Newsletter SPRING 2017 webversion page flipping

Newsletter
Spring 2017
GBA group of company’s ltd February 2017
2020 vision Full Steam Ahead! A day in life of GDP Pharma
An update on profit improvement
projects
Page 3
A Marketing update
Page 7
Meet the team in Ashford
Page 11
Dedicated
Enterprising
Family Values
www.gbaservices.com

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
Welcome
Welcome
to the spring edition of the GBA newsletter
Welcome to GBA’s first Newsletter of 2017. Let me wish all of you and your
families a Happy New Year.
2016 was GBA’s most challenging year in the 29 years since I started business in
1987. As I have shared with you many times the impact of the Brexit uncertainties,
the weak European economy and the increased levels of competition meant
that we have all had to work harder and smarter than ever just to keep standing
still. Last year our UK company was the same size as 2015, however the great
news is that our Polish and Austrian companies grew strongly which means that
GBA as a European group will grow around 10%. I fully recognise the efforts in
every country, every depot and every department and I want to thank you for the
Dedicated hard work you have done over the last 12 months.
You all know that I am an optimist by nature. GBA could have never grown to
the size it is without us seeing opportunities in every challenge. This value of
“Enterprising” will be especially needed in 2017. I want to challenge each of you
to find new opportunities every day. This could be a way to sell a new service to
an existing customer, or a new customer lead to pass to Sales department, or a
quicker way of processing paperwork that cuts out duplication. Everyone has a
part to play in our Profit Improvement Plan that will bring long-term job security
for us all.
We have recently had good news with the Sales team bringing in some new
contracts and the depots finding new ways to generate revenue from our current
customers. But one swallow does not make a summer, and I want us all to work
more closely together to build on this positive start.
This year we will celebrate our 30th birthday under the name of GBA. I am
extremely proud of this achievement and I want to mark the occasion with some
type of celebration as our funds allow. I would like this to be the year when our
Family value really shines through and helps us stride towards our 2020 Vision.
David J Birkbeck
Managing Director
2017 is now firmly with us, it has been a strange start to the
year. Article 50 will soon be invoked, Brexit negotiations will
commence. President Donald Trump is at his desk in the
Oval office at the White House. I can’t remember another
year starting like this one, with so much discontent and
disharmony throughout our Nation and the USA. The world
for us all is changing I hope it will be for the better, but we
do face a voyage into the unknown.
In the Gospel of Matthew 6 verse 33 & 34 Jesus says “Seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all
these things (your needs) shall be added to you. Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Jesus was not telling us that we shouldn’t plan for the
future, but rather we shouldn’t waste energy by worrying
about things that may or may not happen.
In GBA we are continually planning for the future, there
is a team who are looking into the potential markets
that the changes in the UK’s relationship with the global
communities will bring to us, and as part of the wider team
I pray that you will join me asking for God’s wisdom and
guidance as we grasp the opportunities that will be coming
our way, both personally and as a Company, as Brexit
implications becomes clearer and our relationship with the
USA and the many other new markets develop.
With every blessing for the coming year. Looking forward
with hope and anticipation, with no time for worry.
David W Birkbeck
Chairman
2

