Update Team Support: Jaap van Hulten speaking
Here's an update from Operations, or rather Team Support, as we're going to call the department in the new setup.
I started on March 1 and I can only conclude that there is a very positive atmosphere within the entire team. At Service Course, or let's talk about the to be introduced term 'Team Jumbo-Visma High Performance Center', colleagues are working hard to make all competitions possible again this year. An overview of what's going on:
The logistics department has certainly had a considerable number of challenges in recent weeks, with the last-minute information provision about hotels of the Giro organization up to and including the many travel movements and overnight stays that change, because there are many personnel changes at the moment.
Within the mechanics group we see enormous flexibility to accommodate each other, and we will also welcome a number of new colleagues in the coming months. With this we hope to better regulate the workload within this group. We are also working together on the introduction of a mechanic skill matrix. Think of a matrix that helps to gain insight into how everyone's performance level can improve and where you currently stand as a mechanic in the development of your competencies. It is a joint process, and we will soon introduce this, to really start working with it from 1 January 2024.
In mid-June we will start the same process within the soigneurs group and then a message will follow to the soigneurs with information about this. Incidentally, also this group of colleagues is currently dealing with many last minute changes, because changes have to be made in the planning due to injuries, for which many thanks! Some great news amongst the chefs. Two colleagues are pregnant and we wish them all the best for the coming months. Of course this happy news created gaps in the planning. Thanks to the efforts of many, all races are manned by a team of chefs.
In terms of planning, we are working towards the introduction of a new planning tool, which should be operational from 2024. This fall we will run a pilot project to test the tool. As of June 1, Peter Snel will join our team as a fleet manager, so that we will hopefully notice that the technical condition of all our vehicles will improve in the coming months.
An old acquaintance, Paul Martens, will also join us from June. Paul will take on the role of Head of Rider Apparel, making him responsible for the quality improvement of materials together with the performance team. With his arrival, the material distribution is as follows: Jenco is responsible for everything related to the bike and Paul is responsible for shoes, clothing, helmets and glasses. And speaking of clothing, Marjelle, who had already temporarily taken on the entire clothing issue, will now do so permanently for everything related to casual clothing, suitcases and other matters.
With Dirk Janssen, Sem, Lars, Walter and very frequently Maarten Mimpen, we are starting to get a permanent core that forms the daily face on the work floor of our High Performance Center. Good to realize that in addition to the daily course preparations, departing and returning vehicles and other matters, they are also busy preparing for next year.
Finally, good to know that Team Support meets every Monday morning and that all conceivable operational topics are discussed on that agenda. In this meeting, Grischa and Merijn represent the WT men, Mathieu and Jenco the performance side. Richard takes part as final responsible of Team Jumbo-Visma, Sander represents Team Business, Rutger our women's team, Robbert our DEVO team and Jan our Off-road team. If you have matters that need to be discussed in this consultation, do not hesitate to contact one of these persons.