When it comes to fresh products, timing is everything. If perishable goods have been on the shelf for too long, it costs the grocer a cash coin. Not at MPREIS: In order to avoid excessive stocks and bottlenecks, the supermarket chain manages its stores and logistics center with LOGOMATE from REMIRA. Using intelligent inventory management software reduces MPREIS’s inventory and at the same time increases product availability. Out-of-stock situations are a thing of the past.
From the central warehouse near Innsbruck, MPREIS supplies 220 branches throughout Austria. LOGOMATE is currently used in the logistics center for inventory management and scheduling of 90 percent of the dry assortment as well as for some of the dairy articles and the egg products. Up to 1.2 million items (SKUs) are ordered for the markets every day via the software. The disposition with fresh products such as the more than 1,000 organic products from MPREIS is particularly challenging. Unnecessarily high stocks can cost the company dearly. This is where LOGOMATE starts: The software has significantly reduced stocks while avoiding sell-off situations. This is made possible thanks to the forecasting function of LOGOMATE, which uses sales figures to calculate which goods will sell in the future. Precise sales forecasts determine the necessary requirements and safety stocks for each item at each location. A wide range of influencing factors such as seasonal effects as well as discount promotions and new releases are taken into account. Out-of-stock situations are thus consistently avoided. “In various product groups, we see effects of increased product availability, such as an exact implementation of the centrally predetermined assortments, a reduction in forced sales and sales increases,” says the MPREIS service center.
The use of LOGOMATE also has a noticeable effect for the employees of the modern local supplier: In each branch, the ordering effort could be reduced by up to 45 minutes per day. This is mainly due to the fact that MPREIS with LOGOMATE achieves more accurate subsequent deliveries and distributes the goods issue more evenly over the weekdays, so that peaks are missing. In the future, LOGOMATE will be used in all Markets of MPREIS, as can be heard from the company: “With LOGOMATE as the central dispotool, we will soon be deploying 300 locations precisely and as required.”