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
2020 Vision
GBA 2020 Vision
GDP PHARMA
ROAD
TIME CRITICAL
AIR
HIGH SECURITY
CONTRACT LOGISTICS
“By December 2020 GBA will be the largest
UK Time Critical provider”
This is the summary of GBA’s 2020 Vision and in the last
Newsletter we shared with you an update on how we are
progressing with our plans. Since the last Newsletter many of you
will have been briefed by David Birkbeck on the challenges the
company is facing. We want to re-iterate that our long-term vision
and long-term plans will not be changed because of the current
economic uncertainties.
We have had substantial growth over the last 5 years going from
a £10M company to a European group of over £30M. There is no
intention of letting Brexit and a weak European economy get in the
way of our plans.
The Senior Management Team (SMT) have implemented new profit
improvement projects and accelerated others; for example:
• We now have a wide-range of fuel management technologies in
place. Fuel is one of our biggest costs and this will really give
our drivers the tools to help them control fuel consumption. By
the time you read this article many drivers will have received
the RIBAS training.
• Our new Quotation module is in place and is helping us
understand where we are winning, and more importantly losing
quotes.
• The Quote to Win training course has been fully rolled-out (see
Page 9)
• Our marketing team are working hard to refresh our branding,
website, brochures and promotional material to really help
customers understand our service portfolio.
We are starting to see some positive signs; we have strong
expectations of winning some new large contracts and trading in
November and December was slightly better than forecast. We
must however still continue with our strong cost control measures
to ensure that GBA is fit and ready for the challenges of 2017.
As always the biggest impact will come from our people living our
values, displaying our Dedicated, Enterprising and Family values,
from exceeding customers’ expectations, from delivering on-time
every time and having a positive attitude when they come to work
every day.
£10m
2015£30m
£30m
company european group
2009 2010
£10m2012
2011
2013 2014 2015
£30m2017
2016
2018
Dedicated
Enterprising
Family Values
3

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
News Update
GBA NEWS UPDATE
Minworth
Warehouse
The last quarter of 2016 has been incredibly
busy for everyone at Minworth as they have been
working hard to develop and implement new
processes to allow new work to flow through the
Warehouse site. This has allowed us to partner up
with another transport provider to coordinate their
Warehouse and transport requirements into the
assembly at Jaguar Land Rover.
GKN Freight Services approached GBA Services
early in 2016 to see if we would be interested
in tendering for their Warehouse and Transport
operations. They wanted a partner who had
experience in providing logistics into a customer
for production and following a successful tender
we secured their warehousing to support
their Erdington plant. This has been a major
investment for GBA as we have fitted new lighting
throughout the warehouse, constructed 1500
pallet spaces and purchased two Bendi trucks in
order to meet the customer requirements. The
warehouse will be fitted out to allow us to meet
current customer needs and we have also planned
to be flexible for new ones.
1500
pallet spaces
two
Bendi trucks
4

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
GBA Values
Our Dedicated People -
Living the
GBA Values
Enterprising
We asked our depot managers
to give us an example of how
someone at their depot, or their
depot as a whole, has exhibited a
great example of the 3 GBA values,
Enterprising, Dedicated, Family.
Dedicated
Enterprising
New Years Eve Fireworks
A big thanks to the team for coordinating the transportation
of New Years Eve fireworks for one of our customers. Jamie
Hudson, Anne-Marie Jones, John Hegarty and Rob Hunter
all worked extremely hard on this account receiving praise
from the customer and allowing some lucky people a big bang
celebration to welcome in 2017.
Family Values
New Years Eve
On New Year’s Eve Mike Candela
from our Ashford Depot hosted an
evening in the Manchester United box
to one of GBA’s large tier-one automotive
customers. John Hannah, Class 3 Driver acted as honorary
chauffer for the evening and all the attendees reported that
both John and Mike were professional and courteous and a
credit to the company. After enjoying watching the match from
the away stand himself, John then drove all the guests home
sharing with them in the buzz of the post-match excitement.
Thank you, John, for such a shining representation of GBA
services on NYE.
Unfortunately, as a Smoggie and a dedicated Middlesbrough
supporter we couldn’t provide John with a win and Man Utd
beat Borough 2-1. Sorry John!
Family Values
Boxing Day
A big thanks to Alex Burnett for
hosting the box on Boxing day,
sacrificing time with his family to watch
Man Utd thrash Sunderland 3 – 1 and look after a large
customer providing them with a memorable night out.
Whilst most of us enjoyed time off for fun and festivity, a
few dedicated members of staff put the 365 into the GBA
24/365. We would like to thank you for keeping the company
operational and providing a first-class service over the
Christmas period.
Enterprising
Family Dedicated Values
Enterprising
Family Values
Colin and Emma
Freeman
Our customer has sent a personal thank you and
appreciation to Colin and Emma Freeman, their ‘service
was particularly excellent’ Our customers client in the US
contacted them to say how delighted they were in receiving
the engine early which exceeded their expectations.
Well done Colin & Emma!
Think you can’t get it there? GBA can! An aircraft on ground
emergency? No problem!
On New Year’s Eve, a large UK airline turned to GBA in its hour
of need. With hundreds of passengers potentially stranded and
time of the essence, our Head of Operations Leah Birkbeck had
to be quick off the mark to ensure we provided the best service
possible. Only a hand carry could save the day! Mick Moore one
of our Preston based class 3 drivers sprang into action and was
more than happy to oblige. Racing to meet Leah on route with all
relevant documents needed, Mick was soon on his way to Leeds
airport to make the NYE evening flight. Once getting the cargo
there safely Mick spent New Year’s Day sat in the airport waiting
for his return flight. If this doesn’t reflect the GBA company
values of dedicated and enterprising then nothing does!
Another happy customer, thank you Leah and Mick!
Dedicated Enterprising Family Values 5

