SMA Pallets grows its Palletways territory by 25%
SMA Pallets, Palletways Depot 186, has taken on the HP1, HP2 and HP3 postcode areas. The move increases its daily distribution volume within the Palletways network by around 25%. To handle the extra work without diluting service, the company has invested in new rolling stock. It has also recruited three new members of staff across driving, customer service and operations.
A Larger Palletways Territory for a Long-Standing Depot
From 22 September 2026, Hemel Hempstead’s HP1, HP2 and HP3 postcode areas joined SMA’s existing territory of Watford (WD) and HP4 to HP9. The depot now covers a continuous corridor from Watford through Kings Langley and Hemel Hempstead to Berkhamsted and Tring. It serves the whole area from one site at SMA House, Kings Langley, which sits almost at the centre.
SMA has been a Palletways member depot for around fifteen years and has sought the Hemel Hempstead postcodes for several of them. The addition brings one of Hertfordshire’s busiest industrial and distribution areas, including the Maylands estate, into the same operation. Customers in those postcodes gain a local depot a few minutes from their door. They also benefit from shorter stem mileage, later collection cut-offs and a team that knows local sites and access arrangements.
SMA is formalising the change within its five-year agreement with Palletways. That gives customers and the network the certainty of a permanent arrangement rather than temporary cover.
Investing in Fleet and Staff Ahead of the Volume
A 25% rise in daily pallets cannot be absorbed by asking the same fleet and people to do more. SMA decided early that capacity would be in place before the postcodes went live. It had just one week to achieve that.
The new rolling stock joins a fleet that runs from 7.5-tonne rigids to 44-tonne articulated units. Every vehicle is tail-lift and curtain-side, so each can deliver to any site, from a trading estate with a loading bay to a residential address with no forklift. The extra vehicles let the depot run its delivery rounds at the same density as before. They also let it handle its own trunking to the Palletways hub without leaning on network cover. SMA also procured special tuck-under tail lifts to serve customers such as Amazon, Majestic Wines, Booker and Brakes.
Alongside the vehicles, SMA has recruited three new colleagues: a professional C1 driver, a customer service executive and an operations team member. It chose these roles deliberately, because they cover the three functions that carry a pallet from booking to signature. The extra volume therefore meets extra capacity in the yard and the office as well as on the road. SMA is a FORS Silver operator, and the new recruits join a team that works to that standard from their first day.
Service First for SMA’s Clients and the Wider Network
A Palletways depot serves two sets of customers at once. Some clients book directly with SMA. Others belong to more than 400 sister depots across the UK and Europe, whose pallets arrive at Kings Langley each night for next-day delivery. Both groups judge SMA by the same measures: on-time delivery, damage-free handling, prompt proof of delivery and a telephone answered by someone who gives a straight answer.
The network reports those measures as key performance indicators, and SMA’s standing on them is why Palletways trusted the depot with the additional postcodes. The investment in vehicles and people protects that standing through growth. The same team runs the new HP1 to HP3 collections and deliveries, on the same systems and against the same KPIs as the rest of the territory. The depot is watching its performance figures week by week through the transition.
For sister depots, the result is a stronger partner in a high-demand part of the Home Counties. They get a tail-lift fleet that can reach every address and Lloyd’s of London Marine cargo cover behind every consignment, over and above the basic RHA cover. An ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 quality and environmental system is also in place. For SMA’s own clients, the pallet, mini-quarter pallet, single box or full load still moves through one point of contact, with the same people on the end of the phone.
“Together, we deliver a better business”
Dr Sam Attia, Chairman and CEO of the SMA Group, said: “We have wanted Hemel Hempstead for a long time, and the way to earn it was to keep delivering for the postcodes we already had. Growth of a quarter in one step is significant for a depot of our size, so we put the trucks and the people in place first. Our clients, and the clients of every sister depot that trusts us with their freight, should notice nothing except that we are now on their doorstep in more places. The strapline on the side of our trailers says together we deliver a better business. This is what it looks like in practice.”
