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About the Physical Supply Chain Committee

Mission Statement

The aim of the BIC Physical Supply Chain Committee is to gather together senior strategic representatives from across the publishing and bookselling industry to steer BIC’s work in the physical supply chain and ensure that printed books and their associated workflows continue to have a strong industry voice.

This committee agrees it is in the book industry’s interest to establish a leaner, more efficient, innovative and collaborative physical supply chain to save costs, reduce waste ,and improve information exchange and customer service.

In order to best serve the interests of the book industry in this way, and to be able to adapt to the rapidly changing expectations of its customers, the committee will support, evolve & enhance standards and best practice for the UK supply chain always with an international view and will engage with other BIC Committees and industry organisations including the Publishers Green Network (or equivalent) where appropriate.

The committee firmly supports the creating and selling of printed books. 

Joining the committee

BIC members interested in joining the BIC Physical Supply Chain Committee should read the Terms of Reference and complete the application form here and send to info@bic.org.uk.

Please note, the opportunity to sit on any BIC Committee or Group is reserved solely for BIC members.

Current Committee Membership

Full NameBIC Member Organisation
Imogen BlundellNosy Crow Ltd
Martyn ClementsIngram Lightning Source UK
Vicky EllisClays
Russell EvansHachette UK
Caroline GorhamCanongate Books Ltd
Sabine GuerryCloudPublish
Meryl HallsThe Booksellers Association
Matthew HoggMacmillan Distribution (MDL)
Sue KellyPubliship
Cameron MacaulayCPI Books
Andrew MacBethWaterstones
Simon PallantGardners
Chris SaynorEDItEUR
Jo ShawNielsen BookData
Fraser Tanner (Chair)Batch
Karina UrquhartBIC
Aviva WeinsteinPenguin Random House UK
Kimberly WileyEmerald Publishing
Matt WrightHachette Distribution UK

Minutes from meetings

Meeting notes: Notes from the most recent meeting (and all meetings prior) are available on request (to BIC members only) via contact us.

EU Timber Regulations: Extended to include printed materials. A report by Carnstone.


Committee meetings frequency

Three Committee Meetings Per Year: March, July, November.

Review Groups

This committee oversees the following review groups that meet as and when required by our membership. These review groups are open to BIC members only.

  1. BIC Realtime Review Group
  2. Industry Returns Initiative (IRI) Review Group
  3. Weights & Dimensions Review Group

Online Clinics 

Technical Implementation Clinic (Trade)

For BIC members only. This clinic operates as an online forum for resolving technical issues with regards to ONIX, TRADACOMS, EDI, BIC Realtime etc. Please contact us if you would like to get involved. 

To find out more, please visit the BIC Technical Clinics webpage.