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
People
GBA People
We’d like to say a big “well done” to Harry Stoddart
who passed his final assessment for automotive
mechanics apprentice level 1 & 2 light vehicles
in December. Harry willnow be proceeding to his
Heavy vehicle mechanics qualification.
Interview:
Melisa Haskic,
HR
1. Highlights of your life;
• Passing my driving test first time! Cliché but no one
in my family thought I would manage it first time round.
• Graduating with a business & management degree &
completing my C.I.P.D Level 3 whilst working full time.
2. Surprising fact about yourself:
• My family and I are originally from Bosnia, we came to the UK when I was 3 years
old to escape the war and settled in lovely Bolton! (Hence the accent!)
A massive congratulations
to the lovely Jodey from our
Swadlincote depot who gave
birth to the beautiful Amber
Sophie Elsie Davies on Saturday
10th December. This little bundle
of fun weighed in at 7lb 2oz and
is Jodey’s first girl.
A huge congratulations to Jack
from Preston Operations who
became Dad to the delicious
Nellie Newman on the 2nd
December 2016. Little Nellie
weighed 7lb 1oz . Needless to
say Jack is over the moon with
his new daughter.
3. Pet hates and why?
• Inconsistency & bad manners.
4. Most favourite thing to do?
• Spend time with my family & going on holiday, preferably somewhere hot!
5. First job?
• Sales assistant at women’s clothes shop called Ultima in Bolton when I was 15.
6. If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?
• Spend more time with loved ones who are no longer here.
7. If you were shipwrecked on a desert island, which one item would you
take with you?
• A good long book! Ideally something that I can learn from that would help me
come accustomed to island life.
BIG
Birthdays
Colin Freeman 40
Hannah Wallbank 21
Luke Pierce 21
Alin Toma 30
Neil Tucker 30
Nathan Whittall 21
Kellyann Hall 18
Work Anniversaries
George Eatock – 10 years – 05/02/2017
Thomas Maddison – 10 years on 30/10/16
Geoff Challen – 10 years on 06/11/2016
Thank you for your continued commitment
Gents, here’s to the next 10!
ACKLAM Charity Bike Ride
In Summer 2016 GBA provided two
sprinter vans for a charity bike ride.
John Hannah and Mark McMenemy
dedicated 3 days of their time providing
the transport for ACKLAM Rugby Club’s,
equipment and luggage as the riders
took part in a gruelling 125 mile trek.
John and Mark acted as back up for any
emergencies, ensured all of the bikes
were ready at the start line and returned
all equipment home whilst the tired
riders enjoyed a well-earned rest and
caught the train.
The bike ride raised an amazing £1,650
for South Cleveland Heart Fund, James
Cook Hospital.
This year John will be doing the same
again on June 3rd as the bikers take on
a new’ Coast to Coast’ challenge, taking
them past the world famous Tan Hill Inn
– the highest Pub in England!
6

