Formula for a Successful Export Business

Formula for a successful export business

When you’re a specialty chemical manufacturer selling half your goods abroad, your export operation has to be slick and efficient. Delays cost money and lead to lost customers. When it works smoothly, it ensures that you’re ahead of the game.

Ionic Solutions, which also has a production facility in Doncaster, specialises in producing performance additives for the oil, sugar, pulp and paper industries as well as for the mining industry. It exports to more than three dozen countries including the < w:st="on" region>US< region/>, Middle and Far East and across the European Union. Its involvement with Chamber International has ensured that its documentation systems remain streamlined to ensure the rapid transit of goods to vital overseas markets.

“We began working with Chamber International four or five years ago,” says export logistics co-ordinator Lorna Jack. “Three years ago they came to visit us and they recommended we use the online service system for our export documents and since then we’ve been doing everything we can online.

“It’s definitely much easier. You can review everything before you submit it, you can spot spelling mistakes and it’s a lot less time-consuming doing it online.”

Lorna says the online system has significantly speeded up the operation, saving as much as three days over the old all-paper system. In the old days it could take 15 minutes to fill out individual documents along with several carbon copies. This then had to be posted and received by the Chamber the following day. If there were any amendments that added an extra day. The documents were posted to Ionic Solutions taking another day to get back to the office.

“We find that the Chamber is always there if you need advice with any problem,” adds Lorna. “It would be a nightmare if we had to do all of this on our own. They’ve been extremely helpful and if you’ve made any mistakes they can assist you in sorting it out.”

Ionic Solutions, Bradford