AALSMEER (1 November 2010) - This autumn, purchasing by clock at Auction halls A/B and E/F in Aalsmeer will be brought together in halls E/F. Auction center A/B is showing its age and no longer meets customers' requirements and wishes. FloraHolland will let buyers from auction center A/B use the modern, innovative auction center E/F, making the whole supply of flowers available to customers in a single auction center. The buyer's workstation in auction center E/F offers more supply information, and with the opportunity to use it commercially. Growers should make sure that their supply information is up to date, so that it can fully exploit this opportunity.
How does it work?
• The four actual clocks (No. 1, 2, 3 and 4) in Auction hall A/B will move to Auction hall E/F.
- Clocks 3 and 4 will be auctioning physically in Auction room E as of 1 November 2010.
- Clocks 1 and 2 will be auctioning physically in Auction room F as of 15 November 2010.
• As of 30 September, the image auction clocks (No. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13) currently in Auction hall E/F, are auctioning virtually - they are only visible from the buyer's workstation and KOA, and no longer projected in the auction room. The auctioneer is located in the studio outside the auction room. Clock 8 has been a virtual clock since 2008.
• The products in Auction center A/B will continue to be auctioned the same way. These products will still be physically presented in front of the clock; the clocks will be projected in the auction hall, and the auction times will stay the same. Meaning: centralizing the purchase of flowers by clock is a separate matter from our rollout of image auctioning.
• A new placement scheme for the auction carts will take effect for all flowers at Aalsmeer, after auction on Friday 12 November. This change is necessary to implement the centralization of all flower clocks in auction center E/F. Products from clocks 1-4 will be placed as close as possible to auction room E/F, since they will continue to be auctioned physically. Products for the virtual clocks (8-13) will be presented in other product placement areas and cold stores (021, 023, 059 and on the mezzanine). In drawing up the new placement scheme, the individual cooling requirements of each product have been taken into account as much as possible. There will be no substantial difference between how a product is kept in the current situation and in the placement scheme that begins on 15 November.
• FloraHolland has installed a video wall in the central hall of Auction hall E/F, where all ten flower-clocks can be followed on-screen. This way, all visitors to the auction room have an overview of all the auction activities of each flower clock at Aalsmeer.
• The order of auctioning and the auction times will remain unchanged.