At Metzgerei Reichenbach we’ve been supplying fine meats and sausages to our customers for the past 65 years, ever since my parents started the business. I’ve been involved since childhood, whether working on the mountain pastures after school or in the shop, so it’s always been a part of my life.
What we do is unique in Germany; our animals come from our own breeding programme, as well as from select partner farms, and we feed them with locally sourced pasture and field feed.
Our holistic approach means we look after everything, right up until the meat reaches our customers. We are pioneers in this way, with colleagues from all over Germany and Switzerland coming to see our system.
The other thing that makes us unique is that we don’t rely on supermarkets, we only sell at our counters within a 60 kilometres radius and directly to our online customers. However, this does bring additional logistical challenges as we need to operate a small fleet of around 30 vehicles, seven of which are delivery vehicles.
A Hard-Working Fleet
And we are, of course, very dependent on these vehicles because we deliver to our shops every morning, and we make deliveries to our customers every day; as many as 1,000 parcels per week across the country, which means many kilometres of travel.
Punctuality is very important above all else, so keeping our hard-working fleet perfect is critical. If we can’t deliver to our shops or to customers who are relying on that delivery, then it’s bad for our business and for our reputation. When Ernst and König, our local Ford dealer, told us about Dealer Uptime Services we thought it sounded good; the promise of less work and less time in maintaining our fleet was naturally tempting.
How Dealer Uptime Service is Helping Us
Before, the driver would just come and say, for example, "the brake pads are worn out". We would then call the garage, make an appointment and bring the car to the workshop. Then, there was the waiting time until the vehicle was dealt with, and in the meantime, you had to leave the vehicle standing because you can’t use it with worn brake pads.
Dealer Uptime Services has made everything much easier for us. Now we know in advance if something is wrong or needs to be done. Our Ford dealer, Ernst and König, monitors the vehicle data for our connected fleet on our behalf. If any work needs to be carried out on the vehicles, someone from Ernst and König gives us a call. They let us know which vehicle is due for a service or which one needs a spare part replaced. We arrange a workshop appointment in good time so we can plan for it. At the agreed time, they bring us a replacement vehicle and take ours away. By the end of the day, it’s back in our yard and we can use it again the next morning. Sometimes, they might also send a Mobile Service Van to us for software updates or small repairs so our van stays on site and is quickly dealt with.
This approach is so significant for us because naturally we always need the vehicles. It’s also made everything much faster and less complicated, meaning we can concentrate on what we do best without unnecessary downtime.
For over 65 years, we have combined tradition with innovation in agriculture and the butcher's trade. This innovation from Ford is something we now trust to help us maintain that reputation, ensuring our specialty Black Forest ham arrives on time.
Ulrich Reichenbach is Managing Director of Metzgerei Reichenbach
