Snack giant OLW has increased their availability

In the potato warehouse, in the office - and sometimes right out in the field - for snack giant OLW it is important that employees should always be reachable.

Spring Mobil’s OnePhone solution the best choice for OLW

A couple of years ago OLW’s IT manager, Johan Hansson, started to search for a new telephony solution since their existing gear was completely out of date. He soon realized Spring Mobil’s OnePhone solution was by far the best choice for OLW, whose ever-mobile employees are spread over several locations.

“The factory is located in Filipstad, the potato storage in Skåne and the head office in Solna. On top of that, we have a sales force that travels around the country. Landlines or traditional mobiles are not the best solution”, he says.

From three phones to one

Previously, employees had two or sometimes even three phones each. A fixed phone, a mobile phone and, for those who worked in the factory, a third, DECT phone, which they took onto the factory floor.

“There were lots of handsets and many numbers to keep track of. Moreover, the coverage at the factory was incomplete. In some places you could not talk on the phone. And there was a security risk”, says Johan Hansson.

Private mobile network in the factory

Today OLW has their own private mobile network in the factory, in the warehouse and in the office. In Filipstad there is a OnePhone base station on one of the factory chimneys and coverage is 100%, so ‘Not Spots’ are a thing of the past. This increases the safety of all who work there. Staff at the potato storage in Nöbbelöv are also happy since they are, at last, accessible and able to make outgoing calls, from whichever hidden corner of the warehouse they may be in.

“Previously, we had problems with coverage. It's completely gone now. In addition, our Cultivation Manager, often out in the potato fields with our suppliers, is really pleased that he doesn’t have to forward his landline to his mobile. As well as the convenience, it saves us a lot of money” says John.

During the procurement, it was found that several companies in the Orkla Group, to which OLW belongs, were interested in replacing their telephony systems. That resulted in OLW joining forces with Procordia, Abba, Axellus and Pierre Robert Group to jointly find a solution. Today, the companies have a common attendant/receptionist at Procordia in Eslöv staffed by two attendants who transfers calls to the appropriate company. The breakdown of call charging between the companies is easily resolved based on statistics produced by the Spring Mobil OnePhone statistics tool.

“It's great to combine our services like this. There is no intrinsic value in having your own systems today. On the contrary, it ties-up capital and requires resources to stay on top of technology and to operate the systems. Today we only have a small base station that sits on a wall. It is incredibly convenient”, says Johan Hansson, who continues:

“Another advantage is that it has become so much easier to increase and decrease the number of users. For example, earlier today, I handed out a phone to a new employee. Before, it took a lot of time and effort. Now I just need to hand out the phone, a user manual and a SIM card. That's it!”

Facts about OLW

OLW Sweden AB is the market leader in the Swedish snack market. Under the brand name OLW they produce, sell and market snack products including nuts, potato chips, cheese snacks, popcorn and dip mixes. OLW has sales of more than SEK 650 million and has approximately 225 employees.