AQ Group, specifically AirQuality, has been one of Sodexo’s supplier since May 2009.
We spoke about this long-standing relationship with Marc van den Berg, contract manager, and André Kal, maintenance engineer, who are both working at Sodexo Facility Services.
Sodexo employs 419,000 members of staff, including 5,000 in the Netherlands. Sodexo’s mission is to contribute positively on ‘Quality of life’, ensuring people and organisations can perform to the best of their capabilities. The level of quality of water and air contribute to a healthy, safe and pleasant living environment. This being AQ Group’s area of expertise, Sodexo works together with AQ Group to keep this in optimal condition.
Marc told us that the first contact took place due to a tender process on air handling units in 2009. Sodexo offered the contract to AQ Group, thanks to a price/quality assessment. Both parties are still very still satisfied with the collaboration between them.
They focus on partnership, including building a long term relationship. There are a few key words in this collaboration, including trust, respect, a critical approach to everyone’s performance, flexibility and transparancy.
An excellent level of communication is necessary to ensure the collaboration remains at a satisfactory level. “This is safeguarded via periodical operational and tactical meetings”, according to Marc van den Berg.
Marc van den Berg: “AirQuality services multiple of our customers at present. These customers work in different sectors, including aviation, industry and pharmacy. AirQuality is deployed for improving the quality of air, for example cleaning air handling units, replacing filters, cleaning air ducts and cleaning induction units. AQ Water is deployed in the area of water systems, including overall maintenance of cooling towers, reverse osmosis systems, water softeners and taking legionella samples.”
What made you decide to choose AQ Group? André: “Our customers expect us to be reliable and to take a flexible approach. Having faith in a supplier is very important for us ánd for our customers. Being transparent. This starts with a detailed quotation document.” Marc adds the following important aspects: “Delivering work on time at competitive pricing, flexible approach to handle changes, the earlier mentioned feeling of trust due to transparency. AirQuality started at Sodexo’s Aviation department, and is currently working for various departments at Sodexo. The processes used by both parties complement each other and there is a mutual understanding for each other’s work. We highly appreciate AQ Group’s quick response when a problem occurs.”
Marc van den Berg & André Kal, Sodexo