Xpart going for gold
October 1st 2009

XPart says it is cutting picking times, reducing emissions and upholding an enviable health and safety record as its parent company, Caterpillar, is named among the world's most sustainable companies for the ninth consecutive year: Caterpillar has been recognised in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and retained Gold Class status in the Industrial Engineering Sector.

In the UK, XPart is streamlining its global parts distribution operation with ongoing efficiency improvement at its Caterpillar Logistics warehouse in Desford, Leicestershire.

"The 1.5m ft² the warehouse needs to function like clockwork in order to support a productive and profitable logistics operation," comments Craig Cooper, general manager, XPart. "We maximise efficiencies across all major processes every day – picking, packing and loading and despatch – on a per person basis. This level of analysis allows us to eliminate any issues as they arise and continually develop efficient working practices.We recently introduced a process to engage all members of staff in continuous improvement by inviting individuals to raise issues and take responsibility for identifying an

effective solution."

The firm is also actively reducing energy and landfill use, and in terms of health and safety, it is over a year since its last downtime incident.