The Wholesale Market

DIN Norm EN ISO 9001 defines the quality management system of Hamburg’s fruit, vegetable and flower wholesale market.

North Germany’s fresh food centre offers its traders modern, functional property management certified to the latest requirements with qualified personnel who think and act with the interests of their customers at heart. During re-certification in 2008, the advertising measures to promote the market, measurement of customer satisfaction and the association’s work in various institutions such as the Gemeinschaft zur Förderung der Interessen der deutschen Großmärkte e.V. (GFI) (Business development association of Germany’s fresh food markets) and the international association of wholesale markets “World Union of Wholesale Markets” (WUWM) came in for particular praise. This is to be recognised as clear evidence of groundbreaking customer service as defined by the latest demands of the ISO standard, and the market-oriented focus of services is to be seen in a very positive light.

DIN Norm EN ISO 22000 describes the hygiene management system on the basis of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points): In order to guarantee high food quality and hygiene, Hamburg’s wholesale market and resident market companies have relied ever since on comprehensive quality management. The demands that all wholesale market players and especially their customers place on quality and hygiene have risen further in the last few years. At the same time, the EU has developed binding new specifications. This suited Hamburg’s wholesale market down to the ground as it had long been striving for comprehensive hygiene certification. The aim was to be able to demonstrate food hygiene standards by means of corresponding certification. When it comes to hygiene management, the North German fresh food centre acts as a role model among wholesale markets in Germany. For example, Hamburg’s wholesale market was a committed member of the EU working group of the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM), and played a major role in drawing up the WUWM’s Good Practice Guide — a hygiene guide for wholesale markets.

The wholesale market has been one of Hamburg’s ÖKOPROFIT companies since April 2010. Back in the day, the largest fresh food centre in the North had taken part in ÖKOPROFIT’s 13th beginners’ programme, a model for corporate environmental protection.

In May 2009, Hamburg’s wholesale market launched a comprehensive refurbishment programme on its site. It went without saying in the process to align the work with ecological perspectives. The fresh food centre therefore opted to participate in the “Ecological project for integrated environmental technology” — or ÖKOPROFIT for short. The aim of this certification system is to develop measures with the aid of which companies’ energy consumption and operating costs can be lowered — for the benefit of the environment.

To do so, Hamburg’s wholesale market formed an environmental team which took part in various workshops on the general subject of company environmental protection together with 14 other companies taking part in the programme. At the same time, the wholesale market team conducted on-site discussions with experts and discussed possible potential for savings. On this basis, the team developed an effective environmental programme. In the last few years, the measures implemented included renovation of the ceiling lights in the fruit and vegetable hall and installation of a delta-V system with a reduction to low voltage and heat insulation of various pipes. A total of 474,072 kWh or 875 t CO2 have been saved as a result of the measures introduced to date.

The wholesale market has joined the ÖKOPROFIT club to enable it to refine its environmental programme. Here the fresh food centre can swap notes with other members, learn about the latest developments in environmental legislation and obtain recertification every year.

Many processes in quality management today run digitally – and so much faster and easier. That doesn’t just simplify the work of the market management and quality management but also that of traders and external service providers.

After defining all the requirements of importance for the wholesale market, quality management has been digitised step-by-step. Hamburg’s wholesale market uses e-QSS among other things for documenting meter readings for electricity consumption. A photograph is taken of each meter reading for documentation purposes. In this way, the electricity consumption of individual tenants in the wholesale market building is recorded, evidence provided and billed.
e-QSS is also used to perform a “tradesman’s check-in”. Background: Every tradesman entering the wholesale market has to be briefed in advance in accordance with ISO 22000 on the rules that have to be observed (e.g. no smoking, no combustion engines inside the building). Now the tradesman can quickly and easily confirm that they have been briefed by means of a digital signature.

Besides the technical area, the next projects are soon to be tackled. The wholesale market is already brimming with ideas just waiting to be implemented.