Gardman has acknowledged the company has experienced teething problems at its new £30 million custom-built distribution centre in Daventry but says it's confident it will cope with the busy Spring period.
The new centre was fully tested in Q4 2017 with a full “go live” date of 2nd January.
"Unfortunately, due to a lower than expected picking rate we have failed to meet our normally high service standards," said Pete Utting, Gardman's Chief Executive.
"This has now been solved by increasing our picker numbers and putting on a night shift to meet demand.
"This change has resulted in achieving our desired output. We will continue to build this capacity further over the coming weeks to counter any spikes in demand.
"We are confident we can catch up through February and then successfully meet the spring demand.
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our customers and reassure them that the challenges have now been managed.
"The foundations for great service are now in place. The building is complete in the centre of the country, the system works, we have the right people, our stock build is bigger and earlier than last year and now we have achieved the output rates we need.
"My sincere thanks to all our customers for their patience and understanding.
"I would also like to thank all the Gardman staff and contractors who have worked tirelessly to get this problem fixed."
