Alfred Van Pelt Email & Phone Number

Chedzoy, England, United Kingdom

Responsible for the field and office based operations at Mouldex with a view to deliver solutions to mould and condensation problems in residential properties around the UK.

Bridgwater, England, United Kingdom

Appointed Managing Director after assisting the founder owners in selling their business to long term customer/supplier Dedoles. My key task ; transform the business to the UK/Western European Dedoles distribution centre whilst maintaining our position as key distributor for markets and brands Something Different traditionally serviced. During 2020 we majorly changed the way we worked. Warehouse space got increased and layouts and processes were adjusted. supporting new requirements driven by a high level of automation, ensuring superb accuracy and efficiency. Bespoke integration software developments were undertaken to streamline sales order management processes between Dedoles, Something Different and carriers.At the peak of 2020 the output increased from 300 parcels daily in average to 2500 per day, growing the team from 24 employees at the start of 2020 to nearly 70 at the end of the year.And then Brexit happened! Which meant an overnight loss of nearly all of our European salesPost Brexit we invested heavily in setting up pilot retail stores (based on the successful concept in the Czech republic and Slovakia, home countries for Dedoles) as well as performed market research with a view to launch targeted UK media advertising in order to gain market share. Both showed the UK to be a far more competitive (=costly) market than other countries Dedoles operates in.Despite a phenomenal growth of Dedoles (growing from 4M Euro in 2018 to 94M euro in 2021) the UK branch did not survive. This was due to a combination of Brexit (hugely impacting on both traditional sales channels and the ability to fulfill Dedoles orders into the EU), Covid (hugely impacting on sales to our core market of visitor attractions and tourist destinations) as well as the Ukraine war (heavily damaging sales for the entire Dedoles group). March 2022 it was decided to stop trading in the UK from which point I directed and managed the wind down of Something Different.

Joined the company (which was a founders/owners partnership at the time) as Operations Manager in 2004 at a point where they turned over approx 1M GBP, had 5 FTE and were a buy-to-order operation serving gift retailers, mainly based in the UK, with giftware from US based brands.It was my task to prepare the business for a key change in their business model ; transition to a full stock keeping European distribution centre. Between 2004 and 2020 we managed to grow the business to 4.5M GBP and around 40 employees at its peak, serving trade customers throughout Europe and shipping to over 100 countries through our own retail network.This required acquisition and preparation of additional warehouse and office space during several stages of our growth. More importantly it required a migration from Sage (which mainly served as a financial and invoicing software tool) to a platform that could support our growth. Axis Diplomat was selected which, through its modular set up, has been able to support our growth over the years. Under my supervision the software has frequently been improved through bespoke developments so our customer and business needs could be met through efficient business processes. The company got incorporated in 2009. in 2012 I was appointed director alongside the two founder owners.During my time in this role I also played a key part in - supplier relationship (both product suppliers and service suppliers)- staff management policy and guarding company values- setting up UK production (under licence) for some of our US based suppliers- setting up a corporate structure of management reporting & strategy meetings- development of trade websites- marketing (setting up trade shows, developing catalogues & regular newsletters & social media)- managing an international network of sales agentsMarch 2020 the founder/owners sold their shares to Dedoles, a long term and key customer and supplier. Dedoles appointed me Managing Director.