Expanding our European Service Operation

Having the peace of mind that your technology provider is close to hand and can offer market-leading turnaround times is almost as important a consideration as the choice of an initial technology provider.

It’s for this reason that Panasonic Connect Europe has opened its new European Service Centre in Budapest, Hungary, designed to support customer servicing and repair requirements in mainland Europe with an expanded range of services.

Twin service centres

The 1000sqm2 service centre will complement the established existing centre in Cardiff, Wales. They will support Panasonic Connect Europe’s drive to assist businesses in manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, retail, public sector and entertainment and media with a range of technology products, solutions and services that contribute to their success.

Initially, the Budapest site will deliver customers a range of repair and service support options to Panasonic Connect Europe divisions, including Broadcast & ProAV and Visual Solutions. The Budapest site is ideally located to also support manufacturing customers using the SMT Production and Robot & Welding solutions from the Panasonic Factory Solutions division and to provide a solution preparation and testing facility for the Business and Industry Solutions division.

Here our technicians will be able to assemble and test integrated solutions for our customers before installing them on-site. These could range from our Visual Sort Assist solution for handling incoming and outbound goods from a warehouse through to Electronic Shelf Label systems for retail that controls pricing and customer information across multiple retail sites at the click of a button – all integrated with the centralised Point of Sale system.

Location benefits

As well as being close to the manufacturing heart of Europe, Budapest also offers a number of other benefits for us and our customers. The service centre is very close to the main airport and major transport links, as well as the main carriers. This means that products, parts and engineers will be able to move quickly between customer sites and the service centre. Over the years, Panasonic has built its reputation on its one-day delivery and fast turnaround times for repairs and servicing. This additional centre will help us to continue to build on that excellence.

Another great benefit of being based in Budapest is the access to the incredible talent pool of engineers coming from technical universities and higher education establishments in the area. Like many other global engineering brands, Panasonic has recognised the need for being close to this type of exceptional talent.

But the initial 20-person team will not be working independently at the new service centre. They will have the wider experience and support of the entire Panasonic team at their disposal. For example, we have already established “Windows” in Budapest and Cardiff. This is a constantly connected video camera system that allows technicians from either site to consult and work on service and repairs together as one team – drawing on their combined experience and expertise.

As a customer, if you ever wanted to visit our latest European Service Centre, I’m sure our Hungarian team would give you a warm welcome - szívélyes fogadtadtás!