Management column COO Leendert-Jan Plaisier: "Time slots are the future"

In this series of columns, we give the floor to directors and managers of Royal FloraHolland. In this column, Chief Operational Officer Leendert-Jan Plaisier looks back on the peak period. The May month with its various Mother's Days is behind us again. The Tuesday after Pentecost, 21 May, was the busiest day this spring. A total of 38 million units were sold and delivered to the trade on that day at our three hubs. On the clock that day, there were a record total of 199,929 transactions. We naturally saw this rush coming, although we did not immediately expect records.

With a free Monday and in the run-up to the French, Polish and Swedish Mother's Day, we knew it would be all hands on deck. So we started the auctioning and logistic delivery processes as early as 5 o'clock. Partly as a result, we delivered most clock transactions before 2 pm. With a delivery reliability of 99.8%, we can logistically look back on a very successful day. On that day, auctioneers and our entire logistics operation delivered a top performance.

Good preparation is half the battle
There is a lot involved in achieving such a result together. Like last year, we had a plan ready for the entire peak period, in which we could take additional measures according to the situation. Such a plan was necessary because of the bottlenecks we had experienced in the 2022 peak. The peak rush of the Tuesday after Pentecost was a kind of stress test for us. The fact that we passed it well makes me proud of our team. But actually, I am even prouder of how the entire peak period went. At 99.8%, delivery reliability was very high.

With a lower workload, staffing was generally fine during the peak. In March, April and May, a total of 208 times an office colleague helped in the process as a peak helper. A nice proof of peaks we do together! Unlike in 2023, we did not have to use coarser auctioning to relieve logistics. Another optional measure, the 'accelerate start flowers, end sprint plants' was applied (only) three times in Naaldwijk alone. Stacking trolleys and CC containers were always available in sufficient quantities during the peak. Dispensing stops were not necessary this year.

The first peak with multiple time slots
In logistics, we never sit still. By this I mean that we are constantly looking to optimise our processes. The introduction of order picking plays an important role in this. The switch to order picking was not a goal in itself, but enables us to offer new services to both buyers and suppliers. With time slot delivery, or Select Delivery, the buyer himself determines the delivery time of the purchased products. In Rijnsburg and in Naaldwijk (with flowers), buyers benefited from the advantages of having different time slots for the first time during the peak. The most popular time slot is still the 6:00 to 11:00 time slot. This is understandable, as this time slot matches what buyers are used to. I like the fact that more and more buyers recognise that other time slots contribute to further optimising their own process. For instance, the time slots 10:00 - 13:00 and 11:00 - 15:00 offer the possibility of more spreading. During the peak, we discounted the last time slot. We did this because it is important for us to spread out more. I expected that there would be a lot of interest for this, but apparently buyers now still stick to the rhythm they are used to.

After peak 100% time slots in Naaldwijk

We experience, learn and optimise before implementing order picking further. On 20 June, we will take the next step. Then Naaldwijk will switch completely to order picking and Select Delivery will be available there for both flowers and plants. And in the second half of this year, we will also start order picking plants in Aalsmeer. In parallel, we are working on the further roll-out of Central Auctioning. We are harmonising the logistics processes at our hubs. After all, all three hubs play an important role in optimising logistics. This way, we reduce costs for growers, buyers and Royal FloraHolland.