Neil has been running logistics of the FPS DC for the past few months. Sheffield is familiar territory for Neil, as he was born, raised, and attended university there.
Neil is a management veteran since he accepted a fast-track management role at Mitchell and Butlers straight out of university. Neil jumped at the chance to un their new Manchester site, with the added bonus of being closer to his then-girlfriend (now wife!) who lived in Bolton. The new site was a success, and within 12 months, it was in the top 5 (out of 35 sites) in terms of revenue generated on a weekly basis.
Neil joined Platinum International (then known as UK Batteries) in October 2004 as Marketing Manager. As the 11th member of the team, Neil’s remit wasn’t limited to marketing; he had the tremendous opportunity to get involved in all aspects of the business. “If the Customer Service Manager is on the phone and the phone rings you pick it up, if the drivers have collected payments from customers you count it and allocate it on the ledger, if the sales team want a commercial analysis of a sales opportunity you calculate it.” Over the next 14 years, Platinum grew considerably to include 11 branches and more than 250 employees. During this time Neil took on a variety of roles including Marketing and Communications Director, I.T. Director, Supply Chain Director, and in early 2018 Finance Director.
Platinum was acquired on 3rd October 2018 by the Alliance Automotive Group, a development which offered both parties a great opportunity to grow in the marketplace. In April 2019, Neil became UK Group Logistics Director AAG, reporting to Steve Richardson and Angelo Arnone (Managing Directors of the UK) and Richard Beecroft (European Group Logistics Director). A considerable part of this new role is to facilitate new operational and logistical structures to ensure AAG acquisitions benefit from working as part of a collective group. Due to changes in the organisational structure at FPS, Neil has been spending most of his time in the FPS Sheffield DC assisting the operations team n site. This should mean that we will have more data to share from the FPS Sheffield DC going forward, including targets hit and the next steps in their progression.
These duties should ease up for Neil in August, when FPS’ new Logistics Director joins the team. This role will be reporting into both Neil Warren and Jonathan Eden, and will attend the FPS Exec meetings.
When he’s not on the floor at the FPS DC, Neil’s favourite pastime is spending time with his family; his wonderful wife Danielle, six-year-old daughter Sabrinah, 11-month-old son Christopher, and their westie Izzie Boo who is the self-proclaimed overlord of their neighbourhood.
Neil says “this is an extremely exciting time to be involved in the group, with some tremendous businesses operating on both a UK and European level”.
Like Platinum, FPS has come a long way, and both businesses are only set to grow as our expertise flourishes under AAG. We look forward to seeing what changes Neil brings to the company and what the future holds for the group.
