Coor gives SAS a boost

In 2007 a new strategy plan was established for the SAS Group in which the core concepts were simplification and focus. The main focus would be the airline’s own core business while other operations would be divested. A raft of subsidiaries were offered for sale, including SAS Facility Management.

“We were concerned the FM market wasn’t ready, and that it would be hard to find a partner able to handle all the services that previously involved several hundred suppliers,” says Bjørn Frivold, former President of SAS Facility Management.

SAS Facility Management has run integrated FM for many years and has therefore been able to streamline and develop quality, structure and economy on a continuous basis.

“We got to a point where we couldn’t develop the services any further. However, we did believe there was scope for a larger supplier, with FM as its core business, to take things even further. Consequently it was the supplier’s capacity, rather than the price, that governed our choice of business partner,” says Bjørn Frivold.

According to Bjørn Frivold, Coor was chosen for all Scandinavian markets because of its professional attitude to outsourcing and because it is accustomed to running large operations, experience which is rated highly.

“There’s often a specific culture in large operations and it’s important to be receptive to that. Many of the other interested parties were too specialised.”

The contract is worth a total of SEK 1,750 million and runs for five years. The service delivery encompasses property, production and workplace related services such as building maintenance, conference service, reception, energy, mail processing and projects. The delivery also includes administration and workwear management for the 12,700 or so employees of SAS who wear a uniform.

“This is a prestige contract for Coor and we are proud and delighted at the confidence Scandinavian Airlines is showing us. An important part of our remit is to take a holistic approach to and develop SAS’s operational services throughout Scandinavia. We very much look forward to doing this in close association with SAS,” says Mats Jönsson, President & Group CEO of Coor Service Management.

For SAS Facility Management it was essential that the personnel went to a company that values their expertise and can harness their experience.
Bjørn Frivold explains that there is a strong culture at SAS and staff turnover is low. Few people want to leave. This is why it is important to involve the workforce in the plans.

“We’ve let employee representatives contribute to the outsourcing process in order to consider their points of view to the greatest extent possible. We’ve also regularly provided a lot of information about what’s happening and why.”

Urban Edstedt, contract manager at Coor for the SAS contract in Scandinavia, thinks the deal has run smoothly and in a positive spirit, but it has been highly complex bearing in mind that three countries are involved.

“To us SAS is a customer of good repute with a strong brand. The quality of the operations we’ve taken over is sound. It’s an exciting challenge to manage and further develop those services.”

Do you have any questions or would you like to know more?

Contact Urban Edstedt, urban.edstedt@coor.com or by phone on +46 8 553 959 35.