A UK firm which supplies medical and cold chain vaccine bags has announced its overseas expansion with the opening of a new warehouse in Europe.
CorrMed, based just outside Gloucester, has signed an agreement with Kinesis Medical, a specialist warehousing and fulfilment organisation in the Netherlands, following significant business growth over the last 12-18 months.
The company, spearheaded by managing director Katie Houghton who has over 20 years’ sector experience, has seen sales soar during the pandemic, as demand drastically increased for its infection control products. This included its Universal Medical Infection Control bags delivered to the NHS Nightingale Hospitals, as well as donations of Mass Incident bags to medical teams in Oxfordshire, to assist both field medics and frontline paramedic teams.
The expansion comes after the team used the time during COVID to research and invest in new products, to analyse the supply chain and invest in additional warehousing, distribution facilities and logistics staff.
The move was also influenced by the export challenges the firm faced because of Brexit, which caused shipment delays and uncertainty around European delivery. The business sought an urgent, reliable and trusted solution to its distribution dilemma, as it found the lead-in time “unacceptable” for both CorrMed and its European partners.
Houghton said: “Securing a European trade deal post-Brexit sends out an extremely positive message to UK businesses that want to expand to the EU. When Brexit happened, it became clear, quite quickly, that shipments out to our European partners were taking an excessive and therefore unacceptable time to deliver. To ensure we could continue to offer a fast service and delivery on our products, Kinesis Medical’s one-stop shop and exclusive service to the medical and cosmetics industry, meant its end-to-end solution and highly specialised approach would make an excellent partner for CorrMed.
“In June 2021 we received our first shipment of Porta Thermal products into the Netherlands. We are thrilled to now be in a situation where distributors in Europe will have a fast delivery of our products and we look forward to developing this market further.”
