We are living in a remarkable period, in which many products are scarce or have long delivery times. Unfortunately, many companies in Europe have delivery problems due to chip shortages, high purchase prices and staff cuts. The consequences of all these developments are also clearly visible in the retail. This results in delayed or even cancelled deliveries, and that is very inconvenient, to say the least. In these times, how can you ensure that you find a supplier who is reliable and can keep his promises? At Pan Oston, we do our absolute best to deliver all our products on time and to a high standard of quality. In this day and age, that sounds almost too good to be true. Therefore, we would like to explain to you how our team ensures that you will soon receive a nice checkout, self-service checkout or kiosk on time. Because at Pan Oston, 'Just' order a couple of new checkouts? That is not how it works at Pan Oston...
In order to meet our commitments, each project has its own project manager. After all, every client deserves a product that is delivered on time and that meets the right quality requirements. No matter how big or small the job is. A good project manager takes responsibility for an entire project from beginning to end. With his own resources, budget and scope, the project manager makes sure that your checkouts, self-service checkouts or self-service kiosks fit exactly with your shop and are delivered on time as well. And that is an agreement we are committed to.
But what exactly does a project manager do? And how does he ensure that the project runs smoothly from A to Z? Our project manager, Bauke Steenstra, explains how he makes sure his projects run as planned: "Together with my colleagues, I am responsible for four large Pan Oston clients. These clients have a forecast in which the plans for the coming period or year are stated. Based on these plans and our experience, we try to estimate how many checkouts or self-service checkouts they will need in the coming year. order the parts well in advance, and we often look more than half a year ahead. That is why Pan Oston can deliver on time."
So how does Pan Oston respond to the ever-increasing delivery times? It sounds very simple: by looking very far ahead and making a good prediction of the number of orders. "We have been working on the plans for 2022 for quite some time now," says Bauke. "If we already know that a customer wants to open 200 shops, we can discuss this with our suppliers." Good forecasting is an important key to ensuring good delivery times. The forecast is regularly discussed with other departments, such as Purchasing and Outsourcing. Is everything still on schedule? Do things need to be changed? The Sales department also plays an important role in the forecast. "The customer provides their contact person, often the salesperson, with information about their forecast, which is why cooperation with sales is also very important."
Pan Oston also tries to estimate the number of checkouts and self-service checkouts for customers who do not place orders for 200 checkouts. We may be taking a bigger risk with this, but on-time delivery is very important to Pan Oston. Especially in these special times. These customers can also benefit from the smart purchasing of the larger customers: the parts for the checkout furniture are more or less the same. Due to the large stocks that are ordered well in advance, Pan Oston has the space to create purchasing volume.
Bauke and his colleague project managers are therefore involved in the projects that run at Pan Oston from the start, but they are also involved in their completion. If the service technicians have questions during the installation of the checkout furniture, the project managers try to help them. "There is often a difference between theory and practice. That has to be solved on the spot in consultation with the customer. We try to do that as well as possible." Bauke also tries to work on solutions that arise due to supply issues. For example, there are major chip shortages, which are also reflected in the supply of safes. "One of our customers has thought of removing the safes from the existing branches where they are little used and reinstalling them at the new branches. Then Pan Oston helps to neatly finish the cash register again.
Another important attribute of Pan Oston's project managers is the knowledge they have of the checkout furniture that is in customers' shops. Bauke says they have knowledge of the products they have supplied to different shops and what their history is. "If customers ask how to refurbish a branch in a certain place, we as project managers can give good advice based on the knowledge of the furniture and the shop branch."
So how can you, as a Pan Oston customer, contribute to these successful delivery times? After all, together we ensure that checkout furniture is in the shop on time and can be used by the shop staff. "It is, of course, important that the customer orders come on time," says Bauke. "That way, both customers and we have time to plan everything properly." Sharing the forecast and plans for the coming year is also very important to ensure that products are delivered on time. "That is very important and actually essential for the project to go well. An order based on an eight-week delivery time can sometimes be difficult. The delivery times of our suppliers are getting longer and longer. So share your forecast with Pan Oston, so that we can order all the components of the checkout furniture on time."
Another nice side effect of sharing your future plans is that it brings more favourable prices. "On the one hand, we can ensure that the necessary materials arrive on time, but on the other hand, we can also achieve a favourable price," Bauke says. "We can actually only achieve a good price by planning far in advance and by keeping a close eye on the volumes so that we can purchase on a volume basis. Buying one piece is always more expensive than 100.
Are you looking for a reliable partner who lives up to his agreements? Then, take a look at what Pan Oston can do for your shop (s). Our team of checkout specialists is ready to Discuss your plans and give you good advice.
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