Rob Cottrell

Leading complex projects with a keen attention to detail and bringing project teams together to deliver meaningful long-term benefits for clients

I joined Hatmill in 2017 having previously held a variety of operational and project roles for Morrisons and latterly Wincanton. I started on the Morrisons logistics graduate scheme which gave me an invaluable insight into the end-to-end challenges of a time critical supply chain and broad experience in managing large teams both operationally and as part of a project. I then joined Wincanton where I completed my Transport Managers CPC and managed the Transport operation for a retail contract with a fleet of c.100 vehicles and c.120 drivers delivering to stores across the Southeast.

Since joining Hatmill, I have worked across a number of sectors including food-to-go, fast fashion, construction and beauty delivering complex projects with long-term tangible benefits. Recent experience includes:

• Project managing the concept design, tender selection, £26m business case sign-off, implementation and cutover of a 14,000-pallet capacity coldstore for one of the UK’s leading food-to-go retailers. This facility comprises an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) operating at -20°C, across nine storage levels up to 23m internal height in a lights out hypoxic environment. The project was delivered during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic consolidating four external storage sites into a single National Distribution Centre alongside the build and fit-out of modern sustainable welfare facilities to support the business growth
• Project managing the fit-out, implementation and cutover of a 3PL operation for a leading European sportswear retailer. The total project value was c. €5M and included the implementation of a goods-to-person AMR solution operating 24/7
• Project managing the fit-out, implementation and go-live of a click and collect operation for a leading international clothing retailer. Total project value was c.£3M with successful deployment of a warehouse operation with a stockholding range of c.1M units. A Transport fulfilment solution was also implemented to service the twenty-five pilot stores
• Strategy development and implementation of a warehouse layout change for a fast-growing online beauty retailer resulting in a 20% increase in productivity and 15% increase in storage capacity