Arbor has continued to look for greener solutions that optimise fleet utilisation, reduce carbon emissions, improve efficiency levels, and replace existing manual processes.

Arbor Forest Products – the UK’s leading independent timber importer and processor – has put sustainability at the heart of its new fleet of lorries, highlighting both the company’s drive for greener thinking as well as its ambition to help customers meet ever-increasing environmental targets.

Successfully in business for over 70 years, Arbor supplies over 500,000m3 of quality timber to the building, DIY and construction trades every year from its 90-acre site in New Holland, North Lincolnshire. 

With 100s of orders to process every day, and large-scale logistic challenges a mainstay of the industry, Arbor has continued to look for greener solutions that optimise fleet utilisation, reduce carbon emissions, improve efficiency levels, and replace existing manual processes.

One of the results has been the creation of ‘Warehouse on Wheels’, a one-stop shop concept that delivers products at the right place and time, and in the precise volumes required.

By providing mixed product deliveries nationwide (removing the need to use separate suppliers), Arbor is using fewer vehicles on the roads, making fewer deliveries and reducing its carbon footprint. In addition, transport planning is automated through routing and scheduling software, further maximising efficiencies and vehicle fill rates.

With fresh panel designs, Arbor’s new-look lorry fleet is also ready to take the Warehouse on Wheels concept to the next level and help the company’s customers enhance their own green credentials.

Arbor’s Logistics Manager, David Garbutt, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our Warehouse on Wheels concept, as it allows us to fulfil orders in a single delivery. This is not only great news for our customers, but better for the planet. It’s a win-win situation.

"Our ability to generate precise transport plans means we can maximise our resources while maintaining our delivery promise. We’re also using data to achieve more accurate, environmentally beneficial route optimisations, so we’re expecting to see Warehouse on Wheels improve further in the future.”

Arbor’s Operations Director, Phil Yell, added: “Sustainability is an ever growing concern for businesses, so it’s essential that organisations such as ours proactively drive forward greener practices. The bottom line is that we genuinely care, so this governs how we act and the way we help our customers meet stringent environmental legislation. By increasing our in-house transport capabilities, we now have visibility over a wide range of KPIs helping us to reduce mileage and improve fleet utilisation, while always delivering on our service commitment to customers.”