Operations report · October 2026
Supplier Review: Third Quarter
Prepared by Marta Kline, Head of Procurement, for the Halden Foods leadership team
1 Overview
This review covers the nine suppliers that provide packaging, dry goods and cold-chain transport to our four distribution sites between July and September. It follows the format agreed in the spring, so each section can be read on its own.
Source 1Overall, on-time delivery improved from 91.2% to 94.6% against the previous quarter, and order accuracy reached 98.9%. Three suppliers account for most of the gain, while two remain below the 90% minimum set in our service agreements.
Spend for the quarter was 4.82 million, which is 3.1% under budget. The saving comes mainly from renegotiated freight rates, not from lower volumes, which were broadly flat.
2 Delivery performance
Deliveries are measured at the dock door against the confirmed slot. A load is on time when it arrives within thirty minutes of the slot, and complete when every line matches the order.
| Supplier | On time | Accurate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightmoor Packaging | 97.8% | 99.4% | |
| Calder Cold Freight | 96.1% | 99.0% | |
| Tamsin Dry Goods | 94.0% | 98.7% | |
| Oakridge Labels | 88.3% | 97.9% | |
| Penrose Pallets | 86.7% | 98.2% |
Brightmoor and Calder again set the standard. Both moved to a shared booking calendar in July, which cut average dock waiting time from 41 minutes to 18.
3 Cost and pricing
Freight remains the largest line, at 38% of spend. The new three-year agreement with Calder fixes fuel surcharges to a published index, which removes the largest source of monthly variance.
Source 2Packaging prices rose 2.4% on average, below the 4.0% forecast. Brightmoor held its rates in exchange for a volume commitment, and Oakridge agreed to a six-month freeze after a joint review of label specifications.
We do not expect to repeat the quarter's freight saving. Two of the three renegotiated routes were one-off consolidations, and the third depends on the Northern depot staying at its current volume.
4 Risks and open issues
The main operational risk is concentration. Cold-chain transport depends on a single carrier for 71% of chilled volume, and a service interruption would affect all four sites within two days.
Source 3Oakridge Labels and Penrose Pallets have each missed the 90% on-time minimum for two consecutive quarters. Under the agreements, a third miss entitles us to start a formal improvement plan, with a decision due by the end of November.
Smaller issues are tracked in Appendix A, including a recurring paperwork delay at the Eastgate receiving bay and a pending change to pallet dimensions.
5 Recommendations
We recommend a second chilled carrier for the two southern sites, a formal improvement plan for both underperforming suppliers, and a move to weekly rather than monthly scorecards.