Education and collaboration are critical to the success of reusable packaging programs. Front-line execution for reusables is important. This message is underscored by a recent update from Bakers Basco, the reusable packaging membership program set up by Allied Bakeries, Fine Lady Bakeries, Frank Roberts & Sons, Hovis and Warburtons to manage bakery equipment. The group is reporting marked improvements in attrition. Losses of bread baskets and dollies have decreased, a success attributed to better cross-team collaboration and education with bakery stakeholders.
The latest statistics show that the attrition rate for baskets has fallen 0.82% year-on-year by the end of February 2023, while the attrition rate for its dolly equipment has improved by 1.80%. At the same time, calls to the Bakers Basco helpline to report backlogs of all managed equipment have reduced 58by % year-on-year, 53% for Omega baskets specifically.
Education and collaboration lead to reduction in reusable packaging loss
Paul Empson, general manager at Bakers Basco, explains that these improvements have been reported across the board due to a more streamlined collaboration between its operations and investigations teams. It’s also the result of better education initiatives with key players in the bakery supply chain to ensure that they understand what to do with equipment and how to report any issues.
Regular equipment audits and driver briefings, for example, take place regularly across all shareholders’ sites to raise awareness of Bakers Basco’s work from both an operational and recovery perspective. By engaging directly with the drivers, who often work on different shifts and different routes from one day to the next, the effort is intended to encourage drivers to step up and help support Bakers Basco’s operations and recovery process.
“Over the last year, we’ve vastly expanded into new markets and industries to raise awareness and educate key stakeholders through a range of new measures and initiatives, and we’ve upped the ante with our PR campaigns,” says Empson.
“As a result, the whole collection process is more connected and is working more efficiently. It also comes down to taking a more measured approach across all aspects of our day-to-day business – and it’s encouraging to see this is all having a positive impact on being able to bring those all-important attrition rates down.”
Bakers Basco equipment is designed for the sole purpose of transporting bread. Sometimes it can be delayed and held up at supermarkets and other times it’s because it has been taken unlawfully and used by companies without permission, both of which cause massive disruption to the supply chain and the day-to-day running of operations.
Over the past few years, Bakers Basco has significantly stepped up its investment in technology by introducing GPS tracking devices across its bakery equipment pool to track and monitor the daily movements of its equipment more closely. This, along with a public awareness campaign to encourage the general public and specific industries to report any instances of misuse or abuse, is proving that these efforts are working.
About Bakers Basco
Bakers Basco was set up in 2006 by five of the UK’s leading plant bakers including Allied Bakeries, Fine Lady Bakeries, Frank Roberts & Sons, Hovis and Warburtons – representing more than 55% of the bakery market in the UK – to buy, manage and police the use of a standard basket for the delivery of bread to retailers and wholesalers. The company currently manages an equipment pool of approximately five million sturdy, reusable Omega Baskets and 500,000 dollies, which are part of the ‘circular economy’ – designed to last many years, with each piece of kit recycled potentially 400 times and the resulting raw plastic used to make more baskets before it reaches the end of its useful life. Find out more at http://bakersbasco.com/.