Investment in the overseas locations has been coupled with a conscious effort to improve efficiency and reduce costs, as a result a new 80,000 square foot warehouse, immediately adjacent to AMS’ Redditch headquarters, is now in operation, removing the need for separate, smaller warehouses in different locations.

In addition, the company is making significant investment in its Integrated Business Systems (IBS) the AMS demand management software which is at the heart of all the company’s activities which is being upgraded to the latest version. As well as improving ease of use and the speed of all transactions, the upgrade of the new system will include the introduction of product barcoding, allowing staff to easily manage product traceability and the shipments to and from the warehouse on a ‘real time’ basis.

Group Managing Director, Jim Clark, says that the current investments are essential to retain a competitive advantage in a fast changing environment: “We anticipated three years ago that global sourcing was something which would rapidly become expected by our customers, rather than viewed as an option. The success of our Shanghai operation has proved that formalising our Chinese production capability was right.”

“Likewise, the rationalisation of our warehousing to one large site and upgrade of our IT system, demonstrates our commitment to keeping our costs down and improving our efficiency by providing the very best service in the minimum time,” he added.

“Given the current economic climate, we were under no illusions that 2008 would be easy but by putting the right plans into place, we’re proud to say that we are certainly ready to meet the challenges which come our way.”