Coors Case Study
Based in Burton-on-Trent, Britain's brewing capital, Coors Brewers boasts many of the UK's top beer brands (including Carling, the country's best selling lager), a 20 per cent share of the market, centuries of experience and many of the best people in the business.
Combining all-time favourites such as Carling, Grolsch and Worthington's with a newcomer Coors Fine Light Beer - their drinks have never been more popular. They sell over seven million barrels of beer a year - that's one in every five pints sold - and their sales continue to grow strongly.
Before outsourcing its fleet operation, the Coors (previously Bass Brewers) fleet of more than 1000 vehicles was entirely managed in-house.
With the values and culture at Coors being so strong, a new fleet supplier would need to blend in seamlessly as if they were working in Burton-on-Trent at the Coors head office.
The telephone would be answered as Coors' fleet department, the processes and procedures would match those at Coors, and the people must connect themselves to the values and aspirations of Coors staff.
"The core values of integrity and respect, quality, excelling, passion and creativity run through the entire organisation," explained Keith Abell, HR Contracts Manager.
"We are measured on our ability to display them in all of our activities, and this is an important ingredient of staff performance reviews.
Because company vehicles are such a visible and emotive subject, it was essential that we found a company that could not only add value to our business, but also match our core values. Working with Leasedrive Velo, this has happened successfully.
In the first instance, they worked tirelessly with our team to replicate our key processes, whilst also introducing their own to offer the synergy that I would expect from a major business relationship.
I now feel that their team has become part of the extended Coors operation, and when I'm at Leasedrive Velo it's a testimony to the success of the relationship that, walking around the offices, I also feel like an integrated member of their staff," said Keith.
In Keith's role he is responsible for a number of major supplier relationships - one being the car fleet.
Due to the sensitive nature of HR Supplies, all are highly visible and Keith's reputation at Coors is judged on the actions of his suppliers.
"Leasedrive Velo are good at their day job which is essential to me", continued Keith. "We work in partnership to their value pyramid which is the model they base their business on.
The pyramid represents how the ideal relationship should work - with the 'Day Job' at the base reflecting the need to get the basics right.
Getting the day job right frees up my time to effectively manage the supplier relationship, rather than getting bogged down with issues. In order to maintain and continuously improve service levels, we use a scorecard mechanism, and Leasedrive Velo sit in the top quartile.
This position has been achieved by a continuous review of processes and procedures, and by communication and system improvements.
The middle tier of their pyramid relates to 'Added Value' and at Leasedrive Velo this is mainly achieved through the quality and stability of their people.
They are willing to work with us and immerse themselves in our business, and I was impressed when they insisted on sending their staff to our offices to learn about our business, culture, heritage and values.
The top tier is 'Creating Value' and this is where their account managers and senior teams work with us strategically. If you don't get the bottom parts of the tier right you can never effectively look at value creation, because you continue to work reactively rather than proactively. Creating value will come from stability and a common goal to deliver it right first time.
Leasedrive Velo's approach ensures the relationship can develop and continuously improve, to free up our time to be strategic," continued Keith.
"The year is planned in advance with regular scheduled operational meetings, and quarterly sessions to focus on strategy.
These strategic meetings could include any senior member of Coors that has an interest or involvement in the areas being looked at. For example, a Director may attend, or the Head of Benefit Provision, a Senior Tax specialist, or business partner.
Leasedrive Velo's value pyramid demonstrates that they are thinking very carefully about the entire relationship with their customers.
Many suppliers spend far too much time trying to manage the relationship with their main point of contact, but at Leasedrive Velo they know that if they seek to get everything right that relationship will almost take care of itself," concluded Keith. "At the end of the day, Coors is looking for suppliers who continue to develop so that both parties benefit from the relationship. This has been a major factor in the reappointment of Leasedrive Velo as a supplier of choice."