Interesting times...

Well the factory, formally known as Airquee SRL, are having an interesting week - they have a few of the Bristol employees visiting to see exactly what goes on over there! 

Our amazing factory is located in Sfântu Gheorghe, which is the capital city of Covasna County, Romania. Arriving in the middle of the night on Saturday, Wayne, our formidable new Bristol based Sales Executive, and Harrison, our CAD Apprentice extraordinaire, settled into the hotel. 

The hard work began on Monday morning at 8am local time (6am UK time) when a bleary eyed and a tad sleepy Wayne wandered in to the Romania office bearing gifts of M&S Scottish shortbread biscuits and his very own bag of English tea bags (being well travelled Wayne has learned the importance of carrying one’s own Earl Grey). Harrison on the other hand, first time away without his family, was happy with drinking gallons of local bottled water. 

Wayne soon familiarised himself and set up his desk - which took some time as he had brought his desk phone, headset, keyboard, laptop and several notepads and pieces of paper! He also tried (unsuccessfully) to convince the company that his rather large bright red suitcase was full of essential technological items, however it has been noticed that he has worn a different pair of shoes and shirt and trousers each day - I think it's safe to say he is not a backpacker! 

Harrison however had the smallest bag ever seen – we have been informed though that Harrison will probably be returning with excess baggage - bringing home all of the pvc items he has been busy making both on the sewing machine and welders! 

  

It has been useful for Wayne to see exactly what happens to his orders once he puts on the information - and he has also now seen exactly what happens when he asks Production if they can "just squeeze in a Helter Skelter" for a customer – very valuable lesson indeed! 

Harrison has been with the Design Team based at Airquee SRL 2 – which is our second factory location for the ever expanding Airquee!  At Airquee SRL 1 Harrison has made friends with Magdi and Lorincz and trying his hand at both machining pvc and welding pvc which he says has really enhanced his knowledge and will assist him as he progresses with his design capability. 

Harrison and Wayne enjoyed a fun night out with the Airquee SRL Team at the Old Man’s Pub at Sfântu Gheorghe and they were joined by the Shadowman Team who are also visiting the factory this week. 

Wayne has been waited on hand and foot by both Ana and Harrison and he was treated by being served Irish Barry Tea which was brought as a gift from Shadowman. Wayne then enthralled the team as he regalled his family link of Barry to the infamous Tea Company.  It appears Wayne Barry is a descendant of somewhat famous parentage in Ireland - who knew?!

We're also beginning to get worried about the number of photos of Harrison in an apron that we've received this week. Some members of the Bristol office have started a small shrine to Harrison in the kitchen, promising to promote him to tea lady upon his return....

Exciting - excellent enjoyable e-range stock eagerly expected TODAY! ENTHUSIASM!

Ok, I promise no more alliteration - it's just a very exciting day for us because - we have more of our fantastic e-range in stock! If you haven't already seen it, where have you been??

In February we launched our fully online bouncy castle sales website Airquee Online to great success. We've been taking it slowly, we wanted to make sure it's all working correctly before getting flooded with orders - but even with our minimal marketing it's been amazingly popular! 

Those of you who have been waiting for an inflatable, they'll be on their way soon, everyone else - get on the website and have a look at what we can offer! Excellent Airquee quality at budget range prices!

We've been asked time and again if the low price of our e-range inflatables means it's not truly the same Airquee quality, so we want to make it clear how we can offer these prices: 

1) The e-range is bulk manufactured, which is cheaper and more efficient - we use the same materials, printing and stitching as all our products.

2) Buying standard units online means no involvement from the Sales or admin teams, no signs offs, no visuals and no scheduling - all time and labour savings are passed onto you!

3) Every stage of selling an e-range inflatable has been optimised to ensure speed and efficiency this further cuts down on administration costs.

4) We know how important price is when choosing your inflatables. Alongside all the above savings, our profit margins on these inflatables are very small - because our goal is to sell as many as possible!

Put all this together and you end up with a range of quality products, manufactured to the same exacting high quality Airquee standard but at a very competitive price!

These inflatables won't stay in stock for long so hurry! Also, remember to have a look at our special offers section!

You may have noticed......we're in May!

This year is going past in a blur! At the factory, blink and you'll miss the fact that we have new staff! Have a look at our team page to see who's who.

And of course the exciting news this week was that the Airquee website has had a mini makeover! We've updated a lot of the parts, so hopefully you'll find it easier to find the information you need....as long as you can see where the search box has moved to! (Hint: It's now blue).

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Friday treats!

You guys really like inflatables, don't you?! I know we're always saying how busy we are, and we often hear customers frustrated with our lead times. But we can't help being popular! 

In all seriousness, we do all we can to manufacture as quickly and within given lead times - we have 2 shifts going in the factory, and our wonderful workers have volunteered to do weekends as well to keep up with the demand. We are very lucky to have our factory in Romania, they all do an amazing job!

