The University is renowned for its world leading research and academic excellence. Its Centre for Heuristics and Logistics Optimisation (CHLO), located within Kent Business School, is delighted to have partnered recently with a local company, Parker Steel, on a 30-month Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project.

Parker Steel is one of the UK’s leading steel stockholders and processors and has sites in various locations across the south east. Still a family run business, the company employs over 600 staff. Their processing facilities have grown significantly with over 30 state of the art machines across their sites. Parker Steel has a fleet of over 60-strong purpose built vehicles and arctic trailers, travelling over 30,000km every day transporting steel to England and Wales.

The KTP project, part funded by Innovate UK, will develop a robust and intelligent scheduling tool and evaluate strategic logistical scenarios. Routing and locational analysis expertise will be provided from a team of five academics within CHLO, enabling Parker Steel to gain a more efficient logistics operation. This much needed expertise is pivotal to the expansion of Parker Steel’s business enabling the company to reach new geographical areas within the UK.

KTPs are a UK-wide Government programme helping businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK academic knowledge base. In addition to academic input, the partnership will recruit a recently qualified postgraduate to deliver the project.

The introduction to Parker Steel was made by Kent Business School and the partnership was developed with the support of KTP staff within the University’s Innovation & Enterprise Department.

Sent in by: entmarketing@kent.ac.uk