Advanced Lolly system adapted mid-pandemic to support Covid-19 safety
BMW UK operations
The UK has an important role to play within the BMW Group. It is the only place in the world where all three of BMW Group’s brands, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, are represented by manufacturing operations.
BMW Group employs around 8,000 people directly in the UK. The company has invested nearly £2 billion in its UK operations since 2000, and the UK is BMW Group’s fourth largest sales market in the world.
Sites are located in Thorne, Farnborough, Goodwood, Hams Hall, Oxford and Swindon.
Next generation – catering for the future
After realising the organisation required next generation software that could seamlessly run Point of Sale ordering and payment systems across the catering facilities at all of its six sites, BMW set out to find the right partner – with a view to rapid integration. They needed to find a provider who could deliver future proof technology, as well as meet the company’s stringent payment security protocols.
In February 2020, Lolly was selected and its cloud-based, fully integrated software and payments solution was deployed within the canteens and catering facilities across the BMW Group UK sites.
Covid-19 response – no challenge for Lolly
COVID-19 hit in the midst of the software rollout, but this did not present any challenges for Lolly. The team adapted quicky to the rapidly changing situation, and working closely with BMW IT, the software was launched successfully across all of the tills. Site visits from the Lolly implementation team were carried out in compliance with Covid-19 safety protocols at each location.
Sam Hicks, Head of Food Services at BMW, said: “If there were any issues the Lolly support team was able to help the site managers to resolve these very quickly and efficiently.”
Social distancing IT solutions
The Lolly team also came up with social distancing solutions to enable BMW to establish services in remote areas of the plants. This allowed the catering services to reduce queues and speed up service, thus supporting line workers to meet social distancing requirements and helping them to enjoy their breaks without taking too much time waiting in line. In total, 27 tills have been updated across the six locations, these include till points within canteens for rapid order and payment, and four Lolly Smartpop-up kiosks with PDQs on the production lines. These kiosks enable workers to remain in their bubbles. All tills were configured to ensure they worked with BMW’s proxy server.
“Using elements of our pre-existing hardware, the Lolly software functioned out-of-the-box, with any minor issues quickly resolved, adds Sam. “The communication from the team was amazing and nothing was too much trouble.”
The Future
The tills on the pop-up kiosks, which were originally hired on a rental model, have now been purchased fully by BMW. The team at BMW are also considering self-serve kiosks, in order to continue supporting fast service to staff throughout the pandemic and beyond.
Sam said: “Lolly has allowed us to take a hands-off approach. Excellent service, fast responses, products delivered as expected. The communications are exceptional.”
Peter Moore, CEO at Lolly, commented: “The BMW project changed drastically mid-way through the implementation, as a result of the pandemic. It was vitally important for the plants to continue operating, and for staff members to be served refreshments safely during their working day.
“We worked closely with the IT team at BMW to ensure that social distancing requirements could be met and that our software was configured with BMW’s own proxy server. At all times the focus was upon keeping the plants operating. We are delighted with the outcome, which has demonstrated that anything can be achieved – even in the most exceptional of circumstances. Flexibility and strong communications have been critically important throughout this entire project.”