Building material dealer centralized inventory planning
REMIRA develops virtual central warehouse for bauXpert
24 legally independent companies, a total of 32 warehouse locations and around 50,000 stock keeping units: bauXpert, an association of building material dealers with an external turnover of 326 million euros, intends to manage its inventory in the future via a central procurement platform. The company therefore introduces LOGOMATE from REMIRA. The software bundles the movement, inventory and forecast data of eleven of the 24 connecting houses in a virtual warehouse. On this basis, joint ordering processes are initiated centrally. In the long term, the building material dealer benefits from a streamlined procurement process and a higher turnover in the shop assistants.
“With the changeover, we are initially creating a virtual central warehouse for some of our shareholders. The other companies in the group can also be connected to the software in a second step. The aim is to present all stocks transparently and to process the orders for the individual locations collected through our headquarters,” explains Stefan Freis, Managing Director of bauXpert GmbH. Up to now, each shareholder orders the goods even from the manufacturers via the central ERP system. The material flow will continue to be mapped in the future by the inventory management systems of the individual companies. LOGOMATE then collects the relevant data from the systems in the background to make forecasts and initiate orders. If several dealers need different quantities of the same goods, these requirements will be bundled in the future and the order quantities will be optimized and combined into one order.
In this way, bauXpert achieves better purchase prices at the suppliers and thus strengthens the competitiveness of the entire group of companies. The goods are then delivered separately to the individual locations. LOGOMATE provides the ERP with information about the orders during the process. bauXpert bundles the operational purchasing for items in stock and increases the handling in the warehouses. In addition, the entire procurement process, including document flow and payment transactions, is professionalized and streamlined – while increasing the availability of goods.
By using LOGOMATE in combination with the ERP system in the group’s central data center, bauXpert achieves centralized warehouse planning and administration, or Zelda for short. “In addition, we are able to operate focus warehouses and automate intercompany deliveries,” says Stefan Freis. “A welcoming side effect is also the further harmonisation of our central master data, which is becoming more important in the age of digitalization.” In the next few weeks, the association of North German building material dealers will gradually connect all individual companies to the new inventory management.
