"Partnership since the 1980s".
The Colruyt retail chain needs little introduction, but what is less well known is the Colruyt Group Academy. These are fully equipped multifunctional buildings with meeting rooms, fitted kitchens and classrooms. Anyone can go there to organise courses, training or meetings. ATS was asked to take on the technical development of the buildings. The Melle site opened its doors in 2018.
| Customer: | Colruyt Group |
| Expertise: | General electrical installation, cabling, fire detection, HVAC and data network |
| Location: | Several training centres in Belgium |
| Implementation: | 2018 - present |
2000 training courses in the Colruyt Academy
With the Colruyt Academy concept, the aim is to introduce attendees to the Colruyt Group in a relaxed atmosphere by means of various training courses, tastings, team buildings, etc. In the meantime, there are already about 10 locations with a Colruyt Academy. The most recent branches were carried out together with ATS Group. ATS Group carried out the entire electrical installation.
Besides the electrical installation, ATS Group also installed the cabling, fire detection, HVAC and data network. ATS also did the measuring and drew up the test reports for the data network. Every cable and cable channel was laid by ATS.
The relationship between ATS and Colruyt is one with a long history. This is Stefaan Heyerick, electricity coordinator at Colruyt:
"The cooperation goes back to 1983 as far as I know. I started out as an electrician at Colruyt 36 years ago. I gradually grew within the company, first to become a sergeant, then a site coordinator and subsequently responsible for all medium-voltage installations within the group. I held that position until eleven years ago, since then I have been head of the department that maintains contacts with external companies that carry out electrical work. We do that for the entire Colruyt Group, both the shops and the depots, because we do not have enough electricians in house. We therefore often outsource electrical work to partners. ATS has been with us since 1983, when it was even the predecessor of the current company. To this day, ATS is a partner we can count on, and I hope that this collaboration will continue for a long time to come. ATS works for us every day on a wide variety of projects, and I estimate that at least 30 of their employees are involved in our projects every day."
"Never got a 'no' for an answer."
But why the choice for ATS?
"The reasons why we are working with ATS are diverse. As mentioned, we do not have enough electricians to handle all our internal projects ourselves. New technical staff are also very hard to find. So you need to be able to rely on an external partner who thinks along with you and is flexible enough to intervene quickly when necessary. I have already experienced a complete change in planning two days before my leave. For your own peace of mind, it is good to be able to fall back on a party that will do what is necessary, even if you are not there. Moreover, they also have great clout in terms of personnel. It happens that we unexpectedly need a team somewhere urgently. ATS is always there. In all those years, I've never been told 'no'."
