Hans Zwaan of Gélé Inkoop BV: 'Thanks to time-slot delivery, my customers can plan better'
December 21, 2023
In the new delivery dynamics, we are working with delivery in time-slots. Diana van Hooft, sales specialist Logistic Services at Royal FloraHolland, explains the opportunities this offers. We also ask Hans Zwaan of Gélé Inkoop BV about his experiences in practice.
Thanks to time-slot delivery, we spread out the trade that buyers get delivered and the delivery time is more predictable. This creates opportunities for buyers, Diana explains. "Large customers with multiple administration numbers and buyer plates can specify for each buyer plate when they want to receive the trade. They can have plenty of variation with that. Buyer plates that have to leave early can give them a different time slot than customers who don't leave until the end of the day. With smaller customers I have different conversations. Do they buy one day a week? Or on several days, and do they only drive away their purchased merchandise on one day? That gives another dynamic and that makes it fascinating."
Diana enjoys helping buyers with that. "I think it becomes really fun when there are multiple buyer plates available. That way we can put together the sometimes complex logistical puzzle, with the goal of aligning the logistics processes between them." Buyers are always welcome to call Diana with questions about time slots. "Just by talking to customers, it turns out that often much more is possible than they thought beforehand. They often don't stop to think about the cost savings that time-slot delivery provides, for example in terms of space usage and staffing."
Practical experience: Hans Zwaan of Gélé Inkoop BV
Gélé Inkoop BV is based at hub Rijnsburg and, as a commission business, offers services for line drivers and customers who like to do their own purchasing, including florists and market vendors, says Hans. "We arrange a remote buying connection, for example, but also facilitate the packing and stacking work on the trolleys and get all the trade ready. So it's mainly a piece of unburdening: we make sure the truck can drive off in no time."
For Hans, time-slot delivery is quite an improvement over the old distribution process. He uses the time-slots before 11 a.m. and before 12. "Some customers like to be able to leave for Germany at 11 a.m. so they can drive to Berlin on time and before the traffic jams. But there are also customers for whom it doesn't matter so much, they don't arrive until around 1 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. and don't necessarily need to have the trade earlier. That's why it's nice to work with time slots."
"It's definitely an improvement over how it was before. I was critical at first, because in the past when we still had to wait for the end of the distribution, sometimes it could be quite lengthy. The end time was estimated at 11:00 a.m., for example, which could sometimes be 11:30 or 12:00. You couldn't really rely on that. Now delivery is much more stable, my customers know where they stand and can plan better."
Read more
Better spread in delivery helps FM Group a lot with predictability
Reliable and predictable logistic performance thanks to timeslot delivery
Thanks to time-slot delivery, we spread out the trade that buyers get delivered and the delivery time is more predictable. This creates opportunities for buyers, Diana explains. "Large customers with multiple administration numbers and buyer plates can specify for each buyer plate when they want to receive the trade. They can have plenty of variation with that. Buyer plates that have to leave early can give them a different time slot than customers who don't leave until the end of the day. With smaller customers I have different conversations. Do they buy one day a week? Or on several days, and do they only drive away their purchased merchandise on one day? That gives another dynamic and that makes it fascinating."
Diana enjoys helping buyers with that. "I think it becomes really fun when there are multiple buyer plates available. That way we can put together the sometimes complex logistical puzzle, with the goal of aligning the logistics processes between them." Buyers are always welcome to call Diana with questions about time slots. "Just by talking to customers, it turns out that often much more is possible than they thought beforehand. They often don't stop to think about the cost savings that time-slot delivery provides, for example in terms of space usage and staffing."
Practical experience: Hans Zwaan of Gélé Inkoop BV
Gélé Inkoop BV is based at hub Rijnsburg and, as a commission business, offers services for line drivers and customers who like to do their own purchasing, including florists and market vendors, says Hans. "We arrange a remote buying connection, for example, but also facilitate the packing and stacking work on the trolleys and get all the trade ready. So it's mainly a piece of unburdening: we make sure the truck can drive off in no time."
For Hans, time-slot delivery is quite an improvement over the old distribution process. He uses the time-slots before 11 a.m. and before 12. "Some customers like to be able to leave for Germany at 11 a.m. so they can drive to Berlin on time and before the traffic jams. But there are also customers for whom it doesn't matter so much, they don't arrive until around 1 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. and don't necessarily need to have the trade earlier. That's why it's nice to work with time slots."
"It's definitely an improvement over how it was before. I was critical at first, because in the past when we still had to wait for the end of the distribution, sometimes it could be quite lengthy. The end time was estimated at 11:00 a.m., for example, which could sometimes be 11:30 or 12:00. You couldn't really rely on that. Now delivery is much more stable, my customers know where they stand and can plan better."
Read more
Better spread in delivery helps FM Group a lot with predictability
Reliable and predictable logistic performance thanks to timeslot delivery
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