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
GBA Brand
Marketing
Update
Full steam ahead
2017 is going to be a big one for Marketing. After
taking the time to put our strategic plans together
in Q4 of last year, we’re now ready to embark on a
full year of activity to strengthen our business in a
number of important areas.
First and foremost our goal in Marketing is about getting more sales
leads in, and then supporting the sales process to help the conversion
into additional business for GBA.
In order to do this, we have a number of objectives for the year
ahead:
• Increase our telemarketing activity and be much more
disciplined with our sales campaigning throughout the year
• Continue with our Depot Lead programme which proved
very worthwhile at the back end of 2016 – so if you know of
a potential business lead for GBA, then please speak with a
member of depot staff
• Attend more industry events and exhibitions
• Raise GBA brand awareness through more effective use of PR,
advertising and digital marketing
• Launch a new customer surveying programme
• Monitor uptrends and downtrends in customer activity – looking
for opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell
• Rejuvenate our marketing materials – including a complete a
refresh of our company website and;
• Ensure all activity is well timed and inter-connected
I’m pleased to say that we’ve made a strong start to
the year with a couple of major milestones. We’ve
appointed a new PR & Marketing Agency, Pilot
Marketing, who replace Torque Agency.
By making this change, we will be partnering with
a highly experienced agency within the freight
and logistics industry press and will get much
better value for money by receiving more hours of
support, yet reducing cost by 45%.
We’ve also committed to our first major event of
the year by sponsoring eyefortransport’s Hi-Tech
Supply Chain Summit. The event brings together
industry thought leaders from the world’s biggest
and most advanced technology manufacturers,
retailers and telecom infrastructure providers to
discuss the latest challenges and opportunities
facing the hi-tech supply chain. With over 150
senior level attendees and over 12 hours of one to
one networking, we’re confident that it will provide
a great opportunity to uncover new prospects from
one of our key target sectors in 2017.
Full. Steam. Ahead.
Will Jones
Marketing Manager
7

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
Mix Telematics
GBA & Mix
Telematics Solutions
Investing in safe and fuel
efficient driving
We are all really excited this month as we
have officially launched the new RIBAS units
in all vehicles.
All drivers will have been fully briefed on how they can drive
more safely and efficiently with continuous training sessions
took place at Royston throughout January. The switch on date
was 29th January and we can now start analysing all the data
for each driver.
All drivers will have access to MyMix app which gives real time
information on how they have been driving and they will also
be able to compare their driving to the rest of the fleet. The
report details which areas of driving could be improved, so we
are really keen to see improvements week by week from our
fleet of professional drivers.
Remember Drivers, in order to have valid data and a true
picture of your driving styles you MUST use your BlueKey
everytime you are in a GBA van /analogue truck, regardless if
you are on a job or not.
The BlueKey is assigned to you, so it is really important that
you keep it with you at all times. Simply insert the key into the
socket of the vehicle you are driving and this will automatically
assign you to that vehicle. Remember incentives and
eventually payroll will be linked to this so it is important that
you do not forget. Look out for updates on this exciting new
project, and Happy driving..
8

