Worldwide online home and garden retailer, Aosom, was founded in 2009 and created by wholesale partner and 3PL specialist, MH Star. MH Star have gradually expanded their operations across the past few years due to the growth of Aosom in the UK market.
MH Star first partnered with Junction 4 Pallets in 2024, when Bury St Edmunds Warehouse Manager, Jay West, was introduced to the leading nation-wide pallet service provider by staff at their Doncaster site, who had used Junction 4 Pallets’ services on several occasions.
Jay West says:
“Initially, I switched to J4 because the company I was working with before were not reliable enough in supplying the second-hand pallets. The quality wasn’t great, the price wasn’t great, and so a colleague in Doncaster recommended J4. Some of my other colleagues had a meeting with J4 and agreed to a price that worked. Even though I had other suppliers that could match the price, the service levels were not the same quality.”
Jay West says that the pallet solution MH Star required wasn’t straightforward:
“We have an automated warehouse and part of the requirement was a bespoke pallet.
“We bought second-hand pallets in the past that had met that requirement, but they had to be three-legged for the robotic lifting profile, and they had to be robust. We looked at all kinds of options but no one else came back with the same enthusiasm to get it right like J4 did.”
Jay West says that, ultimately, it was the dedication shown by the J4 team that resolved MH Star’s automation issue.
“J4 saved us both time and money due to their reliability and quality. The bespoke pallet they designed has been a huge success. Without their support, we would have faced weeks of delays with our automation project. The commitment we have seen from Gemma Greaves, who managed the process for us, and the rest of the team, has been absolutely outstanding.”
Jay West outlines the growth of MH Star, setting out their plans for the future:
“We are planning for a higher turnover this year. We’re working our current footprint harder and extending our hours. We’re looking at processes, procedures and operational structures that will allow us to work our current assets harder than we currently do.”
Gemma Greaves, the J4 Business Development Manager that oversaw the project, says:
“It was great to work with Jay and the MH Star team on their automation project. It was incredibly rewarding to develop a bespoke solution with them and I’m really looking forward to seeing how their operation develops in future.”
J4’s Head of Business Development, Guy Bayley, adds that J4 has evolved to cater for more than just pallets:
“MH Star shows the range of bespoke services we offer. It’s not just about the product anymore, it’s about the delivery and the services that go with it. It’s a consultative approach to a solution.
“The customer has a pallet requirement. They have a budget, they know what they need to do, but they don’t know what to do it with. We’ll go through their operation and produce prototypes. They’ll test the prototypes; they’ll go back and get the sign off. Is this what they want for the warehouse? Yes, it is. Does this solve their problem? Yes, it does.”
If you would like to learn more about how J4 can support your business with bespoke pallet solutions, get in touch today!