The NCE team recently attended the ceda conference at The Belfry Hotel. It was a very special event celebrating 50 years of a prestigious organisation within the foodservice and catering equipment industry.
The membership is made up of the most professional, innovative, and creative companies in our sector. A membership that designs, instals and project-manages the most stunning foodservice, catering and hospitality facilities. A membership that maintains catering and foodservice equipment with the most exceptional service levels.
The Rising Star Award at the ceda conference is to recognise and reward an individual’s outstanding achievement and contribution to the development of a ceda member company. The awards are independently judged and from the entries received, they shortlist three young people who have made a significant impact on a members’ business.
This year we nominated Richard Wepener. Richard is the lynch pin in the service operation of NCE, he is the vital conduit between customers, engineers, parts suppliers, product manufacturers and the other departments within NCE. He engages new customers, manages existing customers needs, and organises a comprehensive PPM schedule combined with a rapid responsive reactive agenda. He builds and manages relationships with parts and equipment manufactures, keeping up to date with latest developments that allow him to effectively triage everyone’s requirements. He also dovetails with other departments such as sales, projects and accounts so everyone has the right information at the right time.
Richard joined NCE in 2018 as the very first employee, at that stage his duties were to clean up second-hand equipment to be fit for the resale market, but as NCE has grown and adapted so has he. It’s fair to say that without his passion and energy this business would not have grown so quickly and consistently. He has adapted to create the service department we have today, managing relationships and the logistics of deployment.
At each stage, Richard has further improved upon his skillset by thoroughly embracing feedback and passionately seeking advice. He has up-skilled himself and the rest of the organisation with his IT skills, making him the in-house expert on all our operational platforms. He picked up Big Change as our current operating platform as a total novice in 2020 but has taken his knowledge and expertise to new levels creating workflows and training others so our customers benefit to the fullest. He adapts at every stage of development to his and the company’s betterment, creating systems and processes that offer efficiency and transparency to benefit all those involved.
He has been and continues to be, the secret ingredient in the recipe for our success.
On the night, Richard was the runner up in the awards, it was an honour to be recognised against such tough competition. Well done Richard!