Blank sheet to ‘Super Warehouse’: Brigade Electronics partners with ERA Group to help transform their European Logistics Operations

Setting the scene

Brigade Electronics is in a period of exceptional momentum.

Demand for its vehicle and fleet-safety solutions is surging across new and existing markets, expanding the product range and pushing volumes to record levels. To keep pace, Brigade is investing in its operations and logistics - most notably with a new “Super Warehouse” in the Netherlands, designed so it can hold more stock, fulfil orders faster, and maintain the service standards customers expect as the business scales.

Brigade Electronics

Founded in 1976 by Chris Hanson-Abbott OBE after encountering truck reversing alarms in Tokyo, Brigade Electronics introduced the first backup alarm to Europe and has led the way in vehicle safety ever since. Today, Brigade develops and supplies commercial-vehicle safety systems - AI-enabled and 360° camera solutions, White Sound® reversing alarms, ultrasonic and radar detection, and digital recorders - helping fleets prevent collisions and protect people worldwide.

Brigade holds the UK’s King’s Award for International Trade, recognising their excellence in innovation and sustainable development.

Good problems

By 2025, Brigade’s distribution network consisted of five warehouses across Mainland Europe - in addition to the UK, US and Canada.

This relatively fragmented structure led to recurring stock-outs, heavy internal coordination, and a network that made digitisation harder than it needed to be. This coincided with external supply-chain headaches such as Brexit, the Red Sea disruption – meaning Brigade were constantly focused on short-term fixes without long-term considerations.

The Perfect Solution

Brigade were conducting their own internal project to identify the perfect solution, when they engaged with Mark Doig, Key Account Manager at ERA Group.

During that initial meeting, Mark identified Logistics and Distribution as a key area where ERA could add value, and Rikesh Nichani was the obvious specialist to bring in. As completely independent consultants, unemotional and unattached, Mark and Rikesh gave Brigade the external benchmark they were looking for – a fresh pair of eyes to highlight missed opportunities and bring a new perspective.

“Are you brave enough?” – was the question posed by Rikesh Nichani, ERA Groups Logistics expert.

“You were one of the enablers to make it a success - not just a report and goodbye.” - Aivaras Rumbauskas, Group Head of Supply Chain at Brigade Electronics.

Transformational Change

ERA Group were tasked with supporting Brigade to develop and implement a Final Mile delivery solution that would not only maintain current service levels - but future proof the business as it continues to grow and expand.

Brigade assumed that consolidating warehousing in the Netherlands and reshaping the distribution model would add roughly €500,000 to annual distribution costs - a trade-off they were prepared to make given the overall savings in operations that would be made.

The anticipated cost increase was built on the assumption the 24-hour delivery window required by most customers across Europe would invariably increase with a centralised distribution model. ERA Group was tasked with stress-testing that assumption and looking at ways the cost could be mitigated.

Mark and Rikesh worked with Brigade to define a target state anchored on three simple promises: keep end-customers delighted, build resilience into the supply chain, and minimise cost increases without compromising on service levels.

Brigade’s UK base made local, on-the-ground expertise essential. ERA’s Netherlands team, led by Sven de Swart, provided local market knowledge and supplier access to validate that the Netherlands was the right location, align processes, and negotiate effectively with selected local suppliers.

Over nine months, ERA worked alongside Brigade to review key lanes, assess potential suppliers, reset rates, fine-tune service levels, and enable informed decision-making on the critical last mile. Each saving and efficiency gain was traced back to the model, allowing like-for-like comparisons and rapid course-corrections as the new warehouse went live.

“You can go from really blue-sky thinking to under the microscope in any logistics area… I haven’t met many people like that.” - Aivaras Rumbauskas, Group Head of Supply Chain at Brigade Electronics.

The Result

From the outset, this project was not about chasing headline savings - the objective was to minimise the anticipated cost increases.

Starting with that blank sheet, ERA has worked closely with Brigade throughout the process and as a result the projected €500,000 cost increase is being fully mitigated - without compromising service.

The outcome is the scalable operating model that sets Brigade up to grow in Europe with confidence, without the initial step-change in distribution spend that often accompanies these initiatives.

“We completely mitigated that cost increase… and we’re now moving towards optimisation. I cannot thank ERA enough - it was exceptional. An absolute transformational change” - Aivaras Rumbauskas, Group Head of Supply Chain at Brigade Electronics.