October 2009 - Jackson's Bakery Invest in Recipe Formulation and Average Weight Systems from STEVENS
After over a decade of service, Jackson’s Bakery, based in Hull, have decided to upgrade their Stevens Recipe Formulation and Average Weight Systems to the latest ‘Vantage’ Systems available from STEVENS.
Now producing over one million loaves of bread per week, equating to more than 9 million sandwiches, Jackson’s knew they needed a state-of-the-art recipe formulation system which could guarantee every batch was right first time.
Read the report here.
August 2009 – Technical Team Expansion
Paul Andrews will be moving from the factory team to take on the role of RFS Product Manager within the Technical Team. Paul has been with Stevens for 10 years starting in the Service Team and then moving into the factory where he was responsible for setting up and testing systems before dispatch. His wealth of knowledge, attention to detail and focus on quality will be invaluable as we push our market leading flagship product forward.
Replacing Paul in the factory will be John Crowther who joins us with many years experience in PLC and software testing and implementation as well as installing and commissioning complex systems in the field. John has been shadowing Paul for the last month or so and the handover is nearly complete.
July 2009 – Faster Response to Service Calls
We are delighted to welcome Nicky Heys to the Service Team. Her key role will include handling the calls from our ever expanding service customer base and coordinating the engineers using our state of the art Navman tracking system. Once her training is complete, she will also be able to help the rest of the team deal with the day to day enquiries from customers looking for our quick response service.
June 2009 – Geoff Down Under!
We are pleased to announce yet another addition to the Stevens Team. This time, on a different continent! We welcome back Geoff Denyer, who previously worked for us at our Blackburn Head Office managing the Software department and working on key installations within the Food Market.
Geoff is now based in Australia with his primary duty being to support the growing number of installations “down under”. Additionally Geoff will support the UK Software Team with development and help providing overnight support as we move towards our goal of 24/7 software support cover.
We're delighted to have Geoff back in the team!
May 2009 – New Additions To Our Team
We are delighted to announce new additions to our team:
Emma Stewart joined our expanding Production Team during March and is now helping to construct the Vantage 'Hygienic Design' Operator Workstations with a new angular steelwork to assist the cleaning procedure within food production facilities. These workstations are now being produced in higher and higher volumes to fulfil the orders from across the globe.
We also welcome David Charlton who has joined the Software Support Team. David’s key role after training over the next few months will be to proactively schedule upgrades and annual maintenance for our customers. David is the son of our Group Technical Manager, Peter Charlton so you could say our expectations of David are high!
February 2009 – Expansion into Australia & New Zealand. A family affair?
Stevens are delighted to announce their changes from Quarter 1 2009. With immediate effect Peter Jones will take responsibility as Export Manager to handle the increasing customer base overseas. In particular, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the ever active Irish market. Peter started his career with Stevens during the 1980's and has become an expert in the area of food traceability, often seen as an authority, and he makes a regular contribution to the CCFRA as a guest speaker.
To facilitate the move, Brett Jones will be taking responsibility for the South West of the UK (formerly Peter Jones's customer base). Brett is the eldest son of Peter and is as enthusiastic as Peter with the product range and applications. Brett will be shadowing Peter during the handover period to allow Peter to focus on the new network of customers outside of the UK.
We wish Peter continued success in both the handover of the South West and also the mentoring of Brett in this very challenging and critical role.
January 2009 - Major Service Organisation Expansion
Due to an increasing amount of Service & Maintenance Contracts between Stevens and customers across the UK, Darren Bowering, Martin Webster and Ian Kavanagh have joined our Field Service Team. Stevens have over 1000 support agreements now in the mainland UK alone, however, quality of service has always been the key differentiator for Stevens.
Darren, Martin and Ian have now been through the training loop and have a customer base of their own, where they'll be performing routine scheduled maintenance visits. In addition, they will be undertaking calibration requirements and also 'rapid response' breakdown for scales and weighing equipment of other manufacturers equipment.
