Article : La Nouvelle République, 6 December 2007
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The company, which has been based in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre since 1998, now employs 47 people and has become a benchmark in terms of inspection, labelling, ironing and ready-to-wear logistics. And there's no shortage of work!
It all starts at the port. There, a logistics company hired by Berry Services takes delivery of a stock of clothing recently arrived from Asia, Eastern Europe or North Africa. The journey begins and ends in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre, at the headquarters of the company led for nine years by Jean-Claude Benéteau.
“And that's where our work begins", explains the director. “We bring our know-how to the garments that come in. We do everything from inspecting the clothes, to inserting brand labels, packaging and putting tags on them, in addition to ironing, uncreasing, alterations, storage, and, again, logistics to our customers”.
These customers include mass retailers, but also fine high-end boutiques! Berry Services brings them its added value and skills.
And this has not gone unnoticed in the SME world - the Neuvy-based company has just received the 2007 Logistics Innovation Prize for its work in transport logistics services. “Of course we are receptive to these awards! This is an enormous encouragement to us".
Reinforced by this recognition, and rather at ease on the current market, Berry Services does not intend to stop there. “It’s true that we’re in a good period of growth, and we want it to last. To achieve this, we are going to double our surface area from 5,000 to 10,000 m². If all goes smoothly in terms of administration, this new structure could open in September 2008”. And this comes with the added benefit of new jobs. “Today there are 47 of us and we will undoubtedly need more people to process the volume of goods that we’re looking to have coming in".
A little quirk of Berry Services - of its 47 employees, 44 are women! “We have men, but they are in charge of the more "physical" tasks (laughs)! When it comes to ironing or sewing, quite frankly, none of the men that we trialled were good enough”.
While waiting to expand, Berry Services continues its production, estimated to be an average of 120,000 items per week, and keeps a watchful eye on its little sister, born a few weeks ago, the Marseille-based Mistral Services, which currently has five employees.
“However, in our development, we haven’t forgotten about local companies - for our logistics, almost €250,000 has been spent with companies based in the département”.
C.G.
