Grünenfelder SA decided to adopt Slimstock to make inventory management a competitive advantage through improved forecasting, availability and efficiency of its distribution processes.
When a restaurant is creating a menu for the upcoming weekend, or a store is arranging its shelves, it assumes that the right products will be delivered, on time and complete. This level of reliability is the promise that a good distributor gives every day. It’s easier said than done.
Grünenfelder SA is a family-owned distributor based in Quartino, in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. This company has adopted Slimstock’s solution for supply chain management. With its help, it intends to implement data-driven planning for its food and non-food product range, which it supplies to retail and hospitality sectors across Switzerland.
Turning a complex range into a competitive advantage
Grünenfelder SA distributes a wide range of food and non-food products. The demand for these categories differs greatly between each other. Maintaining high levels of service while controlling costs and working capital became a strategic lever of growing in the market, where availability of the product and efficiency of processes are decisive. Within the framework of continuous improvement of processes, the company started to improve its planning and its ability to predict changes in the market.
What Slimstock will bring to Grünenfelder SA
Through the implementation of Slimstock’s supply chain management solution, AI forecasting and optimisation of inventories, Grünenfelder SA will be able to better understand future needs, increase availability, reduce risks of stockouts and maintain inventory levels low. This will allow the company to make decisions more data-driven and, therefore, to anticipate rather than react to the situation. Most importantly, technology performs all the hard work, while people in Grünenfelder SA remain with the ability to judge about what is important. Thus, it’s a balance of advanced technology and people that makes planning a competitive advantage.
“We intend to turn inventory management into a competitive advantage through improvements in service levels, increasing operational efficiency and sustainable company growth”, Dani Grünenfelder – CEO/Direttore generale
How did Grünenfelder SA choose its partner?
Grünenfelder SA decided to adopt Slimstock because of its experience in the field of supply chain and inventory optimisation, pragmatic and results-oriented approach and implementation of the solution, adapted to the specific processes of the company. Combination of expertise, methodology and technology became the key reason to choose this partner. Slimstock designs, implements and maintains its own software with the help of its employees. In this case, there was one accountable team for the whole process of planning, that collaborated with Grünenfelder SA’s staff.
This value is already proven in the sphere of food distribution. Bidfood, one of the biggest foodservice distributors, cooperated with Slimstock and released almost six million pounds of working capital, decreasing write-offs by more than sixty percent, and simultaneously increasing the level of service. For such a company as Grünenfelder SA, which distributes food and non-food products to the retail and hospitality sector, this combination is crucial.
“Grünenfelder SA is exactly the kind of partner we work best with: a family business that knows its market and wanted pragmatic and results-oriented approach, not only a tool. We are proud to be Grünenfelder SA’s partner in its journey to make planning a competitive advantage.”, Lorenzo Trucco – Managing Director Slimstock Italy