EXEL STRIKES DEALS WITH CRATE & BARREL, PROCTER & GAMBLE

EXEL STRIKES DEALS WITH CRATE & BARREL, PROCTER & GAMBLE    Exel Direct, the home delivery provider of Exel, a logistics company in the United Kingdom, has contracted with Crate & Barrel, a specialty realtor, to provide a business-to-consumer service for a new store in Houston.
   The arrangement expands an existing agreement between Crate & Barrel and Exel Direct for warehouse management in San Francisco and dedicated home delivery operations in five other U.S. cities.
   Furniture orders placed at the Crate & Barrel store at the time of purchase are sent electronically to Exel Direct managers, who then pre-arrange deliveries in three-hour time frames. When the orders arrive, Exel Direct’s teams inspect and pack the furniture.
   The provider’s parent company, Exel, said Thursday it had begun managing Procter & Gamble’s Mehoopany Paper Plant in Columbus, Ohio, a 1.68 million square-foot facility. Exel does other supply chain work for P&G in Mexico, Canada, Spain, Thailand and the United States.