The challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic have increased dramatically, especially for companies in the hygiene and medical products sector. In these times, optimal scheduling is essential for the company's success. But even before Covid-19 had logistics under control, Kruse Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, headquartered in Neumünster, which sells goods and services in the cleaning, hygiene, disposable and medical products sectors, was looking for inventory management software. This was intended to automate the previous manual scheduling and at the same time improve delivery capability.
The Kruse group of companies (KFV) is part of igefa, Europe's leading specialist retail group in the field of supplies for the commercial cleaning, healthcare, HoReCa and industrial sectors. In order to be able to optimize the high number of products and the associated logistical requirements in the future, Henry Kruse GmbH & Co. KG, the first KFV branch at the Neumünster site with 170 employees, is now using REMIRA LOGOMATE. With the inventory management software, the approximately 7,000 stock items and up to 16,000 order-oriented items can be planned less time and cost-intensively in future.
Previously, Henry Kruse's scheduling was carried out in its own ERP system and with the help of Excel lists, which involved a great deal of manual and time-consuming work. The many individual processing steps were also time-consuming and the potential of a functioning inventory management system could not be fully exploited. "Our previous system reached its limits at some point. It also lacked seasonal recognition, which meant that seasonal orders had to be checked manually once again," explains Fin Schwiering, Project Manager at Henry Kruse.
Articles with a minimum range of three months and of which an annual quantity is purchased once a year also posed a particular challenge for the company. Previously, this was planned using Excel, which was very time-consuming and tedious for the employees. The company will now optimize its inventory management in Neumünster with LOGOMATE. The software uses artificial intelligence to calculate requirements and sales forecasts, provides precise and automatic ordering and scheduling suggestions and enables goods to be optimally distributed. Manual planning with Excel, also with regard to orders in annual quantities, is now a thing of the past.
Previously, the employees in Purchasing received a daily list of the new items entered into the merchandise management system and checked them for predecessors. The expiring minimum stock levels were also checked manually and re-entered manually if necessary. LOGOMATE, on the other hand, calculates a dynamic safety stock on a daily basis, which keeps the company's supply capability constant without incurring unnecessary costs. The calculations are based on ABC and XYZ analyses, which enable the safety stock to be managed according to item classes. Inga-Marie Hauschke, who is also involved in the project management for the introduction of the software, is also looking forward to automating the general processes in procurement with LOGOMATE: "With the inventory management software, we want to achieve a balance between low stock levels and improved delivery capability at the same time. Stock-outs are to be avoided and we also want to enable our purchasing staff to plan better with a time perspective. LOGOMATE calculates precise forecasts and order proposals for this, so that the right quantity of goods is always available at the right time." The plan is now to include the other locations in LOGOMATE so that the distribution between the individual warehouses also functions optimally.
About Kruse: Kruse Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG