Summary
Summary - Operations Management
- Module
- Operations Management
- Institution
- Southampton Solent University (SSU)
Case Study with answers for operations management
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Faculty of Business, Law and Digital TechnologiesOperations Management
BFA529
Short Case Study
Verenigde Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer (VBA)
(United Flower Auctions)
Module Co-ordinator
Nigel Ward
Ward-Solent 2020
, Short Case: Verenigde Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer (VBA)
(United Flower Auctions)
Verenigde Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer (VBA) (United Flower
Auctions), Aalsmeer, Holland VBA is the largest flower
auction operation in the world. It comprises two main parts.
The first is the sellers’ area known as the ‘auction section’
where flowers are received, held in cooled storage areas and
auctioned. The second is the ‘buyers’ section’ where around
300 buyers, exporters and wholesalers rent space to prepare
flowers for shipment.
Trucks leave
Aalsmeer every working day for destinations (including
airports) throughout Europe. On a typical day there are
about 10 000 people working at the centre (1800 of whom
work directly for VBA), together handling 17 million cut
flowers and 2 million plants. This large and complex
operation is held together by its information-processing
technology.
Flowers are extremely perishable, so dealing with
them in such large quantities makes the speed,
accuracy and dependability of the operation critical.
During the evening and overnight, flowers are
brought into the operation in standard containers
which are subsequently handled in standard wheeled
cages (there are over 124 000 of these ‘trolleys’ in
circulation).
Each lot of flowers are assigned a reference number,
a quality inspection is made by VBA staff, and a description is entered on the ‘delivery forms’
attached to each trolley. The trolleys are then held in cold storage until they are collected for the
auctioning process the following morning.
The auction takes place every weekday in five separate halls, specialised by category of flower or
plant. The largest flower auction hall has tiered desks for up to 500 buyers, each linked to the
auction computer. Each buyer has an uninterrupted view of the flowers (which are automatically
conveyed through the auction halls in their trolleys), and of the four-auction price ‘clocks’ behind the
auctioneers.
Ward-Solent 2020 1
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