MEON customer story

Routed by its traditional family values, MEON has evolved from an import and expert agency to become one of the leading suppliers of line marking and surface repair solutions. Today, MEON supports a diverse range of industry applications including everything from aerospace and defence to highways and utilities.

With the combination of MEON’s industry experience and its rigorous quality assurance protocols, the surface specialist goes to great lengths to provide its customers with the most resilient solutions available on the market.

However, with further growth on the horizon, MEON needed to take steps to modernise its supply chain. Russell explains: “As our business goes from strength to strength, it is vital we continue to develop our operation to exceed the needs of our customers.”

Efficiency boost

In the past, the planning team at MEON relied on a combination of spreadsheets to keep inventory in check: “Consequently, our processes were far too static to respond to the evolving needs of our customers. Furthermore, even simple inventory management tasks proved extremely time-consuming.”

Following the successful implementation of Slim4, MEON worked closely with Slimstock’s consultants to define more efficient inventory management processes. “As part of Slimstock’s robust implementation processes, our team also completed a comprehensive training programme,” adds Russell.

Highlighting the impact this has had on the business, the Supply Chain Manager shares: “By equipping our people with the right tool as well the right knowledge, we can now make smarter supply chain decisions. As result, in the short time we have been using Slim4, our stock turn has already increased from 4 to 5.6.”

“The implementation of Slim4 has enabled us focus on the key metrics that drive supply chain efficiencies. This has created an opportunity for us to reduce time spent on stock management by up to 50% and therefore increasingly invest in vendor management without adding to our human resource,” adds the Supply Chain Manager.

Strategic assortment decisions

In addition to improving operation efficiency, Slim4 has also helped the planning team at MEON to focus their time on the products that matter most.

With the dynamic stocking policy and ABC functionality within Slim4, the planning team can easily identify poor-performing product lines. With granular insight into the performance of each specific SKU, the business can make more rational stocking decisions.

Russell highlights: “We now focus our time and investment on our top items to ensure flawless reliability. However, by setting products that offer little value to non-stocked, we have simultaneously reduced overall inventory levels by 20%; freeing up working capital to invest in other areas of the business.”

Enhanced visibility

Thanks to Slim4, MEON has also been able to improve visibility throughout its supply chain. With Slim4’s powerful forecasting engine, the planning team can quickly build accurate forecasts and demand plans.

“By considering a range of factors including volatility, product lifecycle and seasonality, we can build a clearer picture of future demand. Put simply, we could not attain this level of visibility with spreadsheets alone.”

The Supply Chain Manager goes on to explain: “We are now much better positioned to anticipate what is around the corner. As a result, availability has increased by 5%. By helping us to seamlessly align inventory levels to the forecasted demand, we can ensure customer orders are fulfilled on time and in full; all without increasing excess stock.”

Extremely satisfied with the progress so far, Russell and his team are working hard to squeeze further efficiency improvements throughout its operations.

Summarizing the success of the optimisation project, Russell concludes: “From what I’ve experienced so far, I can certainly recommend Slim4 as a valuable stock management toolkit. As we embark upon the next steps of our optimisation journey, we are excited to strengthen our partnership with Slimstock.”