Due to a major nationwide technical disruption on KOA (remote buying) system, auctioning started several hours later than usual today. Auctioning took place at the locations until around 3 pm and ended before 4.30 pm. All flowers and plants were delivered to customers in the box. Average pricing was up to par, and throughput across locations was finally at normal levels. The systems were extensively tested today; auctioning will start at the regular time of 6 am next Monday.
Nevertheless, the disruption caused by the delay has had a major impact on customers and their people. In an earlier news release, Steven van Schilfgaarde, CEO of Royal FloraHolland, commented on the disruption:
"Despite the circumstances, we did eventually start auctioning today with a considerable delay. We understand that this unpleasant situation affects all parties in the chain, especially our customers, their employees, and also our own staff. We apologize for this. We finally started auctioning flowers and plants in larger volumes at 10.30 this morning. We asked our employees in logistics to continue working longer at our locations. Our office staff has also joined in logistics at all locations. We want buyers to receive their products as soon as possible and are very happy with the flexibility of our people. We thank growers, buyers, and our staff for their understanding and patience in this difficult situation."
Disruption to KOA network
This morning's disruption was caused by synchronization problems on the KOA network. As a result, a large proportion of buyers could not log in to KOA. At a time when not enough buyers can log in, this ensures that there is insufficient buying power to auction on the clocks. Royal FloraHolland always strives to achieve an optimal price. Therefore only started auctioning at 10.30 am when the system was able to run at full capacity again.
For more information:
Royal FloraHolland
www.royalfloraholland.com