challenge: how can we get closer to European wood trade customers?
solution: launch an improved service hub at the heart of Europe.
Stora Enso Timber’s Do-It-Yourself (DIY) products unit in Amsterdam symbolises the new thinking in serving the European wood products trade customers. The unit offers a customised range of DIY products, mainly from Nordic white- and redwood, for flooring, construction wood, panelling and mouldings. All the 600 products are in cash & carry lengths, although longer measurements are also available.
When a customer enters the product pick up area, the DIY and easy handling-concept becomes crystal clear: all products are bar coded, bundled with a PVC band and packed in various sizes, together with labels in the language of the customer's choice. Also, all products can be ordered via EDI (Electronic Data Interface), and the business administration is taken care of electronically.
The Amsterdam unit has a mill-to-store delivery concept with a 48-hour service, supported by state-of-the-art production facilities, a motivated team and a central location in the port of Amsterdam. The move from the old port to new purpose-built facilities in the western side of the city’s port has proved to be a new start for the Stora Enso DIY business in many ways. The operations in the new premises started in December 2008.
"Amsterdam has always been a busy trade centre and this is very much the case even today,” says Dick Wilkens, Managing Director of Stora Enso Timber DIY Products B.V. “Now, more than ever, customer service has the greatest impact on customer loyalty. Each individual customer story is unique, and the better we are able to fine-tune our offering, the better chance we have to exceed their expectations. Our high and reliably constant service level helps us to build strong partnerships with the leading wood products DIY and retail customers, such as Intergamma and Bouwmaat," Dick Wilkens explains.
Stora Enso Timber DIY has its main markets in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal.
