Birds can fly. Their feeding houses need a truck.
Speed!
The company
About three generations of love for birds, a brand that opened new doors and the art of stacking a pallet well.
A birdhouse is made to hang outside. A feeder to bring birds closer. But before a product like that ends up in a garden, it has often already had quite a journey. And that journey? It starts at Fauna Birdproducts in Oosterhout.
Fauna's story begins in 1951, when the grandfather of the current generation started a bird shop. Three generations later the company is a manufacturer, importer and exporter. Yet some things are unchanged. Like the older bird breeder who still simply drops by to see whether anything is on offer. “That is really old-fashioned Fauna”, says Manon Spijkers.
But the market is changing. Bird breeding is, according to Manon, less popular among young people. So in 2014 Jeroen started the Singing Friend brand, with bird food and nest boxes for garden birds. A different sector, a new audience and with that a more future-proof Fauna.
Singing Friend makes products for gardens, terraces and balconies, with a lot of attention for design, functionality and materials. Think of feeders like Sam, made from recycled material from used drink packaging. Good for birds. And a completely different world from classic bird breeding.
Fauna has no separate logistics department. “We are a small team and therefore very flexible in our tasks”, says Manon. “We have become rather good at it by now, if I may say so.”
That is necessary too. Plastic products are made in the Netherlands. Wood and ceramics come from China, by container. Dutch stock is easier and quicker to replenish; with products from China, stock management is a good deal more complicated.
On top of that come seasonal peaks and new collections, which often arrive just before the new season. While customers of course would most like to be delivered as quickly as possible.
Bird products are not necessarily heavy. But they can take up a lot of space. Fauna ships single and multiple pallets, with fragile items and filled displays that claim quite some room.
So in the warehouse there is some serious puzzling. How do you get as many products as possible neatly onto one pallet? Colleagues try to use the space optimally and, where possible, ask customers to fill up their pallet.
Sometimes that turns out to be an art in itself.
The results
Last year a pallet of display trees left for Belgium. Only the assembly kit for the display turned out to be heavier than expected. The pallet started to lean. The customer did not accept the freight.
Result: everything back. Stack again. Try again.
It is not a heroic success story, and that is precisely why it is so recognisable. A product can be beautiful, but if it does not stand firm on the way, you get nowhere. Literally.
The experience also shows why Fauna thinks about transport early on with product packaging. When refining designs, transport plays a part more and more often. Not only how something looks, but also how it can go out into the world safely and efficiently.
Fauna exports to countries all over the world, with the exception of the Far East. For shipments to the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France among others, the company uses Cargors.
Manon used to email two or three familiar carriers with a request for a quote. Then wait for an answer, look at prices and only after that arrange the transport. No disaster, but for a small team it is time you would rather spend on something else.
Through someone in the sector Fauna heard about Cargors. Above all the direct insight into transport options and costs and the ease of the portal made the difference.
What changed concretely? Manon has exactly one word for it: “Speed!”
Alongside the portal, Manon also mentions the reachable and helpful customer service. It is exactly what fits the way Fauna works itself: short lines, solving things together and getting orders out of the door as quickly as possible.
The customer does not have to see that whole organisation. They mainly want a pleasant delivery and no hassle afterwards. And in the end to be able to order again.
Because behind all those cheerful feeding houses, nest boxes and display trees sits a surprisingly serious process. Not everything flies by itself. But with a small team that works well together, you still get a very long way.
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