OMNI spotlight on… Kings International

Kings International is the new Probationer member of OMNI in South Africa.  Steve Jordan interviewed Rolf Lamers, the company’s Managing Director in Cape Town, to find out a little more about the company’s past and present.

Kings Transport was originally formed in Cape Town in 1923 by ‘Old Man’ King, as Rolf affectionately refers to him.  At the time the company had a horse and cart and was mainly involved in the moving of sand and commercial cargo in the local area.  He subsequently left the business to his son, Juno, who many in the industry will remember well today.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – The Philippines & Indonesia

Gerry Lane looks at the ways in which COVID-19 has affected his businesses and, perhaps, offers a little inspiration as the world changes.

It is the beginning of November 2020 and Virginia and I are spending some time in Sydney, Australia.  The fact is that the Philippines, where we live most of the time, has severe restrictions on movement and, were we there, we would probably be confined to the house.  I think we’ll stay here for a while enjoying the legendary Australian hospitality.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – USA

Joleen Lauffer, Executive Vice President at Aires in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, looks at the ways in which COVID-19 has affected her business and lessons for the future.

We have around 600 people working at Aires, so when many of them started working from home early this year we had to work really hard to make sure they still felt connected to the organisation. We did this through regular video communications from our leadership team that allowed us to talk to everyone about what was happening in the company and how our work was impacted.  I think these regular touchpoints really helped get us through the transition phase.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – South Africa

 

Rolf Lamers of Kings International in Cape Town looks at the ways in which Covid-19 has affected his business and lessons for the future.

It’s amazing how quickly us humans re-invent ourselves.  Only a few months ago we had never heard of Zoom, now most of us spend most of our days talking to people all over the world using the technology.  Good job we do, we would all have been very lonely this year without it.

We have also all got used to the idea of working from home.  I would never have expected that.  But here I am, in my home office, looking at the ocean and carrying on my business just as well as if I were in the office.  We have a timetable that we follow so everyone takes it in turns to go to the office once or twice a week to do the things we can’t do remotely, but somehow we have all worked out how to function more effectively from home.

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GERSON RELOCATION ANNOUNCE THE ACQUISITION OF DIJKSHOORN IN THE NETHERLANDS

Gerson Relocation Ltd is pleased to announce that it has acquired the business and assets of Dijkshoorn Euromovers B.V., a leading moving services provider based in the Netherlands.
The acquisition of the Dijkshoorn business will expand Gerson Relocation’s European service and support capabilities, consistent with the company’s strategy to meet the needs of their clients and allow the company to be prepared for the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – Sweden

Kenneth Egelrud from Alfa Quality Moving in Sweden looks at the ways in which Covid-19 has affected his business and lessons for the future.

The Swedish government took a rather different approach to handling the Covid-19 crisis than most.  Rather than shut down completely it took a more light-handed attitude, advising people what to do but not locking them down and allowing business to continue.  The aim from the beginning was to restrict the virus while avoiding affecting society as much as possible.

It’s a strategy that might not have worked everywhere.  We have a relatively low population density and, more importantly, Swedish people are quite used to listening to the government. If they say we need to keep our distance, then we keep our distance, there’s no need for lockdown. We try to keep to the rules. I feel that the strategy has worked quite well both for society and for business. We have been able to continue working all the way through, as long as we stick to the regulations.

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Suddath Earns Another Year of ISO 9001 Recertification

Suddath announced today that it was once again recognized for its excellence across the board with an ISO 9001 recertification, the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Suddath received high marks in a yearly audit required to maintain the certification based on a set of international quality management and assurance standards, which are based on seven principles: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision-making and relationship management. 

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OMNI World Series with Derrick Young of BGRS

On Thursday 8th October, OMNI (Overseas Moving Network International) held the first of its World Series virtual meetings online. The purpose of the series of meetings, that OMNI intends to maintain at least until face-to-face meetings are again possible, is to bring members together for network updates and to further the educational aims of the organisation.

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