Priority Freight takes to the skies to keep production line running

• Major UK automotive manufacturer in danger of production halt due to European component shortage
• Priority Freight combines road and air freight to expedite components and speed up the supply chain

A European component shortage put a major UK automotive manufacturer in danger of halting their production line and incurring huge financial costs. Priority Freight added speed and flexibility to their supply chain by intercepting a consignment of components and delivering it directly to the manufacturer’s plant as quickly as possible.

Priority Freight immediately created an action plan to support their client within their promised 15-minute response time, arranging to meet the en route trailer, acquire the vital components and head straight for the client’s plant as quickly as possible. Swiftly recognising that a van would not be fast enough when the client was losing thousands of pounds for every minute the production line was delayed, the team started to calculate alternatives.

The only thing faster than direct road freight is air freight and, within the hour, Priority Freight had commissioned and landed a helicopter to rendezvous with the trailer as it entered the UK, at a partner’s premises in Hythe, close to the Channel Tunnel. 15-minutes after landing, the loaded helicopter was on its way to meet the onward vehicle at Birmingham airport to take the consignment on its final leg of the journey and deliver the urgent components to the client.

The components arrived at the production line within just 90 minutes, whilst the original trailer took over four hours, saving the client a valuable two-and-a-half hours. In addition, Priority Freight was able to secure a larger and faster helicopter than initially required, resulting in a greater quantity of components being expedited to the manufacturer’s plant, ensuring production downtime was averted and the automotive manufacturer avoided significant financial loss.

Thanks to the team’s rapid response time, in-depth knowledge of multimodal transportation and effective end-to-end communication, the project was a success, ensuring another client was extremely satisfied with Priority Freight’s service excellence.

Working around the clock, the team:

• Demonstrated proactive, quick thinking to negate the client’s potential large costs of production line halt
• Added speed and flexibility to the client’s supply chain by intercepting the consignment’s journey and reducing the transit time by two-and-a-half-hours
• Secured a helicopter to expedite the components to the manufacturing plant, averting production downtime
• Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of multimodal transportation, ensuring that the project was highly successful