The KNAPP Group – headquartered in Hart bei Graz, Austria – is one of the world’s leading automated handling suppliers, with 22 sales and service operations and over 1550 employees around the globe. KNAPP has grown very rapidly, doubling its turnover during the last five years to achieve sales of over EUR 196 million in 2007/08. In this issue, we interview Ebb Kretschmer, Head of Customer Service at KNAPP UK Ltd.
Warehouse & Logistics News – Ebb, you obviously have a mechanical handling engineering background, but where did you gain your experience?
Well, I started as an apprentice with UK Lifts Ltd, back in the seventies. We built scissor lifts and other materials handling aids. We supplied firms such as Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer with equipment for their loading bays. So I’ve been in materials handling right from the start. I later moved into maintaining and installing waste compaction equipment – not exactly on the loading bay, but just alongside it. I then moved up to management of a national team servicing loading bay equipment. This in turn led to a new opening in facilities management, working on contract to Marks & Spencer. I was now working in retail store and warehouse property management, handling maintenance budgets that ran into millions and controlling very large engineering teams. It was here that I first had the responsibility for maintaining an automated warehouse and found it so interesting; little did I know that it would later be a great part of my life. I suppose it was because I liked the automated system maintenance so much that an opportunity arose for me to join Dematic – or Mannesmann Dematic, as it was then – as a Service Manager for their systems service and support division. Here, I was able to design and develop the service support department, establishing a robust internal and external service infrastructure – in fact, just what I am doing again now for KNAPP. I ended at Dematic as Business Development Manager (Service). At this time – 2007 – KNAPP and I got talking and the new, exciting challenge was an opportunity I could not resist. It’s a great time to join a great team.
WLN – How has the materials handling service industry changed over the years?
The biggest change in service for the automated materials handling sector is the move to lifetime solutions, a move that has been customer-led. Customers want to outsource the whole of the purchase, maintenance, repair and later upgrade of an automated warehouse system for the whole of its planned lifetime – usually over ten years. The market is departing from the supply of an automated system with a certain level of output and moving to the outsourcing of the supply of a system with that same level of output but available for the lifetime of the system. This means that companies who supply automated systems need to change their aftersales service organisations. To achieve these new aims in practical terms, we have to become part of the customer’s team. We have to work in a way that an onlooker would not know who on site was working for the customer and who was working for KNAPP. For the majority of lifetime service solutions, we arrange to have resident KNAPP technicians on site 24/7 – even on Christmas day, if that is what is needed to maintain the system at optimum output. Our technicians cover all planned routine maintenance, as well as any emergency breakdowns and repairs with on-site parts stocks. Of course, there are options with lower levels of cost but, in the main, the system supplier takes over the full day-to-day maintenance of the system. As part of these lifetime solutions, we also offer full software and control systems support. Much of this electronic support is handled off-site by dedicated on-line software support teams, who are available around the clock. Incidentally, we can even cover maintenance of ancillary warehouse equipment such as heating, ventilation and lighting systems, as well as the more usual material handling equipment such as lift trucks, dock levellers, doors and goods lifts. Our customers now want to outsource automated handling equipment with a specified system output, and they want to outsource the maintenance of the system for the whole of its planned life – probably in excess of ten years – with no degradation of that specified output. That’s how our industry is changing.
WLN – If the customer already has his own maintenance team, can he still opt for your lifetime service solution?
Yes. We can transfer existing in-house service engineers to our own KNAPP technical staff, with no loss of personal long-term financial benefits. They can still work at the same location, doing the same job on the same automated system, but our customers get many new benefits at known costs. They get improved absentee cover, better parts inventory control and better parts supply, plus the technicians get regular training – not just about the handling systems they are maintaining, but also covering a whole raft of safety regulations and working practices.
WLN – You mentioned parts supply. There must be thousands of parts. How is this operated?