Laura Aspinal also joins the team at the Blackburn Head Office and assists by logging calls, coordinating the field Technicians and ensuring the most efficient practices are adhered to using our state of the art vehicle tracking system, Navman.
December 2008 - Software Team New Members
Stevens are delighted to announce the expansion of the Software Development Team at our Head Office in Blackburn. Mark Clements and Andy Derby join with immediate effect. Both Mark and Andy will be working on projects to support the award winning 'Vantage' System in addition to providing on-line help for our network of over 1000 'Vantage' Systems installed across the world.
Both Mark and Andy are highly experienced Software Engineers and bring a lot of knowledge to the Software Department. It's great to see their new ideas making a contribution with our new and existing client base.
Best of luck to Mark and Andy!
August 2008 – New Management Team Members
Stevens are pleased to announce some key changes to our company. As of 1st July, Stuart Hunt (Commercial Manager) will be moving to the USA to help develop the Stevens business in the USA on a full time basis. Stuart is delighted with the move following a string of orders in the USA.
To support the new activity the following changes have taken place
- Toby Hawkins will step up from National Account Manager to UK Sales Manager
- Darren Fisher will take the role as UK Service Manager
- Peter Charlton will assume responsibility as Group Technical Manager
Toby Hawkins comments ‘we’re delighted with the new changes and very positive about our company going forward. It’s an understatement to say we’re going to be challenged to fulfil the growth of the company, however it’s a nice problem to have and we have a very good team in the UK to support this activity’
June 2008 – New Sales and Service Team Members!
Stevens are very pleased to welcome on board 2 additional members of the Sales and Service Teams with immediate effect.
Graduate Rebecca Dixon has accepted the role as Area Sales Manager for the South East. The South East has historically been a good area for Stevens and Toby Hawkins (now UK Sales Manager) developed the area well over the last 3 years. Rebecca is very enthusiastic about the position and we wish her the best of luck in her new role.
Darren Glynn has accepted a new position within our Service Department as National Account Technical Engineer. Darren brings with him a wealth of experience within the weighing industry and this role has been produced to ensure a flexible and dynamic approach towards our National Accounts. Darren is highly knowledgeable of IT based systems which is a great partnership with the ‘Vantage’ range of Traceability Solutions.
January 2008 - Worldwide Business Development
STEVENS are very pleased to announce its strategic expansion plans for 2008. Planned around growth markets where the subject of Treaceability is fast becoming the top item on the agendas of almost all food companies supplying products inside and outside of the EU.
USA Plans
Stuart Hunt will be working on an exclusive basis for S.G Systems in Dallas. Stuart took the decision to focus Stevens on Traceability exclusively during 2004, after his appointment as UK Sales Manager for Stevens. Since then, he has recognised that the U.S is the fastest growing market on the planet and as a consequence, the temptation is too great to bear! Stuart will be working for the next few months in Dallas, helping to push Walter into the Texas & Oklahoma states.
In his absence, the UK will be managed by Toby Hawkins (covering the Food Major Accounts) and Darren Fisher (covering the Cash Handling + Carrier Sector)
Ireland & New Zealand
Ireland Distribution (through Globweigh and Datos) will be handled by Peter Jones. Peter ordinarily works the South West UK territory but for the next few months will cover for the Ireland accounts.
Peter understands our business inside out and has this year (2007) achieved his highest order levels since his career began many moons ago (sorry Peter, didn't want to reveal your age here!).
New Zealand will be managed by Peter too working with a Distribution network.
November 2007
New Area Sales Manager for East Anglia
STEVENS are delighted to announce the appointment of Justin Beecher with immediate effect. Justin is now taking control of the East Anglia region, which has some of our most largest customers, particularly within our major food customers such as Bakkavor.
