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Central coordination for decentralized functioning

At Fassbender Tenten Responsibilities are in extremely competent hands

By Joerg Wild

Central controls or decentralized management are often controversial topics. Not so with the building materials dealer Fassbender Tenten where hierarchies are clearly distributed. At the same time, many processes interact like a well-oiled machine. This is how the family business functions as a successful and reliable company despite its diversity.

Thomas Raab is an extremely friendly and calm man who knows exactly what he has to do. As the Managing Director of Purchasing, he is responsible for ensuring that the large quantities of building materials Fassbender Tenten always has in stock, are available at the right time in the right place. "That was a real challenge, especially during the Corona lockdown in the spring," says Raab. Countless people had the time and opportunity to remodel their houses and apartments. The construction companies were literally queuing up with their orders. "I sometimes wondered where all the concrete screed had gone. It was like the toilet paper of the building materials trade," says the head buyer with a grin.

Peter Sappert (left) and Thomas Raab are heads of extremely professional departments that Fassbender Tenten the leading company for building materials in the Rhineland. (Photo: Jörg Wild)

So it pays off that the building materials wholesaler has an excellent network of well-maintained, reliable and mostly local suppliers. The region around Andernach, for example, is a gold mine for pumice stones, mortar, cement and gravel. "Such short procurement paths are important for fast and flexible deliveries and also for the climate, which is very important to us," adds company owner Christian Fassbender.

Places enormous value on Fassbender Tenten on central purchasing. "We have 12 warehouses in our 12 branches," explains Fassbender. "But only one storage strategy. If a customer needs something in one branch that we don't have in stock there, the delivery from another branch is sent there immediately." A total of 50,000 square meters of storage space, which is equivalent to about seven football fields, makes this possible.

Building elements such as windows, doors and skylights can be seen in an exhibition in Zülpich examine – Fassbender Tenten offers significantly more than the usual building materials. (Photo: Fassbender Tenten )

All of this only works thanks to first-class coordination at the company headquarters. This is where commercial director Peter Sappert comes into play, "who is responsible for stringent processes in the company," as Christian Fassbender appreciatively explains. He is responsible for the management of the company's own vehicle fleet, the largely paperless processing of purchases and sales and the management of the consistently extremely professional staff.

Corona was and is an enormous challenge for this area of the company. “Not a single one of our employees has been infected so far,” reports Sappert – a sophisticated personnel and hygiene concept has ensured this from the very first minute. Fassbender Tenten not only survive the crisis and the enormous challenges of the order boom, but even do good: "We have donated over 1,200 mouth and nose protection masks to city administrations and doctors in our locations," explains Christian Fassbender. The company now offers high-quality plexiglass panels from its own production, which other companies can also use to adapt their offices and sales areas to the new reality. "Because Corona will remain a part of our lives even with a vaccine," says the owner.

Central coordination for decentralized functioning

Published in the General-Anzeiger Bonn from 27.08.2020