor your levels of customer care
- Systems to ensure all employees have bought into the customer care ethos, including appropriate incentive schemes
- Benchmarking of your customer service levels against the best in your and other comparable industry sectors
- How you have gone above and beyond business as usual to delight your customers(or, in many cases, your customers’ customers)
- How excellence in customer care helped you grow your business
Company History
In October 1996, Paul’s father passed away and this became the catalyst for change. The larger haulage operation did not hold appeal for the energy which he had to exert. Paul knew his heart just was not in this sector.
On 4th May 1998, Paul Ponsonby limited was launched. The ethos was to recreate an operation which reflected his commitment to gold standard customer service. Our first warehouse opened in October ’98 and began accepting inbound stock immediately.
Much of the new business was brought to the company by the enthusiasm of the expanding management team. A freehold warehouse was purchased in Redditch in early 2003 - this proved to be a fortuitous acquisition. Further expansion took place with following year with the opening of our headquarters at Hurricane Park. Official opening was 7th October 2004.
2008 saw us celebrate 10 years in business with a magnificent company reception. An event held on site in a huge marquee, which is still fondly remembered to this day. The end of the decade saw the worldwide banking crisis and the resulting recession which proved painful for a short period. However, the bounce back is always better than the set-back and this period was soon forgotten with a huge uplift in demand.
Likewise, our warehousing operation bears little or no resemblance to what it did only 10 years ago. Fulfilment, Pick, Pack and Despatch and the Internet sales support is in play with many hundreds of items being picked per shift. Impressive to even an insider, which has seen it develop.
Our motivated management team regularly tailor solutions which meets clients’ needs perfectly. The company now employs 55 staff and with a large percentage having registered 10, 15 and 20+ years’ service; a fact of which we are duly proud.
Our customer reach is now well beyond these shores with clients as far afield as Australia, Ireland, Czech Republic, and The Netherlands. Although the vast majority still emanate from the UK. Expansion for its own sake has never been our motivator – what drives us on is customer service.
Environmental
Paul Ponsonby Limited are an ISO14001 accredited company. We currently hold a waste carrier’s license, adhere to WEEE regulations, and comply with COSHH regulations.
We have held our accreditation for several years now, evolving a system that takes in energy use, waste, and pollution prevention.
Below are some examples of how we actively manage our impact on the environment.
Air pollution, global warming, and carbon footprint
Whenever possible runs are consolidated for 2 or 3 days’ work to reduce transit time and fuel consumption. All our vehicles run with Euro 6 compliant engines meaning less pollution and developing our operation to meet FORS Bronze standard, we monitor our fuel usage and driving standards via our telematics system which all leads to fewer emissions and cleaner air.
Crews are sent to meet up on jobs to reduce the number of vehicles required and therefore reduce unnecessary emissions. Routes are planned to the most efficient route again reducing travel time. TOMTOM sat nav’s are used to avoid traffic queues and reduce engine idling. 3 of our fleet will have stop start technology to reduce emissions.
Use of Electricity
‘Switch off electricity’ stickers have been placed throughout the building to reduce consumption. New motion activated low energy LED lighting in the warehouse has been installed again reducing consumption. We use an external company to monitor our consumption. Within the office we have a ‘turn it off if not in use’ policy for computer workstations and electrical equipment.
Use of Water
We have just installed a water purification tap in our canteen to encourage no plastic water bottles in our warehouse. This ensures cold, clean water for all staff. Our wastewater too leaves us in suitable condition to enter the sewage or storm drain system by use of interceptors which remove hydrocarbons and silt.
Disposal of Waste
Dedicated Paper recycling bins have been installed in all offices and levels are monitored. We segregate waste which allows us to send as much as possible for recycling. Metal, cardboard etc, meaning less goes to landfill.
COSHH
Following a company – wide COSHH assessment, we are able to identify and deal with potentially hazardous waste such as paint cans and aerosols from our daily maintenance chores. These too, are disposed of in line with the directives of the local authority.
