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High-Pressure Challenge: High-Tech Solution
Every relocation program is unique, requiring close attention to all details to ensure our clients’ satisfaction and our mutual success. Some moves, however, stand out as particularly challenging. During these situations, our employees take great pride in providing innovative, caring and customized solutions to our clients and their employees. The following is one of many of these stories.
High-Pressure Challenge: High-Tech Solution
When Adele, a project manager for a large organization in New Zealand, faced an overwhelming problem, she doubted she’d find an efficient solution by the deadline she was given. Thanks to the help of Tony, General Manager, New Zealand, SIRVA, and his team at SIRVA-owned Allied Pickfords, Adele got more than she hoped for – faster than she anticipated.
Following a devastating earthquake in New Zealand in 2011, dozens of offices that employed over 3,000 of Adele’s colleagues had been badly damaged. This meant that truckloads of office equipment, art, signage and furniture had to be moved to a warehouse for safe keeping while the organization, and the city, began to rebuild. Three years later, when the landlord reminded Adele that their storage lease would be up in a matter of weeks, she was faced with a daunting task: sorting through the items to decide which would be kept and which would be disposed of. She had no idea where to begin.
In stepped Allied Pickfords. Thankfully, the branch in Adele’s area had already been working with a local IT company to provide a web-based inventory system to commercial storage customers. Offering this system to Adele and her organization meant that members of Tony’s team could photograph each inventory item, upload a description and post it to a client-access-only portal within minutes. Rather than sifting through the bevy of goods physically, Adele’s colleagues could simply browse through a digital inventory that could be sorted by age, value, etc. and order items for delivery. Adele, likewise, could easily choose to discard what wasn’t desirable.
Using just 2 employees, Allied Pickfords was able to provide Adele with:
- A full digital inventory of 4,500 items within 2 days
- The ability to assign administrative rights: some employees were limited to viewing inventory while others could place orders
- Collaboration with her senior staff to ensure a fully auditable trail of all goods
- An emptied warehouse before the warehouse landlord’s designated deadline
Adele was thrilled with the results of the digital inventory system and has since gone on to use it for other projects. Because of its successful client application, Allied Pickfords has also rolled out the offering to many other customers in New Zealand and Australia, and has received strong interest from other parts of the globe. Overall, Allied has implemented over 1,000 staff moves for the organization over a three-year period.
The Face Behind the Story:
Tony Marriott, General Manager, New Zealand, SIRVA
Tony took his first job in freight forwarding at the age of 16 and has loved logistics ever since. Having worked in a variety of aspects of the industry, from service and exporting to management, he brings a diverse skill set to both SIRVA and Allied Pickfords. In addition to expanding a modest branch of 12 to over 50 in just three months, he’s known for innovating solutions, exceeding expectations during crisis situations and improving processes to expedite services and maximize efficiency.In addition to his pride regarding being the general manager of one of New Zealand’s leading moving services provider, Tony enjoys managing a skilled and caring staff and providing clients with exceptional service and solutions – always with a smile. He’s proud to have earned a CILT UK Diploma in Logistics along with a group he affectionately refers to as “the hard-core bunch.”