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
QTW
Q U ot e
T o w i n
The last couple of months in 2016 saw the successful
roll out of our brand-new Quote To Win module. This
programme was designed to provide our customer facing
staff with additional tools and skills to help them confidently
quote to win and generate more profitable work for GBA.
We are pleased that we are already seeing positive changes
in the way in which we have been quoting and building up
relationships with customers and sub contactors. With the
support of the Supply Chain Department the Operations
team have been able to improve the way in which they
source the best solutions for our customer from our
subcontract partners across Europe.
The feedback from the course was really encouraging and
it received a positive reception for many reasons, including
the following
• Bringing staff together to share their experiences across
different teams
• Providing insight into each operational job role and
spreading new ideas. The range of people and their
unique skills meant that ideas and knowledge were
shared and new ways of working discussed.
• A refresh and guidance on the basics such as vehicle
sizes, weights, dimensions etc
This initiative was led by the Supply Chain department
who, supported by members of the SMT designed and
implemented QTW. Sam Mortimer (Supply Chain Manager)
says “Being involved in Quote to Win was a really positive
experience for us. Not only were we were able to explore
our own roles and discuss the role of the Supply Chain team
in the quote process but we were able to take on-board
new ideas from the teams which we will include in our 2017
plans.”
Quote to Win has enabled some real improvements within
the operations teams. Aided by the setting of weekly “fun
objectives” we have seen an increase in communication with
subcontractors, fostering closer ties between us. We have
seen the operations teams making better use of the tools
available to them and our subcontractor base has increased
covering new areas and increasing vehicle types.
Another fantastic change has been the way in which
we negotiate with subcontractors. This was part of the
QTW module and we opened up lots of discussions and
improvement points throughout the training modules.
We saw this as a key area and led a session on costs and
negotiating with the focus on confidently winning more jobs
to directly improve profit margins.
And QTW doesn’t end there. We have strong plans in place
for 2017 to continue to drive forward the successes of this
programme throughout the organisation. There will be a
follow up Quote To Win module around mid-year offering
additional techniques to further enhance skills at sourcing
options and offering solutions.
A big thank you to everyone who attended the course, and
we look forward to more “Quoting to Win” in 2017.
SUCCESS
NEW
IDEAS
SKILLS
FUN
OBJECTIVES
NEGOTIATE
SOLUTIONS
IMPROVE
TEAM
9

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact HR.
GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
Drivers Notice Board
GBA Drivers Notice Board
Booking Holidays
New app for Tacho drivers
Fig.1
The RHA tachograph analysis system that the Fleet team use to
analyse digital and analogue tachographs is now available as
a mobile app on your GBA work phone. This is a great tool to
use and supports our commitment to invest in safe driving,
allowing you access to your driving history. This can be done
by going onto the “GBA Browser” on your phone and simply
selecting the “Tachograph Analysis” icon (fig 1). The fleet team will
shortly be issuing you with a log on name and password which you
will be able to change to something more memorable on your first
log in.
If you need to access this on a personal device, you can visit
www.rhaanalysis.uk.net and enter your details.
Once you have logged on by selecting the option for ‘charts’ you
will be able to see a calendar with your driving hours’ data. (fig 2) If
you then select the month, year and day you can see the working/
driving data for that day displayed in a graph, with any infringements
highlighted (fig.3). In the event of you having any infringements you
will be contacted by either a member of the Fleet team or a Depot
Manager to ensure that you understand what has happened and
how to prevent the infringements in the future.
Fig.2
To streamline the holiday / time off booking
process, please note the following changes;
All holiday and time off requests must be
submitted on a Monday between 9am and
12 noon.
You will receive a response before the
Wednesday of the same week to advise if
this request has been approved or not. Any
exception from this rule will only be accepted
in case of emergency.
MyMix
The RIBAS units in vehicles have now been active for a little over a week
and we are starting to get some good data back. The overall target is
for GBA as a company is to achieve an average score of 95 or above.
The most recent average score, for those drivers that have received the
training, is 93.8. A fantastic start!
The scoring report has now highlighted that there are two key areas
that when improved, will help GBA achieve the target average. Harsh
acceleration and harsh braking. The current scores for these areas are
88.92 and 87.42 respectively as shown in the charts below. The prime
reason the RIBAS unit have been fitted is to improve the safety of our
drivers and other road users. Reducing the amount of harsh acceleration
and braking (when and where it is possible) will certainly help achieve
this.
Important – French Macron
All drivers should now have had their RIBAS training at one of the depots,
or received an email containing training materials for your perusal. You
Attestation forms have expired!
As you know the Macron Law applies to any drivers collecting or
delivering to, from and within France (not transiting through).
should have been given your password to log in to the My Mix App, if
you have not received the training and/ or your MyMix Password please
contact
Selanie Ball on 751 or Rob Marsden on 747.
This law requires all drivers to keep the following documents in
their vehicle at all times;
What was really encouraging to see was that 58 drivers have logged into
the MyMiX app so far to review their scores. This is currently the best
• A paper copy of their contract of employment (including
a French translation of Pg. 17 – Rates of pay and details of
hours and work)
statistic Mix Telematics have had within all of their customers. So a big
well done to all of those drivers!
For those of you who have not yet logged in we strongly encourage you to
do so as this will provide you with some really useful information on your
• Attestation Form (Attestation De Detachment) Valid for six
months only. Current version expired on 31st January 2017.
All European drivers have had the latest version of the
Attestation Form emailed to them with an expiry date of August
2017. If you have not received this or you are unable to print,
please ensure you collect a copy from any GBA depot.
As we are in the very early days of the roll out we would encourage you to
provide us with any constructive feedback you have that may help us to
make any improvements.
driving style and area’s of improvement.
It is really important that you have the above in hard copy readily
available to produce to the authorities should you be asked.
The maximum penalty if the attestation is not on board or noncompliant
(i.e. out of date) is up to Ð750, the maximum penalty
for failing to produce your contract of employment is Ð450.
Failing to produce both of these could result in a fine of up to
Ð2,000.
10

