Retail giant Tesco has 4000 British stores. When a shelf breaks in one of them, someone has to fix it. When a light bulb blows, it has to be replaced. And of course there are thousands of other daily maintenance tasks.
Tesco set up a department to look after these jobs, called Engineering Maintenance Services Limited (EMS). Its team was quickly up and running, but IT was lagging behind, which was when Four Business Solutions came onboard.
The company asked us to install a new, streamlined purchasing system using our iPOS procurement solution, in just three weeks. Our consultants have vast experience of working quickly and believe that partnership, not protest, gets results. We met the retailer’s managers, administrators, van drivers and engineers, and listened to their needs.
‘Four had the flexibility we were looking for’ says Stuart Lloyd, EMS Business Consultant. ‘They didn’t get frustrated when we changed something. They just got on with it.’
iPOS is an internet-based tool which has been designed to minimise procurement costs. Its web-based solution harnesses the latest technology to deliver an intuitive, easy-to-use requisitioning system, allowing employees to quickly select items from catalogues, favourite-item lists or previous orders. Our installation was a success – the first elements of the completed system met the tight deadline and were up and running within three weeks. Its users tell us they now have far more operational efficiency, and the system has subsequently expanded to meet other business needs.
So next time you’re out shopping and see a broken trolley, bear in mind that Four Business Solutions is helping Tesco make these vital repairs. EMS says iPOS has been such a success, it’s ‘just the start of the journey’.
