Nick Thompson is the Head of Global Supply Chain at Sambro and has been with us for 10 years. We had a catch up with Nick to understand the world of Supply Chain…
Tell us a little bit about your role at Sambro?
“As Head of Global Supply Chain at Sambro, my role is to manage orders from sales qualification through to delivery to the end customer.”
What do you enjoy about your role at Sambro?
“I love how every day is different, although it can be very challenging at times, it is very rewarding when you see our product in retailers across the world, knowing that you and your team had a major part to play in getting it there.
How long have you been in the Supply Chain industry?
“21 years”
How did you get in to the Supply Chain industry?
“I returned from America after spending a year out there playing and coaching football. Without a job on my return to the UK, my auntie asked if I wanted some part time work within a freight forwarding company, 21 years later I am still within the industry and loving every minute.”
Can you explain some of the recent challenges for Sambro regarding Supply Chain?
“The recent attack on vessel in the Red Sea is currently proving a challenge to our supply chain, and is affecting all supply chains around the world. It means we have to divert ships due to reduced traffic through the Suez Canal. This is a hugely popular route as it is the shortest maritime route between Asia and Europe so changing this route involves a lot of planning and preparation.”
How did the Covid-19 lockdown effect supply chain? What were the challenges of this and how was it overcome?
“This was something that no one saw coming and it took the world by surprise, I don’t believe that anyone had witnessed anything like this before. We took various steps to try and mitigate the delays caused by Covid-19, one of these was to design and implement our own in house track and trace system for containers, this meant that we could and still can monitor any delays from a container being collected by the shipper for loading, through to being returned empty back to the container depot at destination.”
How do we work with EU retailers to deliver bespoke value driven products in UK?
“We have three warehouses strategically located in and around the Rotterdam area, this gives us immediate access to containers as soon as they are unloaded from the vessels in Rotterdam port. After extensive research we found that Rotterdam is the ideal location and an excellent gateway to the rest of the EU.”
How we offer domestic stock and balance this with FOB orders?
“Sambro can offer all our customers the option of taking the stock FOB (handover in China), or domestically, (delivered to their warehouse). How we deliver the stock ultimately depends on the choice of the customer.”
What is your favourite vessel?
“Maersk Mc-Kinney”
Have you spent anytime on a ship?
“No, but I would love to do a trip from Asia into Europe on a containership!”
