News & Insights | Supporting our customer as they expand in New Zealand

Supporting our customer as they expand in New Zealand

16 May 2019

Our customer, Reece, approached Programmed to assist them in opening a new national distribution centre (DC) in Auckland.

Reece were expanding their business in New Zealand and previously had to ship stock from Australia to service their stores. With this new DC, they would have a dedicated warehouse for their product range in a central location in New Zealand which would cut down wait times for stock to arrive.

We were asked to manage their staffing requirements so that they could maintain continued operations while establishing this new DC. A specialist team was pulled together – comprised of a dedicated Account Manager, HSE Manager and Resourcing Specialist – to work closely with Reece for this project.

We recruited Container Unloaders to enable stock allocation and replenishment, Drivers to facilitate short term support between their branches and Warehouse Distribution staff to coordinate their continued operations.

Throughout the project, Reece’s needs ramped up and down at short notice as a result of stock arriving at different times. We maintained a pool of suitable, job-ready candidates so that we could respond quickly to any spikes in demand.

More recently, we also managed a delicate workplace relations issue on-site where a bullying case had been reported between two employees. Our NZ Regional Manager was promptly and actively in contact with all parties to obtain statements and investigate the issue further. Fortunately, we were able to land on a desirable result for all involved. We maintained consistent communication with Reece throughout the dispute and ensure that it did not affect productivity.

Our support through providing safe and skilled people enabled Reece to efficiently establish their new DC, enabling them to continue to deliver their high levels of service and satisfaction to their own customers. Reece was impressed with the quality of people we supplied throughout the project, with a number of staff being offered permanent roles. Their feedback has been positive to date, including the Onsite Manager who praised the team for being ‘very professional in all that they do.’


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