Global logistics powerhouse, Staci, continues to grow while delivering exceptional service
Since its foundation in 1989, Staci Group (Staci) has specialized in order fulfilment logistics, offering multichannel logistics and distribution solutions. With a focus on delivering excellent service, Staci’s innovative integrated solutions promise customers agile logistics while also providing flexible management through real-time data.
“Staci is an amazing business that I’m very lucky to be a part of,” opens Wayne Chapman, Staci’s UK Managing Director. “It’s evolved significantly over the years
through both organic and acquisition-based growth. We’ve now got 79 digital logistics hubs, or what we call fulfilment centers, in nine countries across three continents.
“Our turnover currently sits at around €800 million, and we had a goal to be a one-billion-euro company. However, we’ve now set our goals even higher with a target to reach two billion euro, or in other words, double the current size of the business, over the next five-to-seven years.
“In the UK, we had just opened our fourth site when I first joined, and today, we’re already up to seven locations,” he adds. “We’re continuously innovating to identify ways to enhance our efficiency and productivity, and we have specific projects underway around automation and mechanization. There is so much technology out there, so it’s about choosing which options work best for us. Our American colleagues are currently using robots and AI cameras, for instance, to check orders as they’re being packed. We’ll learn about the process from them before evaluating whether it would work for operations elsewhere in the world.”
Specialist systems
Turning to operations specifically, Wayne says: “We’re multichannel logistics experts operating across a number of different sectors. In fact, that’s where our name comes from, as Staci is a French acronym for all sectors including societal, technological, agricultural, commerce, and industrial.
“We’re not a traditional logistics business moving whole pallets across the network, but instead, we specialize in complexity and flexibility, often completing single-item picks. We work across several different service levels too, such as e-commerce, marketing, fulfilment, and business-to-business (B2B) logistics. We also have several businesses that focus on the spare parts sector, completing return repairs and then resending products.
“As opposed to commoditized logistics, we’re a niche 3PL business with an opportunity to add value to complex areas of our customers’ supply chains. To give an example, we process a lot of products without barcodes, which poses a problem for modern warehouses as every item is scanned before being stored in the correct area. To overcome this, we have specialist systems in place to process items without barcodes and ultimately ensure we deliver high levels of service to our clients.
“This example highlights how integral systems are to what we do,” he continues. “Our clients have access to a single customer interface, where they can place orders, see real-time tracking data, and receive proof of delivery on a global basis.”
Thinking globally, acting locally
As an international business with locations throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, all Staci’s divisions are committed to four guiding principles – partnership, commitment, innovation, and participation – but each country’s sites also operate independently. “We have a tagline that reflects what we do in terms of thinking globally but acting locally,” Wayne explains. “This means that while we’re a global business with a huge turnover, all our divisions collaborate and interact on a regular basis. We have no central office as such, but as a decentralized business, we all interact very closely.
“Although every country has its own operations such as a dedicated marketing team and salespeople, we also have a global vision. We don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach, but instead have multi framework agreements that allow each region to operate its own local template that suits its client base. We receive great customer feedback on this model, as clients like that they can have senior level contacts within the team, but also interact and create solutions with our teams that are tailored very specifically to local languages, cultures, and perhaps most importantly, routes to market.
“One of our greatest strengths is our people,” he states. “We focus our investment on not only attracting great talent, but also retaining it, particularly during the current labor shortages. We must continue to ensure Staci is a great place to work and that our teams feel part of the brands they’re working with.”
With this focus on people in mind, Wayne reflects on his own leadership style. “A crucial aspect of being a good manager is having the confidence to have people around you who are more knowledgeable than you are in their subject areas,” he proposes. “I approach my role as a general manager with an overview of operations, so I surround myself with experts in the field who I trust to advise me.”
Growth trajectory
When it comes to sustainability, Staci’s global yet local perspective applies, as the business has established individual targets. “We have both global and local targets,” Wayne confirms. “In the UK, we have a detailed plan outlining our goals like transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy and installing electric vehicle (EV) charging points to encourage the uptake of EVs. As our UK sites are located in the Northwest, we’ve taken on an EV for running around the sites, which is going to save around 10,000 kilos of CO2 per year.
“One of the biggest impacts we can have in the area of sustainability is by sitting down with our clients to discuss where we can work together to reduce both of our carbon footprints. We must do things in conjunction with our customers, who often also have their own sustainability goals, to get their stock levels correct. By consolidating orders and getting them right the first time, we reduce not only the number of deliveries but also the returns, which clearly has a positive impact on emissions.”
With 2024 now ahead of us, Wayne shares: “Our focus this year is to establish an appropriate balance between cost and service. The UK economy is fairly flat at the moment, so we need to continue winning new business and also retain existing business to keep growing. We’ll also continue to improve our service and use technology, automation, and mechanization to maintain our cost base amid inflation. We’re very flexible and we’re looking to attract the right type of clients in attractive growth sectors with whom we can build sustainable, longstanding partnerships.
“In the longer term, we’ve set ourselves a target to reach €100 million turnover in the UK, and as I outlined earlier, we’d like to be a €2-billion company from a group perspective,” he concludes. “However, above all, we must navigate the challenge of maintaining Staci’s successful model and reputation while growing the business at a significant pace to achieve our targets.”