TwoWay shows the way forward

Initiated by large multinationals, an independent Irish company, TwoWay, has managed to corner a major share of the logistics and freight forwarding market.

TwoWay's remarkable success has been largely based on its pioneering role in information technology which has allowed it to offer a range of value added services for companies using its six depots in Ireland and the UK.

Founded 14 years ago by North Dublin businessman Tommy Kelly, the company's headquarters is based at Ballyboughal, near Swords, where it has built over 100,000 sq ft of high quality warehousing on the former Bellinstown Industrial Estate. Elsewhere it has another 400,000 sq ft of warehousing. The Ballyboughal complex is surrounded by part of the extensive farmlands of another noted businesssman, Pat McDonagh, founder of the e-learning group Riverdeep.

TwoWay's development of a sophisticated computerised system which allows customers to directly track their goods at all stages during their movement has proved an invaluable marketing tool. The integrated system has been particularly useful in the rapid expansion of an overnight road freight forwarding service between the UK and Ireland. With anything from 800 to 1,000- door-to-door shipments a day, the cross-Channel service accounts for about 30 per cent of the company's £30 million (€38.09m) turnover. It has a staff of 240 and operates 50 trucks and vans in Ireland and around the same number in the UK.

Unusually, it invests almost as much in new technology as in its fleet of trucks and vans. This allows it to develop a dedicated service for each of its customers, most of whom are involved in computers, pharmaceuticals and electronics.

TwoWay operates a stock control system for many of these companies, delivering the raw material to plants just as it is required and picking up the finished products for delivery around the world. Its global network includes 230 offices in the United States alone.

The company also stores more than 10,000 essential components and spares for international companies based in Ireland which are delivered when required on a 24 hours basis. Delivery is guaranteed in the Dublin area within an hour and within four hours elsewhere in the country.

TwoWay has set aside an enclosed yard for one of its largest Irish customers, Eircell Vodafone. Here it stores a huge volume of goods ranging from masts to promotional material which are dispatched at short notice to locations around the country.