Dave Groombridge
Betriebsleiter
"With local support and a proven track record of helping other businesses in our network, Slimstock stood out as the right partner for us."
Challenge
Pioneer has grown to become an essential partner to a vast network of veterinary practices and hospitals across the UK. With increasing demand and a growing assortment, the existing planning tools struggled to cope with the increasing complexity of the business’ supply chain.
Dave Groombridge, Operations Manager at Pioneer Veterinary products, explains: “From independent practices to corporate groups, we support all customers with care and attention – whatever the size. However, to help our partners provide the best possible care for their patients, we needed to modernise our supply chain.”
To refine its supply chain processes, Pioneer first needed to review its IT landscape: “To set a solid foundation for future growth, we decided to upgrade our ERP system to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. However, to minimise disruption during the transition, we needed a flexible supply chain optimisation platform that could help us keep our operation under tight control as well as enrich the functionality of the new ERP.”
Results
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Attained a 98% service level across A-items -
Increased the efficiency of the ordering process by 80%+ -
Achieved significant reduction in backorders
Why Slimstock?
The business decided to implement Slimstock’s supply chain optimisation platform, Slim4, to restructure its supply chain processes: “The solution offered all the functionality we needed to support us during the transition as well as many additional features that would complement the new ERP,” explains Dave.
Given Pioneer’s commitment to continuous improvement, the Operations Manager goes on to highlight the importance of finding a partner that shared the business’ values: “Slimstock offered the experience and knowledge to help our business move forward. And with local support and a proven track record of helping other businesses in our network, Slimstock stood out as the right partner for us.”
Solutions
Smooth implementation
As the Sim4 implementation coincided with the rollout of the new ERP, all possible steps were taken to minimise disruption. To ensure that Slim4 integrated seamlessly with both the existing ERP & also the new infrastructure, Slimstock’s consultants worked closely with the planning team at Pioneer.
“Slimstock’s consultants took time to understand the dynamics of our business. As a result, we were able to fine-tune Slim4 to our exact business requirements. With Slimstock’s support, we were able to improve our processes from day one,” adds Dave.
The Operations Manager goes on to highlight the role Slimstock’s support team played to ensure the project’s success: “The customer care can’t be matched by any other IT system provider. Slimstock’s helpdesk is always on hand to answer any problem or question in the most professional and efficient way.”
Increased efficiency
In the past, inventory management was labour intensive and highly time-consuming. Following the successful implementation of Slim4, Dave & his team began to restructure the supply chain processes.
With Slim4’s ABC functionality coupled with the solutions’ management by exception principles, the business can now focus on the products that matter most. By automatically applying dynamic service levels based on a product’s specific demand characteristics, the planning team can prioritise key products and take swift action when required: “As a result, service levels across our A-items have increased to over 98%.”
Highlighting the time savings created by Slim4, Dave adds: “The man-hours required to support the ordering process have been reduced by 80%. As a result, we have more time to optimise other areas of our supply chain; something which had proved invaluable to maintain the supply of our key lines during the ongoing supply chain disruption.”
Better service with less stock
With Slim4 in place, the planning team now have ready access to the insight they need to make effective supply chain decisions: “Slim4 captures all key supply chain events. As a result, we can now build far more robust forecasts.”
With better visibility over both supply and anticipated demand, the planning team are now better positioned to ensure fantastic customer service. Explaining the impact this has had on the business, Dave adds: “In the short time we have been using the solution, we have already seen a significant reduction in backorders and excess stock.”
Next steps
Pleased with Pioneer’s progress so far, Dave concludes: “Slimstock has helped us to completely revolutionise our approach to inventory management. As we continue on this growth trajectory, we look forward to working with Slimstock to deliver further operational improvements.”
