A DAY IN THE LIFE OF… LANI WILKINSON

LANIName: Lani Wilkinson
Role: Logistics Supervisor for Superior Spas
Date joined: April 2019
Stand Out: Lani won ‘employee of the month’ in August 2020 as voted for by her colleagues for her hard work and being so helpful despite being so busy.
What is your role?
I am the main contact for our partner network for both delivery and collections. I also look after the delivery rota including route planning and driver allocation to the jobs.

8:45AM
I start the day at the morning meeting. It is a chance for us to share news, discuss the day ahead and offer ideas for improvements. It is really useful and a good way to start the working day.

9:00AM
The first thing I do is go through my emails and deal with anything urgent. Many of our partners may have emailed over night to check availability for delivery and collections. Some deliveries go straight to the customer and some straight to the partner to deliver. Our partners also check for updates on stock or lead times.

10:00AM
Next, I focus on the delivery rota. This can be quite complex with lots of variables. The day before a delivery I double check everything is in place. This involves liaising with our warehouse team to ensure we have the right stock ready and our drivers to ensure they are clear on the orders, route and we have no absences. I will also speak to our partners or customers to re-confirm. I plan the rota a week in advance. Over the summer it was incredibly busy and I was planning 16 or 17 routes, thankfully it is a little quieter now and it is 6 or 7. I have to contact our partners to confirm the orders and also ask for information that may be missing on the CRM. I group the deliveries based on the geographic location to ensure we have the most efficient route. I also book in the containers on the delivery rota. This involves talking to the freight forwarder, our partner network and also our warehouse team.

12:30PM
Time for lunch and a quick game of table football in our team room.

1:00PM
This afternoon I am going to book in our swim spa deliveries. These take longer than hot tubs as they are a bigger item and I need to liaise with the transport and crane company, the customer and our drivers to ensure everyone is in the right place at the right time. We have 3-4 swim spas being delivered every day in September, so it is a busy month!

2:00PM
I speak to our warehouse team on a daily basis – I confirm loading for the next day, check the driver’s availability and also speak to them about any issues that have arisen. I often have to solve problems in my role so have to be very quick to think on my feet to make sure everything runs smoothly.

3:00PM
I spend some time looking at how we can improve processes – this may be on our CRM or the delivery rota. I want to help improve the customer experience to ensure we go beyond expectations. I also help our logistics admin team with any queries they may have and also help with team training.

4:00PM
I answer any queries we have from our Costco account on shipping. In the peak of summer, we were shipping 50 hot tubs a day so I was extremely busy!

4:30PM
I spend most of my day on the phone it seems and my last calls of the day are speaking to the warehouse team to ensure that everything has gone to plan that day. I then sign off the orders on the system and mark as completed.

5:00PM
The day has flown by and now it’s time to go home. Time to relax when I get home ready for another day tomorrow.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB?
I love the family network we have here at Superior Spas. This is not just internally with our team but also our extended family – our partner network. I have built good relationships with our partners and it’s great that we’ve helped them grow this year too. I love that fact that we are growing as a company and we have ambition for the future. I am also looking forward to moving into our new purpose-built offices and warehouse next year