| 61 T T Russell Fredric New depot boosts SI operations Southern Furniture Movers’ services include manufacturer to store and direct to customer deliveries, third party logistics and storage in its distribution centres in Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland. Southern Furniture Movers TRANSPORT Establishing a depot in Central Otago near Alexandra will add a key logistical asset to Southern Furniture Movers South Island operation. The award-winning Dunedin headquartered business operates nationwide and has existing depots in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Its new Central Otago depot is expected to be operational about the end of June. The company’s services include manufacturer to store and direct to customer deliveries, third party logistics and storage in its distribution centres in Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland which have a capacity of 8000 square metres, with regular line haul services scheduled nationwide, including interisland. Owner Teressa Grigg is delighted about the addition of the Central Otago depot. Located in Earnscleugh, the site includes a house ,which is where Teressa has relocated to from Dunedin. The depot will be staffed by her and two former employees who are returning to the company. Having a physical presence in Central Otago will create logistical and financial efficiencies, especially as the cost of accommodation for line haul staff overnighting has become excessive, consequently the depot will include accommodation quarters for the staff, Teressa says. “We have so many trucks coming into Central Otago now each week, we have one to two ex- Christchurch and two to three ex-Dunedin. The staff are spending so much time up here and trying to get the big line haul units around Queenstown is quite difficult. “Now that the tourists are back accommodation costs have skyrocketed, especially if we are booking it late. We would have at least six staff overnighting every week so you can imagine how expensive that gets.” While doing due diligence about the Earnscleugh site, Teressa discovered that despite employing two staff, operating a truck, and the cost of servicing a mortgage, establishing and running the depot would be cost neutral. A further advantage is that freight on line haul trucks can be transferred to the smaller truck which costs less to run, and is easier for access to homes and businesses around the region. “One of the biggest things that we are well known for is our scheduled runs; we are always in the same place on the same days every week, that’s part of our success.” Southern Furniture Movers employs 46 staff who Teressa regards as 46 families rather than simply being individual employees. In addition to investing in reliable late model trucks and having good physical infrastructure, technology and IT systems has played an important part in the business’ growth and success. “We’ve always been one of the technologically advanced companies, so we went paperless for our own consignments in 2015; we have been cloud-based that long. All of our systems are cloud based which was really beneficial during the COVID pandemic because literally any of us can run the business from anywhere. “All our logistics software, our warehousing, our accounting software is all cloud-based.” Southern Furniture Movers is a true family business. With Teressa having moved to Alexandra, her 21-year-old son Blake has taken over as the Dunedin oOperations mManager while her daughter Patience also works in the Dunedin depot as rReceptionist/bBooking aAssistant. Moving to Central Otago is a personal goal that Teressa did not expect would happen so soon. “I’m really excited about it. I never thought that I would actually be able to move to Central Otago until a few years down the track.” “I’m stoked that I have my team around me that are so supportive of me making this move.” Phone: 03 983 5500 waterfordpress.co.nz Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. DO OUR READERS KNOW YOU EXIST? When it comes to tyres Dunedin’s General Tyres knows what they’re talking about. At General Tyres we have been fitting, repairing and selling tyres for over 25 years. Email admin@generaltyres.co.nz www.transportrepairs.co.nz SOUTHERN FURNITURE MOVERS Coaching Southern Furniture Movers Ltd to “remark-able” results. Visit www.ikulutu.com • Email – carl@ikulutu.com • Phone – (021) 280-7166 1. Do you want a road map for managed growth in your business? 2. Do you want a better work/life balance? 3. Do you want or need nancial breakthroughs in business performance? 4. Do you want to retain or attract essential personnel consistently? 5. Do you want to attract more pro table clients? If so, your journey starts here with a limited number of business grants available.
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