Paulo, a local employee should be able to use his computer system to get one quickly. The system indicates whether the required shuttle of a sewing machine has to be ordered in Bielefeld or in the Minerva subsidiary in Boskovice in the Czech Republic. Paulo expects to receive service which is equally as good as the service formerly provided to manufacturers in the company's home town when new sewing equipment or a spare part was needed. This is a major challenge for the company with its around 1,200 employees, particularly as powerful Japanese competitors are forcing their way with low-price machines onto a market for sewing machines which is becoming smaller. Herr Buesing considers that developments in this market are to be found only in technical innovations.
Further factors are the quality and reliability of service.
For the past year, Infonet has been responsible for ensuring that data transfer between the computer centre at the company's headquarters in Bielefeld and its global locations runs smoothly. He leaves these problems to Infonet who has the necessary local contacts. Herr Buesing considers the one-stop shopping offered by Infonet a major benefit. These various services are itemised on the invoice, however, thus always ensuring transparency of services. Over 300 workplaces throughout the world will be connected to central servers in Bielefeld by the year 2000.