We have grown out of our office and storage facilities AGAIN! We thought we were going to last for a lot longer at INNOV8, but despite the huge amount of storage and floor space, we have simply grown too quickly. As a result, moving vans are currently packing up lorries and vans with both office and stock, carrying it a few miles down the road into our new home on York Way.
Christmas tree and a heater
The first things to go in was the Christmas tree (stay tuned for pictures!) to be decorated on Saturday and a heater, as we are installing a new heating system… the old one had a big sticker on it saying DO NOT USE. The office is a tad bit too cold for the Customer Service team — they like “close to tropical” according to Tina, Senior Customer Service Manager, so there is now a large heater positioned in that department, directly aimed at Tinas desk!
Preparation, preparation, preparation
Moving this amount of goods is not for the fainthearted, but the team is experienced, meticulous and extremely well prepared. The organisation has been going on for weeks, and today when the first lorry showed up, the movers were impressed with how well prepared the loading was. Desks taken apart, drawers emptied and cleaned, pictures wrapped and stacked…nothing left to do but to watch the magic of efficient moving staff taking over.
Small heart attack
Given the rigorous planning and control the JUNE Team exercise over stock and product, all the way from R&D, through manufacturing and to post sale follow up, it will come as no surprise that the Stores team have labelled things to go in a certain ORDER…with the help of different coloured stickers on the boxes so they could easily be visually identified and stored in the same order. Imagine the look on Head Of Operations Emma Maidwell’s face when 2 hours in, the moving team supervisor shares the fact that they are colour blind and asks “what shade of grey should go next”!
The Queen’s Green Canopy*
In line with our Company Purpose Statement and our Environmental policy, we are taking the opportunity to also plant trees to help the earth as part of the project spearheaded by Her Majesty The Queen. Our new grounds will make for a small addition to this amazing initiative, but we are proud to play our part.
Much to do
Despite having professional help, the UK JUNE team are very much involved in the move, and everyone is helping. Keen to ensure that we beat our own record of having 32 min downtime in the system last time we moved, the new online capabilities give us the possibility to overlap systems, so that we will not have a single minute where we can’t process orders. Even Santa himself would be impressed with the operations of JUNE Medicals elves in the workshop!
*The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is a tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Everyone across the UK is being invited to plant trees from October 2021, when the tree planting season begins, through to the end of the Jubilee year in 2022.