You’re right to query parts supply. In an emergency, it’s no use having a technician on site with no parts to hand. To answer your question properly, though, I need to rewind time back to the planning stage of the handling system – even before the final contract has been placed. We at KNAPP design what you might call fail-safe solutions, or systems with planned redundancy. For instance, in a system with multiple automatic storage and retrieval cranes or miniload systems, the customer’s stock would be spread over several aisles. Then, if a crane were out of commission for routine maintenance or breakdown, the customer’s stock would still be available from another crane in another aisle. This type of thinking is applied to every aspect of KNAPP’s system design. If you do this properly, you dramatically lower the impact of breakdown and parts unavailability for the life of the system. Having said that, for our spare parts we form inventories with minimum and maximum holdings for every KNAPP system site, using the live experience of parts usage in existing KNAPP systems throughout the world. These inventories are all accessible on line and the customer can check his own usage and stockholding at any time. In addition, our own technicians can check, again on line, the stockholding of every other KNAPP customer in the UK. In the rare event of parts unavailability, our technicians can then source a part from another site locally. Of course, this is done with the acquiescence of the customer holding the required spare part, but then he knows that he can benefit in the same way if ever he has a similar problem in the future.
WLN – Do you have a series of fixed maintenance plans?
Every customer is different and every system is different, so every service solution must be different. Whether a customer is on a lifetime service solution or not, we tailor every service contract to the customer’s needs. One customer might want an ‘all singing, all dancing’ solution but another might only want periodic health and safety condition survey reports, possibly for insurance or safety reasons. We have about 15 service modules that we can mix and match to suit our customers’ needs. We can, in fact, accommodate all our customers’ needs by not having any fixed plans! The customer gets a full legal contract with built-in options and safeguards. The philosophy is to allow our customers to concentrate their best manpower and resources in the successful running of their own business. If their business is successful, then we can become part of that success. It’s a win-win situation.
WLN – Ebb, you have only recently taken over as Head of Customer Service at KNAPP UK Ltd. What direction do you want your department to take?
I want us to get closer to our customers. I want our customers to trust us, rather like loyal servants looking out for their interests. I want KNAPP Customer Service staff to become the eyes and ears of both our company and our clients’ firms. We can spot potential problems before they become real problems. We know what developments and technical changes are taking place in our industry and in what instances they would be of financial value to our customers. We can therefore advise clients as to what minor investments made to an existing handling system could bring them multiple returns. Our ongoing experience will be wasted if we are not close to our customers and trusted by them. That’s where I want KNAPP Customer Service to be.
WLN – What is the secret of keeping your customers happy?
There are three essential elements in keeping service customers happy. They are planning, planning and planning! With an automated system, the word you don’t want to hear is ‘downtime’. You only want to hear about uptime. You can keep system availability very high if you plan to do so properly. Over the years, our experience has told us what is going to happen if we don’t do this or that maintenance procedure. It’s not rocket science; it’s just following predetermined plans. For a very good example, look at the airline industry. They have, in real terms, an enviable uptime record, for when they have downtime and it’s in the air, it soon becomes public knowledge. So why is the airline industry’s uptime so good? Well, it’s because the pilots, maintenance engineers and other staff have fixed plans, procedures and schedules which they doggedly follow. If we, in the automated handling industry, do the same – make dedicated plans and stick to them – our systems will keep on running and our uptime will be knocking on 100%.
WLN – Your technicians are obviously a very important element in your plans. How do you recruit them?
We use every known resource, in order to get the pick of the crop! That includes some very good employment agencies, local advertising, word of mouth and asking our existing teams if they know anyone who would fit into our company ethos. In fact, we could test your magazine’s readership right now! I am looking to recruit two maintenance technicians and one maintenance supervisor for the new automated system that we are in the course of delivering to The Co-operative Pharmacy in Stoke-on-Trent. We need these three technicians in March 2009 and if anyone out there is interested, just call me!
WLN – Finally, Ebb, do you have a mantra for your business?
KNAPP’s UK Customer Service operation may seem small compared to those of some of our competitors, but we are optimally sized to provide high levels of service to our clients nationwide. This ensures maximum cost-effectiveness for our customers. So, our mantra is: we’re large enough to exceed clients’ expectations but small enough to care. We take the uptime of our clients’ systems extremely seriously and do everything within our power to take care of our customers and their businesses.
KNAPP UK Ltd
Tel: 01844 202149
www.knapp.com
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