Justin is a cheerful character and his experience and knowledge of data acquisition (DAQ) products & statistical process control software (SPC) provides a good foundation to start working with the Stevens product range. Justin is looking forward to driving the business in the East Anglia area to the next level and building long term relationships with the customer base
We wish Justin the very best of luck in this challenging role.
October 2007
Stevens at IBIE Orlando
STEVENS and our USA Partners, S.G. Systems had a great time during the exhibition at the IBIE Trade Show in Orlando during early October. Predominantly promoting the Vantage Shop Floor Traceability System to an audience of Plant Bakers throughout the world, obtaining over 150 opportunities from Bakers all over the USA as well as other countries such as New Zealand and Australia.
S.G Systems (www.sgsystemsusa.com) are based in Dallas, Texas and have set up in business to focus entirely on the promotion of the Market Leading UK 'Vantage' Traceability System and already have an impressive portfolio of clients within the Texas area.
Commercial Manager Stuart Hunt Reports 'We've always been the leading supplier of shop floor traceability systems within the UK food market and it's nice to come to a country where the need is so great and the opportunities are endless. On top of this it's fantastic to work with such an innovative, forward thinking and greatly inspiring bunch of guys at S.G Systems - roll on the future!'
Project Management Team Expansion
STEVENS are pleased to announce the appointment of Jacqui Davies with immediate effect. Jacqui has a history of managing operations and bespoke projects across a broad range of industries and countries and is ideally placed for helping the management of our European projects.
Our objective with this new position is to considerably enhance the communication of our projects both internally and externally.
We wish Jacqui the very best of luck in this new and very challenging role
May 2007
UK Software Team expansion
STEVENS are pleased to announce the appointment of Jonas Olofsson with immediate effect. Jonas is originally from Sweden and has an excellent history of Software development and Project Management within other blue chip companies such as Eriksson.
We're delighted that Jonas has joined us to help us expand our market leading traceability suite and we wish him every success with us.
Jonas comments - 'STEVENS is an exciting company to work for and it's great to be part of such a forward thinking and greatly inspiring company. The traceability market is buoyant and there's a real sense of urgency with this company!'
April 2007
Allied Bakeries Contract awarded to STEVENS.
Subsidiary of ABF (Associated British Foods), Allied Bakeries have now awarded STEVENS the contract to supply it's market leading traceability suite to it's UK based Plant Bakery operations. The contract was awarded following a successful trial at the Cardiff site, then a subsequent trial at the Stevenage site. Both sites now feature the STEVENS Stock and Recipe Formulation workstations to help eliminate scrap recipes and give immediate real time stock reconciliation.
Another site (West Bromwich) is in manufacture at our head office and production facility which features real time interfaces with the Peoplesoft Accounts Software as well a direct link with the factory SCADA system.
February 2007
Premier Foods Contract awarded to STEVENS
Subsidiary of Premier Foods (formally RHM), British Bakeries have now awarded Dataprocess Stevens the contract to furnish its sites with the third generation of Stevens shop floor weighing and process control equipment. The contract was awarded following a successful trail at the Sebon bakery (featuring Recipe Control Workstations + Off Line Average Weight Systems).
Now sites in Glasgow & Leicester (formally Harvestime) are benefiting from the new traceability with orders being commissioned for the Bradford and Nottingham sites too.
Premier Account Manager Toby Hawkins is delighted with the roll out 'listening to customer needs is what makes STEVENS stand out from the crowd - I love working with the Plant Bakeries as the environment is considered to be the toughest of all manufacturing places, including wet ones!'.
January 2007
England Sales Team Expansion - 2 new recruits
STEVENS are delignted to announce the appointment of 2 new Area Sales Managers to cope with the increased demand for the Stevens Traceability Suite.
Simon Parker is now covering the Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham areas and Paul Dungworth is covering the Hull, Sheffield, Bradford and North Yorkshire Areas.
Both Simon and Paul are fitting in well and have been emersed in the deep end with some of the more 'challenging' jobs! We wish Simon and Paul the best of luck with their new roles.
