Royal A-ware Food Group case

Customer challenge

Royal A-ware is a traditional Dutch family business with a passion for food. It is one of the largest cheese processors in the Netherlands and specializes in producing, maturing, processing and packaging cheese, as well as producing and packaging cream and various other fresh dairy products. It ships products for its customers — cheese producers and all major European retail chains — around the world.

Approach

Because there was no timely replacement available for the Warehouse & Transport (W&T) Manager, the customer needed an interim manager as well as a Planning Manager (total: 50 FTE) at short notice.

The extra touch lay mainly in the strength of the UC Group network. Because we can quickly call in colleagues and call on UC partners for specific knowledge and expertise, we are very capable of making life easier for our customers.

Another important factor was the decision to delegate powers and responsibilities to employees and to trust their professionalism and approach. By supporting this trust with clear agreements about the further approach, we enabled them to flourish!

Results

The W&T Manager is responsible for the finished products until they are shipped.

Products are stored in a fully automated pallet warehouse (capacity: approximately 5000 pallets). Orders are received daily by Customer Service and sent to Planning via the ERP system. Around 700 pallets are shipped daily, but this number can reach 1,500 per day during peak periods. Once checked, orders are released for the warehouse and external carriers are notified.

These activities had to be taken over from the outgoing manager with just a few days' notice, as well as managing the expected peak in orders in the run-up to the festive season in a rapidly growing economy and very tight labor market. In addition, there were the annual negotiations with transport companies.

The customer needed someone for day-to-day management, for recruiting a new manager and team leader, and for onboarding and transferring responsibility to the new employees. At the same time, the customer wanted to further improve the existing processes and working methods.

Our solution

In consultation with the team leaders and employees of W&T and Planning, our professional was able to form a clear picture of the current situation as a basis for further steps.

The transport companies were also invited to discuss contracts and contribute to an action plan to ensure sufficient capacity during the festive season.

It was quickly noticed that absenteeism was on the high side, while employees showed little initiative and were highly passive, possibly due to the management style of the previous manager (s).

To make changes and improve processes, we first needed to restore the team's trust and security. We did this by delegating tasks and making employees responsible for their tasks. This quickly translated into positive changes, growing trust and security among staff in themselves and in the UC professional, and a gradual decline in absenteeism.

From November, an interim team leader was appointed for Planning to ensure that the team was well managed. Keeping all operations running smoothly and smoothly during very busy periods is crucial. Our client said that, where possible, they chose to hire a UC partner because we share the same basic values, vision and know each other well. This is the optimal way to make a customer's life easier, as turned out to be the case here.