A business unit director at Gregory Distribution, of North Tawton, has said that continual investment in IT and new ways of communicating data are key to building lasting business partnerships.

Richard Carswell (right) oversees the annual collection of more than 392 million litres of milk from over 400 farms on behalf of Dairy Crest's cheese operation at Davidstow in Cornwall where the market-leading Cathedral City brand is manufactured.

After the cheese is made it is packaged and sent to North Tawton to mature before being sent to Nuneaton for cutting and packaging for general sale.

Richard said: 'This is a complex and sophisticated operation where we are trialling in-cab technology that can send real-time data, creating huge efficiency gains.

'The type of data identifies the farm, producer and production code and includes milk volumes and temperature, date and time of collection, driver details and location.

'Coupled with our investment in Geo-fencing technology, which is a virtual boundary that can monitor vehicle location and movement, we can maximise the information flow between the company, the customer, the farm and the driver.

'This not only helps us inform the farms precisely when a tanker will arrive, it also helps in bad weather planning and in reducing the miles our vehicles cover and therefore drives down unnecessary emissions.

'In business terms, this creates a strong partnership between us and our customer where there are benefits for everyone.'