Member Article

Larger contract business arm of Office Depot UK and Ireland officially integrated into OT Group

• OT Group move to flagship HQ in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester with further plans for significant investment at this site • Parts of Office Depot UK & Ireland contract customers begin trading under new group on 27th September 2021 • Move serves to enhance customer experience through greater efficiency and innovation

Following the acquisition announcement in June 2021, parts of the UK and Ireland contract arm of Office Depot have now been fully integrated into business supplies and services provider, OT Group — part of the wider Paragon Group of companies.

The completion of this transaction will see an enhanced customer experience and service from the Group, as its new flagship headquarters in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester — which will undergo further significant investment — will mean significant improvement for its distribution capabilities.

The move will enable the business to provide a higher quality service to its customers– with the facility having the capacity to hold over 22,000 products and, using sophisticated picking technologies, achieves a 99.8% order accuracy rate.

Andrew Jones, CEO of OT Group, commented: “We’re so pleased to welcome both our new customers and colleagues, and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work to get us to this stage. The unification of two organisations is never easy but it has been managed with minimal disruption to operations.

“It also serves to showcase the growth the Group is undertaking – and evidences where we are innovating within our industry and leading within the market, while still providing the stability and reliability that our customers require during these turbulent times.” With customers listed in the transaction now on boarded onto OT Group systems, the business officially started trading under its new parent company as of the 27th September 2021.

The occasion was marked by the Group — which includes the OfficeTeam, OT Wholesale, Spicers Ireland and Zen Office brands — with an official launch event at the distribution centre in Ashton-under-Lyne.

The integration will also serve the wider group strategy, including the rollout of new services and solutions to all customers. While remaining specialists in supply chain management, it now offers businesses a full suite of end-to-end services to help streamline operations through data insight, automation, and digitisation – made possible through the Paragon Group.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katie Mallinson .