BOOMING ONLINE VEHICLE MOVEMENT EXCHANGE APPOINTS FIRST MANAGING DIRECTOR
9 February 2007
Fast-expanding VMEX, the online vehicle movement exchange that matches demand for car and light vans to be moved to available transport capacity Europe-wide, has appointed its first Managing Director.
Tim Phillips, who launched VMEX, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AutoLogic, Europe’s leading independent automotive logistics supplier specialising in the preparation and distribution of finished vehicles throughout the UK and mainland Europe, has been promoted to Managing Director from General Manager with immediate effect.
Established in late 2004, VMEX (Vehicle Movement Exchange) was responsible for the movement of 200,000 vehicles last year on behalf of vehicle manufacturers, dealer groups, vehicle rental companies, contract hire and leasing providers, auction companies and major fleets.
From its Weston-super-Mare headquarters, VMEX has a European office in Zeebrugge - Europe’s largest vehicle port - and recently has opened a third operation in Prague. The company plans to open a fourth office that will focus on managing vehicle movements across the Baltic countries and Russia in April this year.
VMEX, whose sister companies include Walon, the nationwide vehicle distribution operating in the UK, the Benelux countries, Spain and the Czech Republic, and First Fleet, the cradle to grave provider of in-life vehicle services and used car remarketing to the fleet industry, is a unique ‘stock exchange’.
Using sophisticated online technology, VMEX provides a high quality and highly transparent vehicle delivery service by matching vehicles movements to spare capacity on transporters as well as marrying up single vehicle movements to individual drivers.
Mr Phillips said: “VMEX focuses on increasing business efficiency for everyone in the vehicle movement business - companies that provide a vehicle movement service and vehicle owners.”
Historically transporters that would commence a journey with a full load would often return empty. However, the launch of VMEX has radically changed the vehicle movement industry by enabling many return journeys to be made with full loads, which means reduced empty-vehicle miles.
Mr Phillips said: “That is not only helping the productivity and profitability of companies supplying transport services and enables vehicle owners to speed up the transport of cars and light vans so reducing vehicle holding costs, but it is an environmentally-friendly solution to outdated business practices.”
He explained: “Before the launch of VMEX vehicles would be moved from one location to another with the transporter often returning to its base empty but still contributing to congestion as well as climate change through its emissions output. Such ‘wasted’ journeys are reduced as even smaller customers and transport companies can go online to match loads to available space on returning transporters with access to the whole industry.”
With more than 200 vehicle carriers using the system, organisations can give and take work at visible prices through the sophisticated online brokerage system with vehicles being transported to fulfil customer lead-time requirements.
“We have transformed the vehicle movement industry into a significantly ‘leaner’ business by eliminating wasted journeys,” said Mr Phillips, who has spent more than 23 years in the vehicle logistics and car sales industry.
“The success of VMEX over less than three years has won approval from transport companies and organisations that own vehicles and want them moving initially in the UK and increasingly across Europe.”
Following a 16-year career with Rover Group that began in factory logistics and moved into vehicle sales as a regional manager, he then returned to logistics to run worldwide car distribution. With BMW’s purchase of Rover Group, Mr Phillips joined the BMW Group in Germany where he was responsible for global vehicle delivery of all BMW group brands. He joined AutoLogic in 2002 and after running international traffic was the project manager for the development of VMEX prior to its launch.
Customers can register at www.vmex.com, or by phoning 0870 240 9016.
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