February 3rd 2021 marks one year to the day since the companies move to our new premises in Newton Abbot. A lot has happened in what has been a busy and at times challenging year.
The Move and Settling In
The move itself was performed entirely by Tekeurope’s own staff whilst managing to stay open in order to serve our customers. Throughout January staff worked on both sites, those in Newton Abbot setting up the new warehouse. This led to some interesting logistical challenges including stock being split between the 2 sites and regular trips being made to transport parts from Newton Abbot needed in Totnes for orders.
The relocation was the culmination of many months of planning and hard work. What started as an empty building had to be redeveloped and set up in order to be our sole site of operations from February. On February the 3rd we had our first working day entirely in Newton Abbot. The first few months saw the arrival of the company’s new forklift and work undertaken to optimise the layout of the new warehouse.
Covid-19 and Lockdown
By the end of March the Coronavirus pandemic had spread globally and the UK found itself in lockdown. The company introduced a number of measures in order to keep staff and customers safe.
Despite operating with a smaller team the company managed to retain its service levels to our customers in the face of increasing demand for home office equipment as a large part of the country began to work from home. Staff at the company started a film club as a way to stay in touch.
During the first lockdown Tekeurope also put together and donated a number of food boxes to our local hospital in order to help out their hard working staff.
Expansion of Engineering
The extra space afforded by the move provided a unique opportunity to expand and improve the company’s engineering department.
New equipment and space has allowed the expansion of the scope and volume of the repair services we offer to our customers. A restructuring of the department and the intake of new staff in 2021 took place in order to manage the increasing workload.
Tekeurope’s engineers have also undertaken a number of certifications to reinforce their subject knowledge. In addition the company itself is now HP, Dell and Lenovo partners.
Website Launch and E-Commerce Expansion
The final quarter of 2020 saw the launch of tekeurope.co.uk, the website continues to grow with new products being added daily. This has included products from previously unstocked brands such as Sandberg and soon Steelseries.
The 2nd half of the year also saw expansion to our Ebay and Amazon marketplaces as well as a revamp of the company’s social media profiles. We now have regularly updated accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkdin and Instagram, providing us with more ways than ever to keep in contact with our customers.
Christmas
It was a Christmas like no other and whilst staff couldn’t enjoy their traditional Christmas party they did instead receive hampers from the company as a thank you for their hard work.
2020 has been a very tough year for many and Tekeurope was pleased to again be able to support the Torbay Good Will Fund, who provide food and gifts for struggling families in our local area at Christmas.
The Future
2021 started with the recruitment of new staff for both the warehouse and engineering. Brexit has provided a number of initial challenges and the company has founded Tekeurope Spain in order to strengthen our logistics within the EU.
On the horizon is major new building work and further expansion of sales, e-commerce and engineering as we prepare to start the 2nd year in our new building.
