Nico Wießbach (black shirt) and Danny Kurzeja (magenta shirt) are Spreadshirt’s purchasing team and make sure that the shelves in our Production centers always remain full. The two work so well together, it sometimes seems like the two have known each other long before Spreadshirt was founded. The questions remain then what these boys exactly do all day long and if they really do get along outside of work.
Hello Nico, hello Danny. An easy question to start off: how long have you worked at Spreadshirt and what exactly do you do?
Nico: I have worked for Spreadshirt for just about 5 years. I used to be a “stock dude” (laughs). But that is a little while back before the production moved to the new facility. During my time working in production I sometimes took over responsibility for purchasing, when people were on holiday or ill. And then about 1.5 years ago, they asked me if I wanted to officially move into purchasing.
Danny: I’ve been here since March 2009 and am head up the Purchasing department at Spreadshirt.
What do your days look like at Spreadshirt?
Danny: It’s pretty much across the board.
Nico: When I arrive in the morning, I take a walk through production and look through the stocks to see if anything needs to be ordered. And then I grab a coffee.
Danny: You can say that our day is split into two halves. In the first half, we take care of the operative business and in the second half we look for new suppliers, get new offers and much, much more!
What exactly does operative business mean?
Danny: That means that we take care of the material planning, in other words, we have to plan which products need to be ordered from the suppliers. We have to make sure that we get good quality at a decent price. This planning also includes the delivery times.
Nice: You really wouldn’t believe how much you have to rely on the supplier. The delivery times can sometimes reach up to 4 months – and that is not uncommon. You’ll certainly break into a sweat when things that don’t go according to plan.
For example, we didn’t really expect spring to be so cool. That means that people are still ordering a ton of hoodies while we had already started to switch over to lighter, summery apparel.
Danny: The same thing can happen with fashion trends. Let’s say that last winter people wore a lot of red, so this year you would then purchase even more red to meet the demand. But, then yellow is suddenly the big hit and red is sitting like lead on the shelves .
I see what you mean. So, what about the second half of the day?
Danny: We ask for quotes from suppliers, compare their prices and are constantly looking for alternatives.
Nico: We sometimes head to trade fairs to meet with the suppliers.
Do the suppliers come to you, or do you seek them out?
Danny: Both, but usually the suppliers come to us: they either send us samples and catalogs, or come directly to Leipzig to meet up with us.
We get quite a lot of offers from India, the Czech Republic and Bangladesh. These are first checked according to their quality, price, availability and returns policy. Then I work on the price negotiations and after we make a purchase, I check where the products are every day and when they will arrive. We’re often talking about a lot of product, and a lot of money.
Are you two ever afraid of screwing something up, especially when dealing with large purchases?
Both: No!
Danny: And that’s certainly because we always plan as far ahead as possible.
Do you like your job?
Danny: Yeah, totally! I have worked in purchasing before and what I really like about Spreadshirt are the products – the fact that everything revolves around apparel.
Nico: Yeah, I also really enjoy the job. Lots of people think that it’s a boring job and you do the same thing every day. But, that’s not how it is. Not one bit.
Danny: Nope, not one bit. We are the middlemen between lots of departments, whether it’s Service, Accounting, Apparel, or Production. We’re pretty much everywhere.
So, enough about work. How old are you and where do you come from?
Danny: 35 and I come from Tröglitz, which is on the southern tip of Saxony-Anhalt.
Nico: I am 29 and am from Leipzig.
How have your careers brought you to Spreadshirt?
Danny: For 3.5 years I helped West Germany recover from the reunification by working at Hugo Boss in Metzingen (near Stuttgart). For private reasons, I moved back home and worked in the solar industry in the purchasing department. And now I have been at Spreadshirt for almost 1.5 years. I can really say that I am a purchaser with all my heart and soul.
Nico: I didn’t do my military service or alternative civilian service after school – I simply slipped through the system. Then I completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. And after that I found out about Spreadshirt from a friend, where, like I said, I worked in Production. That’s when Spreadshirt was really taking off. It was definitely a different time.
What do you do when you aren’t working at Spreadshirt?
Danny: I play a lot of football. I have played for the same club since I was seven.
Which club?
Danny: TSV Tröglitz.
Which league?
Danny: We are moving up to the Kreisoberliga (top regional league) next year. Up to now we have 20 wins, 2 draws and no losses. Not bad, eh?
Definitely! And what else do you do besides your passion for purchasing and football?
Danny: I am also a passionate poker player and read quite a lot. I love mystery novels and would certainly recommend Agatha Christie for a good start.
And you Nico?
Nico: I am a hobby photographer and am a big fan of the underwater world. I have two aquariums at home and built a small pond in the back yard of my house. The landlord even bought a hard plastic pond bottom for it. So it’s a really solid thing, nothing with loose foil or anything like that. The older gentlemen living in the building even love it. And because I am a huge newt fan, there are lots of newts who call the pond their home. I am also into tattoos, as you can see.
Hard plastic ponds and a newt freak. Nice! Do you guys do anything together after work?
Danny: Yeah, we’ve hung out before.
Nico: Yeah, we sometimes head out and grab a beer.
Danny: I have a family and if you see each other the whole day at work and have a work atmosphere is as good as ours, then you realize how much value there actually is there.
And the last question: if you could do something else for a living, what would it be?
Nico: I would start my own business and open up a cichlid specialty shop.
And could you remind me one more time what cichlids are?
Nico: Cichlids are a family of fish with more than 1,300 species – many are familiar aquarium fish (like angelfish). I’m their biggest fan. And believe it or not, fish are number 1 on the list of sales in the pet industry, actually fishkeeping in general.
Danny: Thanks for the tip Nico!
And Danny, what about you?
Danny: I enjoy what I am doing now the most. If I could imagine doing something better, then I would do it.
Thanks to both of you!
The post Meet two Spreaders – Nico Weißbach and Danny Kurzeja appeared first on The Spreadshirt UK blog.