Spares in focus

In 2014 the Blue Group made the decision to form a new Spares Division with the intention of trading not only in the UK market but the Global market. The forming of this new Division is the first stage of the 5 year business plan.

The forming of this new Division is the first stage of the 5 year business plan and will see the business develop both its home market and the Global market offering customers Genuine and non Genuine OEM parts. Blue Spares the Genuine arm of the Spares Division will focus on increasing turnover to its UK customer base whilst Wear and Spare parts will look at expanding on the International front with a number of routes to market being adopted. The objective of the New Spares Division will be to increase Turnover to £15m and develop the Wear and Spare Parts brand on a Global level, with the appointment of new agents and distributors as well as strategically placed Wear and Spare offices.

Strategy
Commenting on the New Spares Division and the New Appointments Managing Director Sean Warburton said “The Blue Group has identified huge potential in the aftermarket side of its business and the investment in Stuart and the other new team members is a clear statement of intent to deliver our domestic and international customers the best level of service, availability and price. These are exciting times for the new Division and we are all looking forward to delivering a world class service to all of our customers.”

In addition to our new structure, Blue Spares’ short term strategy is to strive to improve our overall service to our clients with increased availability and more competitive pricing where possible.

Investment
In order to achieve the new business objectives there has been significant investment in recent months across all areas of the business.

Firstly our new IT system enables superior stock management, with enhanced parts availability due to inventory reporting. Additionally our procurement has improved as a result of our sales tracking, enabling fast moving and key components to be identified more easily.

Moreover we have recently fully refurbished our offices with a more open plan modern look and feel to enhance the working environment for employees. Other internal refurbishments include a new network connection throughout and a new state of the art security system. The warehousing facilities have also been radically transformed to give the Spares Division 8500m2 of covered warehousing capacity with plans afoot to expand again later in 2014.

In terms of technology and facilities, we have invested heavily in two Kardex selective systems for improved stockholding and pick times, a shredder for all cardboard to enable
the reuse of all packaging as padding and an electrically powered forklift.

Staff
In order to achieve the new spares division objectives Stuart Truckel has been appointed as the Spares Division Sales Director due to his vast experience in the aftermarket sectors. Stuart has a proven track record in increasing turnover and developing both domestic and overseas business through different routes to market. The new Division has also appointed an Export Manager in Wayne Hart and Export Sales Executive Patricia Fernandez who both bring a wealth of experience in Exporting and the Global market place.

The Blue Group believes that it’s staff are it’s greatest asset and 2014 will see an even greater commitment to continual training, in conjunction with our OEM suppliers, to ensure all our staff provide the best level of both technical and customer service. The business prides itself on delivering world class service and with the combination of our experienced long serving staff coupled with fresh innovative new team members, the new division has the resource, expertise and impetus to flourish.

Future
All our recent investment, refurbishment and recruitment are aimed at one simple objective – to improve our offering to you, the customer.

By adding to our overall resources, we firmly believe we will be better positioned to continually improve our offerings. Whether that be increased availability of off the shelf parts, or more competitive pricing on some parts, you can be reassured that we are actively working behind the scenes to continually strive to improve our offering for you.