GBA Newsletter - Spring 2017
A day in the life & Quiz
A day in the life of
GDP
Pharma
At the Ashford depot, we are the hub for temperature controlled and
pharmaceuticals work within GBA. We pride ourselves on dedicated service
levels that we supply to all of our customers.
Day to day we work with many Blue Chip Pharmaceutical
companies moving high value goods nationally and across
Europe. This involves 24/7 monitoring of the temperatures
using Masternaut and most recently the new Mix telematics
system. This allows us to monitor the vehicles temperatures
closely using door opening/closing and excursion alerts
which are sent directly to staff as well as the drivers and GBA
Poland where applicable. This information is also passed to
customers via Fleetfence so that we have total transparency.
All staff are fully trained in GDP and our new IOS 9001 2015
incorporates the latest GDP guidelines.
The GBA owned fleet have the latest locking systems and
along with our telematics and temperature controlled Gold
and Cold contract, we are one of the top three temperature
controlled transport companies in the UK. We also have a
subcontracting database and work closely with our approved
subcontractors. This means that we are able to offer our
services to a wider audience and along with the latest
telemarketing strategy, we are targeting potential new
temperature controlled accounts.
Our expert knowledge within the industry as well as our
cheerful and positive approach when working with customers,
means that we are now the first point of call for our
customers when booking temperature controlled transport.
This is reflected in the monthly customer KPI’s where we are
achieving a 99% score for our service levels.
Hip Hip...
Hooray !
This year on 18th May 2017
GBA will celebrate their
30th Birthday…
So, for the chance of winning a £50
shopping voucher or an extra days holiday
this year see if you can answer all of the
following questions correctly...
3.
1.
5.
What year was GBA services Ltd incorporated?
2.
4.
What do the flag colours on the GBA logo represent?
Besides the Birkbeck family who is the longest serving member of GBA staff?
What was the first type of van purchased by GBA?
What was the first type and model of truck purchased by GBA ?
Please complete your details and return this to Selanie Ball at Head Office with your completed Quiz.
NAME
DATE
DEPOT
CLOSING DATE: 31st March 2017 Please contact HR if you need help reading this.
Correct Answers from last Newsletter Quiz: ‘Who lives in an igloo like this?’; Top left - Emma Birkbeck, Bottom left - Nick Tissot, Top right - Mike Candela,
Botton right - Kane Jeffs. Well done to all of those who answered correctly.
Dedicated
Enterprising
Family Values
11

Christmas Card
Competition
The Overall Winner of GBA’s
Christmas card competition.
Lola Challen, aged 5
Here she is receiving the news from our Managing
Director David Birkbeck!
Merry
Christmas
Winners of the individual age groups.
Abigail
Hutchinson
Category 6-10 years
card was designed by
n, 11 - 16 years Winner
ristmas card competition"
Georgia
Hutchinson
Category 10-16 years
“This Christmas card was designed by
Abigail Hutchinson, 6 - 10 years Winner
in GBA's Design a Christmas card competition"
Dedicated
Enterprising
Family Values
www.gbaservices.com