Institute of Logistics and Transport Award Winner ( Jan 2002)

HRH The Princess Royal presenting the prestigious Manufacturing Logistics Award to IFS Chairman Mr Walter Anderson.

National Honour for Antrim Company
From Ulster Tatler January 2002

Local Northern Ireland company Ireland Freight Services - IFS Global Logistics were recognised as the national winners of the Manufacturing Logistics category at the prestigious Annual Awards of the Institute of Logistics and Transport (ILT), presented by HRH The Princess Royal at a gala Dinner in London.

This coveted award was given for outstanding achievements by IFS for their innovative contribution in developing and delivering a state of the art web-based system to hold inventory for companies at a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) hub, in close proximity to the company's manufacturing base. The profitable virtual warehousing and supply chain management system is called Vendorvillage.

Vendorvillage enables leading manufacturers to push high value inventory off their books by creating proximity hubbing platforms for their international suppliers. The specialised bond means the manufacturers here literally have their global supply base on their doorstep and a vastly increased cash flow besides. The supply chain is further compressed through the Vendorvillage system by allowing production lines to receive directline replenishment from the VMI hub by call-off through FTP transfers direct from their own MRP/Management Systems.

Notably, IFS has been shortlisted in 2 other categories in the Awards showing the quality of this home-grown Belfast Giant (also logistics providers to the Ice Hockey team). Indeed, these accolades follow closely on the heels of winning the NI finals of the UK Interforum E-Commerce Awards (the first logistics or transport company ever to win), as well as narrowly missing out on the UK final in the same awards, but still being highly commended and shortlisted to the final three.

On receiving the award from HRH The Princess Royal, IFS Chairman Mr Walter Anderson commented: "This national accreditation for logistics solutions to the manufacturing industry is reflective in the effort and dedication by the IFS team and our web design partners WDS Internet. We at IFS realise and appreciate that innovation and service is the oxygen of our success; we look to receiving continued support from the national manufacturing base in Supply Chain efficiencies forward."

ILT Chief Executive Graham A Ewer CB CBE commented: "There was a very high standard of entries to this year's awards and the judges had a difficult job selecting the winning submissions. We are delighted and honoured to support this event and the presence of HRH The Princess Royal brought and additional excitement to the ceremony."

The IFS Group is a multi-modal logistics provider, employing 230 employees with a £25M turnover, and has been improving Northern Ireland's logistics infrastructure for the past 35 years. The boost to the Northern Ireland manufacturing industry should not be underestimated as the new innovative logistics solutions will ensure locally based manufacturing companies can continue to compete on the global stage with the best in the world.

Back to Main News