Vertex Standard hosts grand opening for U.S. operations headquarters

Jun Hasegawa, president of Vertex Standard, Tokyo, is known to quote his father, who gave the company its corporate philosophy when it was founded in 1956.

“Be fast, be different, be daring,” Sako Hasegawa, Jun’s father, said.

The Vertex Standard management team took this philosophy to heart when they conducted grand opening festivities last month at the company’s new U.S. operations headquarters office and warehouse complex in Cypress, Calif. The company also has an international division office in Miami, and foreign offices in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

Be fast — When employees toured the new facility on Sept. 18, they learned how the “be fast” principle would be applied. Vertex Standard invested in a state-of-the-art digital telephone network to minimize “hold” time for its customers by alerting the appropriate customer service, technical support or sales management team when a call has been on hold in the queue for a long time.

“We’ve installed reader boards on call activity by department in order to better respond to the increasing number of calls received on a daily basis,” Todd Crocker, vice president of the Marine and Amateur Divisions said.

The new boards show status of call times not only by department, but also by individual.

On Sept. 19, Vertex Standard brought in key customers and reps and accommodated them at the Cypress Marriott hotel a few blocks from the new U.S. operations headquarters. Arriving guests were treated to a poolside reception and evening dinner.

On Sept. 20, guests were taken by shuttle to the new headquarters. They walked on red carpet to enter the 15,000-square-foot building’s two-story open atrium, which features a Koi fish pond and an indoor garden filled trees, bushes and flowers and an artificial stream.

Headquarters employees lining the pond, a staircase and the second-story balcony greeted the visitors with an ovation. The atrium, staircase and balcony displayed placards with customers’ names to recognize guests from the world over.

The afternoon featured presentations on new product introductions and upcoming 2003 advertising and marketing plans. A ribbon-cutting ceremony that evening included Cypress Chamber of Commerce and civic representatives. A catered dinner and a presentation about the history of the Vertex Standard in the United States followed.

Be different — Vertex Standard has never considered itself a “typical” radio communications equipment supplier, a statement from the company said. It listed a record of achievements, which it said demonstrated strength in research and development, including what it cited as “firsts” in its three divisions:

Amateur Division

• VX-7R, submersible amateur hand-held

• FT-897, HF/VHF/UHF multimode portable base station (transceiver)

• Mark-V HF 200W all-mode transceiver featuring enhanced digital signal processing and noise reduction circuitry

Marine Division

• Spectrum+ series with DSC (digital selective calling) capability, including enhanced safety features for Mayday transmissions

• HX460S pocket-sized (3.5 inches tall) VHF hand-held radio that is waterproof to 3 feet for as long as 30 minutes

Land Mobile Radio Division

• VX-900 series rugged, advanced portable with 512 channels, extended battery life and invertible alphanumeric display

• VX-4000 series mobile, which offers the same level of ruggedness and highly advanced features and allows a single radio (RF deck) to be controlled by as many as three control heads.

Be daring — Vertex Standard said that it has embraced “be daring” technology to take it to the next level in providing customer service and satisfaction, and streamlining inventory management and order fulfillment. For example, the company has installed an SAP Operating System.

“We now have real-time integration throughout the entire worldwide Vertex Standard organization, from manufacturing to inventory to service to sales and distribution,” said Scott Henderson, vice president of the Land Mobile Radio Division.

Warehouse Manager John Lynn said that in the few months that the new system has been running, improvements in productivity have been realized along with more accurate order fulfillment.

“The warehouse management software, carousel and conveyor are equipped to handle over 30,000 sku’s, and we are currently at a level that is one third of that total,” Lynn said.

The new 150,00 square foot facility will allow the company to grow without hindering fulfillment.

Vertex Standard said that its approach to customer service, by way of its new facility, has further delineated the company in a variety of ways, including the addition of employees in customer service and technical support. Those employees receive product training on a continuous basis. The product education is supplemented with SAP system and phone etiquette training. Business hours have been extended to better accommodate customers on the East Coast.