Dicker Upgrading DAS Branches
♦ Dicker Upgrading DAS Branches – Dicker Access & Surveillance is upgrading its national branch network, increasing its training ability and growing staff numbers.
“Each of our branches needs to be the best possible version of itself,” said DAS general manager, Chris Price. “Historically the branch network has not been invested in, so we’ve got to fix that, even if it means moving to more suitable locations.
“For instance, last week we picked up the keys for a new site in Waterloo to replace the existing Alexandria branch, and we’re fitting that out as we speak. For Seven Hills, we have a new site that we’ll hopefully be able to move into in January 2023. We also have a new site at Nerang on the Gold Coast – it’s undergoing a fit-out for an end of the month open.”
Price said the Brisbane branch did not need upgrading but all the other branches did.
“In Melbourne we are doing a re-fit on one site and a move at another site, there’s a re-fit being undertaken at Moonah in Hobart, there’s a refit in Adelaide and there’s a re-fit in Perth,” he explained.
“This is a very big process for us – we’re going through all the sites, we’re standardising all the displays and rather than re-fitting 9 sites (we’re the only truly national distributor with a branch in Hobart) piecemeal, we are doing them all at once as a purposeful re-fit.”
According to Price, enhancements to the branches spill over into other key areas, like training and inventory.
“We are focusing on doing the simple things right – having inventory on the floor and treating the branch like a retail for wholesale space, not a collect counter with some displays near where you wait.
“We’ve had training rooms in each state for a long time – as part of these upgrades we’re expanding our training facilities and doubling our training teams. The training remit will expand – as well as training installers and integrators, our trainers are going to be training our own staff – we’re going to lift our expertise on the trade counters – that’s where we need experts who can give advice on our systems.”
Price said the upgrades would take about 5 months to complete and would have an immediate impact on DAS’ state operations.
“Re-fitting the stores, training the staff to a higher level of expertise, having more staff in post-sales, having more inventory – “We have lifted the inventory by 80 per cent since taking over” – all these changes will have a momentum of their own,” Price said.
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