Jeroen van den Hondel
Application Manager
When it comes to testimonials, it is always better to hear it directly from the people that work with SCS (Stock Control System). We interviewed Jeroen van den Hondel just for this purpose. Jeroen works at Boon Food Group who, beside export exploits supermarkets. The supermarkets are company owned, as well as franchise. Jeroen works for more than two decades at Boon. He has in depth knowledge of the store operation, since he has worked at store level for 14 years. At headquarters Jeroen had different roles and now he works as application manager amongst other for SCS.
What problems has SCS solved?
SCS solved many problems in our stores. Finding the balance in stock at store level was the main reason for implementing SCS. Most crucial aspect is the optimization of the shelf availability in the stores. With SCS the number of stockouts has dramatically decreased.
On the other hand SCS also lowered the level of stock as well, what had a positive impact on throw-away and markdowns. When we started with SCS a couple of the order moments on the expensive cosmetics were skipped. Overcrowded stockrooms with leftovers are a thing of the past. Even after a promotional campaign the overstock is surprisingly low. Thanx to SCS the stock at store level is under control!
What feedback are you getting from the stores on working with SCS?
Our employees in the stores were skeptical at first. They were used to the manual ordering process for many years, and they relied on their experience and gut feeling. Among store staff it was generally believed that an application could not do the ordering process better than them. However, after having used SCS for a few weeks, they really don't want to order without SCS anymore. SCS guides the user at store level on managing stock. For the ordering, they must only focus on the exceptions, the rest of the assortment they can leave up to SCS with true confidence.
From a headquarters perspective, what benefits have you experienced with the use of SCS?
We are now able to monitor the assortment at our stores much more accurate. By sending the planograms to SCS, the stores now have all the correct products on stock. Before we had SCS, there were stores that were constantly missing a lot of new items. These new items are now passed on to SCS and SCS ensures that they also being ordered by the stores. With SCS we are able to load balance our deliveries. We let SCS order a little more at the beginning of the week so that the loads towards the weekend are a bit smaller. This is valuable for the shops and for logistics as well.
And which benefits do you see at store level?
The stores have a better overview of their actual stock on hand and upcoming deliveries. No orders are forgotten and the store orders are delivered to the third party suppliers of Boon on time. With a few suppliers, an order must be placed while previous one has not yet arrived at the store. In the past this often went wrong, but SCS manages this. SCS is truly supporting the stores in their daily operation and is in line with the working method in the store.
Further comments from Jeroen on going live:
SCS was really easy to implement. After a technical preparation, the store could immediately start with SCS after the initial inventory. SCS brings benefits right from the start. Going live was simple, the end user needs no training and at head quarters the forecasting algorithms needs no management. LTT enable us to do this ourselves, so no external consultants were needed!
The real time stock on hand in SCS is reliable and helps us to determine the stock value. From three external inventories per year, we went to once a year. This saving alone made our business case on SCS!
