“There has never been so much to offer to our customers in the food and beverage segment than what we have right now,” says Leon Stefanec. “To be able to provide the spread of solutions and services we have, in addition to the breadth of expertise, means we can help our customers achieve success by extending the life of their equipment, increasing their productivity and reducing their energy consumption.”
As Leon enters his second year as the National Business Development Manager for Food and Beverage, he is enthusiastic about Motion’s customer value proposition.
“What has become more apparent to me is that customers in this market segment need a supplier to be extremely responsive and have an in-depth understanding of what they do,” he explains. “Suppliers then need to have solutions that tailor to those requirements, and they need to be able to supply or access these products quickly. All of which we provide. But it’s more than that, it’s about trust.”
According to Leon, Motion’s foundation in the food, beverage and packaging sector is solid – because it’s real people providing services.
“Reliability in this market is paramount. It’s not about processing requests from behind a desk, it’s about going out to site, understanding the needs of the business, and giving quality advice and information,” says Leon. “And this new magazine is an extension of our commitment to that. We want our customers to have access to information about new technologies or innovations our supplier partners have, or that we are offering.”
Importantly, Leon notes that the quality of service goes hand-in-hand with the product offering. He provides an example of a large commercial bakery on the outskirts of Melbourne who trust that Motion will be available to them when they need it most.
“What’s most important to this bakery? Getting their product onto the supermarket shelves on time. If they can’t bake, or lose batches, this jeopardises their ability to do that and that can mean that customers will choose competitors instead and the supermarket might even stop stocking their goods,” he stresses. “So, they need to be across every potential issue in the plant. And they rely on us for parts. In fact, they regularly message outside business hours, and we make sure the nearest store is ready to go with the parts they need at the start of the daily maintenance shift.”
Motion’s General Manager of National Sales, Grant Gray, says the commitment of the Motion team to helping customers achieve success is Motion’s defining point of difference.
‘We have experts in the field like Leon who are ensuring we’re bringing the best elements of our business to site. Whether it be labour hire, engineering design, a hydraulic specialist, oil and lubrication, vibration analysis or thermal imaging, we have an amazing level of competency that can close the loop on almost every food and beverage application,” he says. “We can provide a nose to tail solution. And when we say that, it’s not just about supplying or installing a piece of equipment. It’s the ongoing technical support that comes before, during and after that event.”
Whilst downtime is a major risk for any business, Grant argues that it’s particularly dangerous for those in the food and beverage industry.
“We know that demand is outstripping supply right now and with food and beverage the business risk associated with downtime is amplified by the expiry of goods, or shelf life,” he explains. “For us, it’s critical that we understand not only what the problem is so we can provide a solution, but understanding when the work can be done. Generally, this is done after hours or on weekend where the demand on the manufacturing side is at its lowest. And I’m proud to say we are very well-equipped to service this sector. We’ve got a huge amount of engineering and technical support available to customers in these timeframes, as well as best in class industrial parts.”
Moreover, having multiple businesses under the one roof serves those in the food and beverage sector well, says Grant.
“There’s less risk for the customer, particularly if you look at an event such as a major shutdown, which is a complex process that has to be achieved in a limited timeframe,” he elaborates. “We’re bringing a level of competency to the table that is unmatched, where we can project the whole job under one deliverable and increase the likelihood of a favourable outcome. As opposed to a less favourable outcome which is more likely when you’re dealing with a number of third party vendors – it only takes one to fail to deliver to compromise the success of a shutdown.”
To summarise on what Motion can offer to the food and beverage market, Grant reiterates on Leon’s earlier point about having real people with experience available to go out on site.
“It all comes back to one ongoing, key goal for businesses in this sector – achieving higher rates of production. Which comes with efficiency. Where do we make the difference? By understanding the customer needs and providing a raft of innovations. We’ve got a team of people with impressive experience, and they don’t help our customers achieve success from sitting behind a desk. They put their overalls on, they put their gumboots on, they don the appropriate PPE and go out to site to understand exactly what the dynamics are that are impacting those processes each day, and then discuss how we can work together to improve them.”
