Nisa is the brainchild of two grocery entrepreneurs – Dudley Ramsden and Peter Garvin who, in 1977, launched the company as the Northern Independents Supermarket Association to protect the interests of independents against the insurgence of the national supermarket chains.
Nisa is a unique member owned organisation serving independent food retailers. It represents over 1,300 registered shareholders operating over 3,000 stores and is flexible; enabling them to trade under their own fascia, to join the ever expanding Nisa symbol group or to choose the new alternative fascia, Loco. Through Nisa membership, retailers get access to a vast product range, an award winning own label range and an industry leading distribution network. In addition to this, retailers can take advantage of an array of services including marketing, a training academy, IT and public relations. This is then backed up by a strong support network covering member services and technological support.
Nisa has developed exponentially in the 40 years since it was established and with a bright future ahead, there will no doubt be many further developments to come as the business evolves to better meet the needs of its members.
Following their business growth, Nisa required a strategic and independent external view of how its logistics network could be optimised, and thus engaged the specialist Logistics and Supply Chain Consultants at Gideon Hillman Consulting UK.
The Logistics Specialists visited key operating sites and reviewed existing distribution networks, to better analyse operational processes and the current ways of working, and to understand the issues and concerns of members.
Using a combination of network modelling tools, the specialist Logistics and Supply Chain consultants at Gideon Hillman Consulting UK, were able to gain a comprehensive understanding of NISA’s ideal distribution network design, based on delivering the required level of service to all registered shareholder stores.