Wayne our "new" Sales Executive is off to a flying start, he's been making a great impression on you all! With his calm and thorough manner, he's been talking, learning and helping people choose the perfect inflatable!

Meanwhile in the main office, it's been a long week, with all the usual trials and tribulations. However, our Friday treat makes up for it. Nom.

We hope everyone has a good weekend!

Q&A with Wayne - Sales Executive

Wayne was born in Cardiff, grew up over the bridge, went to college in Portsmouth, and has lived in Bristol for 35 years! From French teacher to selling for a living he's done the lot! Wayne joined Airquee in March 2015. 

When were you happiest?

As a student living in Grenoble France, not a care in the world! Sun, snow and friends. Still in touch with them today. No bills, no responsibilities! It didn't last long!

Also, the day I paid my last mortgage payment off! Phew!

What is your favourite food?

I love chicken dishes, not too hot. 

What is your greatest fear?

My greatest fear is losing my marbles! 

Which person, living or dead, do you most admire, and why?

Laurel and Hardy, their simple humour that made millions laugh.

What is your favourite thing about Airquee?

A surprising warm welcome that I received when I joined. It is one of the nicest group of colleagues I have ever worked with. 

What is your least favourite thing about Airquee?

No dishwasher!!

What is the worst habit you have at work?

Washing up badly! We need a dishwasher!

What is your favourite Airquee product you’ve seen?

The Disco Dome! It's fab

What song would you make Airquee’s theme song?

Ernie The Fastest Milkman in the West.

Friday 13th: Unlucky for some...

Well it's a grey wet day in Bristol this morning. And it's Friday 13th. Now we're not inclined towards superstition in the Airquee office (well, some might be but they're not writing this), but I can't help but feel that the warehouse guys are getting a little of the bad luck. They have to be outside in the charming weather because....the lorry from the factory is here! Yes, we will be wrapping up the brand new units and sending them out to you as soon as we can!

It's slightly drier in the office. And half empty and a quite quiet! Both Phils are out the office, Alex is on holiday and Kerry is working from home. However, the Airquee office has been getting fuller over the last couple of months, and we have Adam from the factory here for another week, so there's still plenty of us here to help (and Kerry is working at her home desk this morning!).

March is proving to be just as busy as January and February were - the sales line just doesn't stop ringing! And Kerry was out training on site all week this week - have a look at her photos here! In between the training, she also had a whale of time watching the sealions play (the dogs of the sea!), and zebras joining her at breakfast! Check out her video and the photos on our Facebook. Today it's back to the busy - but busy is what we do best!

Otherwise, the office is just looking forward to 4pm when Harrison will do his Friday Dance. It's amazing.

Busy, bigger, better!

Well, we're definitely continuing the busy start to the year - as proved by the lack of time for blogging! 

It's been a fantastic start to the year for Airquee! A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to chat to us at INPAS 2015. Our stand was incredibly busy for the whole two days and even with 7 team members on it none of us got to have a break! Tilda and Erika came over from our factory in Romania and many customers said it was really nice to meet then and put a (pretty!) face to the voice, as well as getting to meet the people responsible for the manufacturing of their inflatables!

After seeing our incredible products up close and personal at INPAS and our Ireland Open Weekend people are still placing orders even now - which is wonderful!

The Helter Skelter made a big impact on you all and as usual everyone all wanted different modifications to their slide, but this is what makes Airquee unique - we can do whatever you want! Visit www.airquee.co.uk to view more pictures and a video of this fantastic inflatable.

But - it was our awesome new Mini Dancing Disco Dome stole the show, quite literally! People were queueing up to take their shoes off and have a bounce in there! This smaller version of our incredibly popular Disco Dome is perfect for slightly younger children, and it's showing signs of being the new favourite Airquee Disco Dome!

Now. hopefully you will have all noticed our new website:

This website allows you to buy our new e-range bouncy castles, a set of standard sizes, designs and themes, with same day collection and next day delivery available! Some people have asked what the difference is between these and all our other products. Well by having set standards, mass producing, and buying online rather than from the Sales team, we are able to pass on savings to you! Have a look at the website to see the quality and prices on the current range. And remember, if you want something a little different, our Sales team can help with customisation of any of our Airquee inflatables!

All this means that our warehouse has been incredibly busy and full to the brim! We've had to get temporary staff in and it's looking like we'll be needing them permanently! However, much to the Sale's team's delight, we've finally got the e-range sorted on shelving and so we have the showroom back!

All in all even though February is the shortest month of the year it appears to be the busiest so far. To help us with the growth we've been experiencing over the past few months we have recruited another administrator in the factory and a new Sales Executive for the Bristol office - there will be more about him in another post!

So, after an exciting January and February, we can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!