As a renowned wholesaler for tires, wheels, rims and vehicle components, Bohnenkamp SE has more than 20 locations in Central and Eastern Europe. The replenishment of the approximately 16,000 stock keeping units (SKU) is a complex logistical challenge. Three years ago, the company therefore introduced the LOGOMATE replenishment management software from REMIRA. The AI-based application recognizes patterns in the movement of goods and automatically makes order suggestions based on these patterns. The introduction of the software has significantly reduced the planning workload. At the same time, the availability of goods has increased.
Bohnenkamp SE is a wholesaler and original equipment manufacturer for tires, wheels, rims and vehicle components. The products are used in agriculture, logistics and industry, among others. Bohnenkamp supplies dealers and workshops as well as manufacturers in these sectors. With storage space of more than 200,000 m², the company is one of the largest tire wholesalers for commercial vehicle tires in Europe. Around 5500 shipments are dispatched every day. The inventory comprises 16,000 SKUs.
Before the introduction of a supply chain solution, Bohnenkamp used an ERP system and Excel to record inventories and plan orders. "Lists were printed out and we looked up what we had used and needed to reorder item by item," explains Philipp Meyer from Purchasing. "The workload for our colleagues in the planning department was enormous," he adds. Despite this, reorders were often placed very late, which could lead to longer waiting times for customers. The decision was therefore made to introduce new software for procurement planning and inventory optimization in order to simplify replenishment.
LOGOMATE optimizes the inventory
The LOGOMATE replenishment management software from the Dortmund-based software provider REMIRA has now been in use at Bohnenkamp for over three years. The application is used in Germany as well as in the neighboring countries of Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. This decision has already paid off, particularly in the wholesale (aftermarket) division: this involves the sale of axles, tires and wheels to other dealers, who then sell the products on to end customers. LOGOMATE automatically detects impending bottlenecks and seasonal fluctuations. The software makes timely order suggestions and helps to avoid out-of-stock scenarios.
"The work has become much easier thanks to LOGOMATE. You don't just reorder when the sales department asks you to, but proactively prevent out-of-stock scenarios. We also no longer have to go through our 16,000 SKUs manually every week. We only take a quick look two or three times a week and check the order proposals,"
explains Meyer. REMRIA's replenishment solution already provides the dispatchers with a preselection of items that need to be reordered or restocked. The AI-based application works so reliably that manual corrections are only necessary in exceptional cases. LOGOMATE also provides important data for targeted evaluations, which are also used for discussions with suppliers. "This allows us to specifically point out out-of-stock situations in order to achieve improvements together with the supplier," praises Meyer.
Even more automation in the future
Bohnenkamp has a vision for the future: the software will then also be used in the second business unit, Original Equipment. Here, orders are currently still compiled using Excel lists. As there is no historical data, the goods requirements have to be calculated differently. But LOGOMATE is also suitable for this as soon as the Excel lists are integrated into the system via an interface. "In the future, everything should run via LOGOMATE so that we no longer have to operate three systems in parallel and the workload is further reduced," explains Meyer. "Our goal is to automate the ordering processes even more."
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Photos: © Bohnenkamp SE
