Argos Distribution Case Study
Client/industry sector
Instrom’s client is a well-known high street retailer that has outlets in every major town and
city throughout the UK and Ireland.
Background
Instrom was approached by the above retailer to work as part of their team to establish a new
700,000 sq ft warehouse and distribution centre on the outskirts of Darlington. Due to
continued expansion and the time-critical nature of the project, this major retailer had already
agreed the green field site for the new warehouse and distribution centre prior to awarding the
contract to Instrom as Security Consultants.
Instrom was appointed as their Security Consultants based on Instrom’s previous knowledge
of warehousing and distribution centres, together with their reputation for professional
unbiased security advice. The client was unable to release any of its in-house staff to take on
this role, because of the time pressures involved in establishing this warehouse.
Detail
The project commenced with Instrom providing an in-depth security risk assessment of the
site, which entailed the compilation of historical crime data, broken down in to categories
showing the highest incident of crime against the person and property. Instrom also provided
data on the crime trends forecast over the next few years by the local police authority.
Instrom worked very much within the clients’ team and attended all the relevant meetings
advising on the building design and layout, to ensure that the client’s people, premises and
profits would be protected.
Protecting the clients’ interest was a top priority when Instrom wrote the specification and
scope of works for the security systems, internally and externally, for the centre. This detailed
specification provided the blueprint for the design team and security contractor.
Appointing a security contractor was another task that Instrom managed. The tender process
to find the most suitable contractor for the job involved Instrom firstly identifying appropriate
contractors and secondly inviting them to tender. Instrom devised the tender questions and
the selection process, which gave each contractor points against their responses. This
allowed for a logical and detailed analysis of each contestant. Instrom’s approach and
analysis gave a clear winner, whom they appointed immediately. In the interests of quality
and continuous improvement Instrom were able to feedback to the unsuccessful contractors
on their areas of weakness.
Throughout the life of the project Instrom liaised with the design team and the security
contractors to ensure that they were adhering to the security specification produced by
Instrom and were on time in line with the project plan.
Conclusion
This project was delivered between July 2004 and August 2005. The security aspects of the
project were delivered to the plan and within budget. Instrom followed an established project
management process and produced progress reports throughout the life of the project. Once
the warehouse and distribution centre were live and working Instrom produced a completion
report detailing all security systems and equipment. The security contractor appointed by
Instrom was of a high standard and has continued to work on other projects for the client.
After the successful delivery of this project Instrom has been awarded several more contracts
with this retailer.
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