Novatech

As an internationally active family business, Novatech International attaches great importance to efficient inventory management. Crises such as COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Suez Canal have made the supply chain particularly complex in recent years. To better equip itself structurally, Novatech went in search of a solution that guarantees stability and efficiency. It found the ideal solution and partner in Slimstock’s supply chain platform.

Novatech International is a Belgian family business that has been committed to innovation for many years. It develops and distributes smart solutions for adhesives, sealants and surface treatments that simplify the daily work of professionals. With strong brands such as TEC7, Novatio, TwinBond and Bike7, Novatech is active in more than 25 countries and helps companies in a wide range of sectors to move forward.

“Novatech has always invested in professional inventory management,” says Ben Vanden Berghen, Operations & Supply Chain Director. “The succession of crises and the turbulent geopolitical context have put stability under severe pressure. When I started four years ago, we thoroughly reformed our processes and even built our own Excel system. However, sooner or later you reach the limits of this tool, which is why we started looking for a professional solution. That’s how we came to choose Slim4 from Slimstock.”

A single point of contact

There were several reasons for choosing Slimstock’s solution. “The demo immediately convinced us of the functionalities we could utilise. In addition, we contacted references ourselves, and they were all full of praise for Slimstock’s approach. What also appealed to us was the personal contact from day one. Because Slimstock combines development, implementation and support, we have a single point of contact that provides us with optimal guidance,” explains Ben Vanden Berghen.

And adds, “During implementation, we reaped the benefits of the preparations we had already made to optimise our processes. To our satisfaction, the Slimstock consultant was a true expert in his field and thought proactively to serve us even better. Thanks to the combination of the standard system and specific configurations, we were able to switch quickly and effectively achieve our ambitious goal of a 99.5% service level for our top sellers.”

Strengthening the organisation

Novatech ran Slim4 in parallel with the Excel system. “The plan was to have the system fully stable after three weeks so that we could let go of Excel. That proved perfectly possible, because Slimstock is very intuitive and user-friendly. The programme itself indicates the points of attention in stock management. Because all data is always available, we can make crucial decisions immediately,” highlights Ben Vanden Berghen.

Ben Vanden Berghen concludes, “We are very satisfied with how Slim4 strengthens our organisation. It takes much less time for our team, because they no longer have to manually adjust forecasts and only need to report crucial changes. The system does what is necessary and opens up new opportunities for the future. In time, we even want to take on the inventory management of some of our customers, so that we can support them even better.”