IN PICTURES: Wraps come off parcel firm APC Overnight

This is the philosophy of delivery firm APC Overnight as its workers face their busiest time of the year.

The company's huge base in Cannock is a hive of activity at the moment as packages are stacked up and distributed across the country.

Chief executive Jonathan Smith insists the firm is focusing on the basics rather than following Amazon's lead and looking into developments like drones.

Sitting in the boardroom in Cannock he appears relaxed despite last Monday - December 14 - being among the busiest on record in the company's 21-year history.

And today was expected to run it close.

A typical December day will see the volume of parcels distributed to and from the centre increase by 50 per cent.

More than 30 million parcels are moved through the Kingswood Lakeside centre every 12 months.

Mr Smith described the business model as 'hub and spoke' with the centre in the middle of the country, serving depots around England.

The process all starts with an order.

A vehicle will collect the item from the supplier and take it to the nearest depot where it is labelled, loaded onto a cage and then placed onto a HGV - one of up to 250 the company has its disposal.

Every single product ordered through APC will make its way to Cannock where it is unloaded from the truck and its cage before being placed on to a behemoth system of conveyor belts.

Here it is weighed and measured and allocated to the closest depot to the customer, all at the touch of a button.

The item is then loaded back on to a HGV where it makes its way to the depot before being delivered to its final destination.

From start to finish a customer can receive their order in as little as 14 hours.

It is quite a feather in the cap for Cannock that the 'heartbeat' of such a major national operation has set up in the town.

APC opened at the former mining site in 2013 relocating from a base in Essington having previously operated out of Willenhall and Darlaston.

The scale of the 14-acre plot is immense and you could be forgiven for thinking an aeroplane is about to land on the site such is the sheer amount of tarmac.

The warehouses themselves boast 112 lorry bays.

As well as excellent transport links, the choice of site was born out of a desire to accommodate a large-scale automated sorting complex which makes the entire delivery process seem simple.

The centre at Cannock employs around 300 employees during quiet periods.

At the moment the workforce is closer to 500 people operating the site with the firm having recently taken on an extra 100 staff in the last month ahead of Christmas.

And while the company relies on the flexibility of some agency staff to navigate peaks and troughs in the the year, he confirmed most of the employees recently recruited will be kept on after the festive period.

He explained the firm's success was down to serving small to medium size businesses providing local products and services such as bakeries and delicatessens.

He said: "We don't deal with the big nationals we specialise in strong local businesses.

"My vision is that we become the champion for SMEs throughout the country . They don't get the benefits of some of the larger companies in terms of things like delivery.

"We ourselves are in growth but we are unique in that we are one of the first indicators of the economy.

"The fact we are doing so well gives me confidence the country is doing well.

"You see it first in parcel companies. The country is trying to recover and recovery usually comes through SMEs.

"I could tell the Prime Minister how the economy is looking and there are signs of it picking up."

One of the new benefits he speaks of will be the launch of a click and collect service in 2016 which enables customers to pick up their orders from a nearby location at their own convenience rather than having to stay in and wait.