1 January 2022
The launch of BAS World and integrating new product groups, plus adding the final pieces of the puzzle of the BAS Dealer Management System coming together. These are among the highlights of 2021, which were achieved by an exceptional mix of talents and disciplines. This means flawless integration between business and technology. And so with the common goal of further growth, Cas and Bas van Heertum look back on 2021 with a sense of pride. But not for long though! As directors of the dynamic BAS group, they would rather go full throttle into 2022, straight into the mix of new challenges and goals. More than enough challenges to go round the BAS table!
BAS goes full throttle against the current!
What will the market for heavy vehicles and machinery be like in 2022? It's hard to know. With the market for new or used transport equipment, anything is possible. Managing an international family business such as BAS is synonymous with being a sports athlete and in current market conditions, you have to step it up. The corona pandemic is completely disrupting the global production and distribution processes. The flow of goods is compromised, shortages are becoming more and more common. The fact that BAS managed to achieve a combined growth of 15% last year will go down in the books as an unexpected and contradictory to conditions top performance.
"Don’t misunderstand me," stresses Cas van Heertum, "the impact of the pandemic on our business is out of all proportion with what the virus has done to people's personal lives. The impact for us is also close to home. However, we have to deal with it as entrepreneurs. By making sure our people have safe working conditions and by us not deviating from the path we have chosen; even in these trying times, we make sure we keep moving forward. 2022 shouldn’t be much different.
Talent signs at BAS
There is a commonality in this story. A single-pointedness, a direction, focussed and upward-bound. All energy is focused on growth:- In terms of market share and turnover plus the number of employees. Despite the tight labour market, BAS managed to hire over a 150 new talents to the ambitious company goals in 2021. Many new colleagues with backgrounds in IT, development and e-commerce joined the unique transition from BAS Trucks to BAS World, the global brand of our international marketplace.
In retail and service, we are taking big steps towards integrated fleet management concepts with 100% focus on customer hospitality and a key role for smart technology. As an employer, we focus on agile work processes and ownership. One word encapsulates everything: DYNAMIC. If you like that, a career at BAS is your ticket to the future. As a mechanic, driver or planner. As a tyre or parts specialist. As a buyer or seller. As an IT or marketing professional. As a young professional or ambitious specialist.
More than 15% growth in 2021 - against the tide!
Against the tide, all of our BAS companies achieved growth of 15 to 20% last year. Both in terms of turnover and units sold - trucks, trailers, machines, vans, tyres and parts. The latter is remarkable, according to Bas van Heertum. "Due to the disrupted production and logistics infighting, supply was scarce and demand hesitant. Transporters waited, fearing long delivery times. One affects the other." Bas and Cas are not deterred by this. "We will continue to innovate and invest. We will continue to look ahead with our customers and look for alternatives and solutions that will help them move forward."
As of 2022, BAS will have an annual turnover of around €500 million. What comes in goes out again almost as fast in the form of investments. In the coming year alone, BAS will be investing at least €25 million in additional stock capacity for BAS World. The Experience Centre in Veghel, home to the Volvo and Renault Trucks dealership, is being enlarged and extended with a modern body shop. In order to be able to realise the upscaling, BAS bought an additional 50,000 m² of land in 2021. That's building for the future!
Together, we deliver more than the sum of our parts
"Retail's annual growth is stable," says Bas. "By offering our customers a reliable and innovative total concept, we continue to increase our market share. The market is also challenging for new trucks. There are not enough components and parts to speed up fleet renewal. Many customers are stepping on the brakes purely out of caution. And so, we do our best to adapt to these changes and we offer the right solutions also through BAS Rent and BAS Lease. Together we have a greater impact than as individuals!
At BAS Retail, the dealership, everything revolves around service after sales. Planners, mechanics, warehouse staff and drivers play the leading role in this. They have more to look forward to since in 2021, the finishing touches are put to the home-made Dealer Management System (DMS), in which all operational processes are optimised and digitised. Goal: the superlative of customer convenience.
Bas van Heertum: "We go live in 2022. The people in the workshop will be much closer to the customer - to the driver. No more superfluous intermediaries, but clarity and speed. With the help of push notifications, everyone knows what is happening. Drivers can follow the process closely and know exactly when they can get back on the gas. Lead times will be shorter, schedules and costs more transparent. This is really going to make a difference."
Everything will be different, except our taste for sausage rolls
With the new digital management system, BAS is moving permanently to fleet management and service processes at the very highest level. Everything will be Smart and Tech, the physical workshops, the planning and logistics, the communication with colleagues and customers. What will not change is the Brabant sausage roll in the cosy canteens. "We won't change that," promises Bas, "but everything else will be different. Shorter lines, more insight into work and planning, more ownership, more specialisation. Believe me, you won't find a better place to work if truck technology is your passion."
The Dealer Management System and its apps were developed by in-house IT teams. Much more took place in the IT and Development domain in 2021. "We are an automotive company with our own software company of a hundred people," is how Cas describes the transition. "Since our decision to take IT and Development into our own hands, our family business has not only experienced a growth spurt, but we have also become a different company. Even Bas and I, as board members, are constantly re-examining our roles."
Join the dynamic
It's part of BAS. Finding out where your talent lies, grabbing your role, going along with the dynamics, growing. Take BAS World, the first global business-to-business marketplace for trucks, trailers, vans, construction, and excavators, and more. Motto of the trusted platform: Sell with Ease, Buy with Confidence. In the past year, full speed has been given to the 'bol.com of the international transport market'. By scrum teams of product owners, app developers, product engineers, data architects and analysts, online marketers, e-commerce experts, testers, you name it. "A mountain of work has been put in; everyone has put in a hundred per cent effort. I look at it with admiration because most of the digitising goes over my head. But I know where we want to go. To be a trusted platform for buyers and sellers, fast, easy, and reliable. With 100% focus on ease of use and win-win. Creating a platform is extremely complicated and we have consciously opted for a phased roll-out. Going live in the summer was an enormous relief. You never forget a moment like that. We continue to improve and make steps forward. In 2022, we will open for selected trusted sellers. From there we will accelerate and scale up."
BAS as an employer, stands for...
Targets, ambitions, and dynamics enough for 2022. And for after that. Between now and the next five years, Bas and Caspar want to grow between three to five times its current size with BAS World. For BAS Retail and BAS Service, the target is an annual growth of at least 15-20%. Looking ahead, changing gear quickly, always doing what we promise, helping customers get ahead. These are the brand values of BAS. "A lot has changed, a lot will change," says Bas. "We don't just coast along, we take the initiative. Because only by being number one in every development will you remain a market leader."
"That requires vision, powerful and intelligent tools, and a very good team of talented and motivated people," adds Cas. "That's another huge challenge because talent is scarce. And how do you tell talent that BAS is the best employer in the Netherlands, whatever your field, background, experience, or country of origin? We have put up eye-catching billboards along the motorway, hang Brabant full of posters, work closely with schools, and our employees are the best ambassadors we could wish for."
"The atmosphere and dynamics at BAS are infectious. There is a lot of ambition and energy in the air. The drive to succeed together is extraordinary. And when it succeeds, we don't mind celebrating. BAS stands for short lines of communication, for ownership, for pushing back frontiers, for growth. At BAS you don't go for a job, but for a career. If you start here tomorrow, you don't know what you'll be doing in a year's time. We could go on like this for a long-time praising BAS as an employer. But who are we? Come and experience it for yourself and discover what the world of BAS has to offer."
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