Scholtus Special Products

The pet snack manufacturer, Scholtus, had encountered limitations in its planning process with Excel. The company opted for the Slim4 supply chain platform and is now seeing clear results. ‘We have significantly increased our delivery reliability,’ says Operations Director Christian van den Bosch. The company is now ready to realise its growth ambitions.

Scholtus Special Products is the European market leader in innovative snacks for dogs and cats. The company has its own development department and production facility in Renswoude, in addition to purchasing from other manufacturers. Scholtus’ customer base includes retailers, pet shops and online stores. ‘We have our own brand, Boxby, and we produce private label products at the request of our customers,’ says Van den Bosch. ‘We also help customers with their market analysis, new product development and category management.’

Complex planning

The logistics concept at Scholtus is a combination of make-to-stock and make-to-order. ‘We are growing in terms of turnover and need to continuously scale up our organisation. We also have a diverse range with many different innovations and packaging formats. Every month, we introduce between 20 and 40 new products. To do this successfully, we need to purchase raw materials on time and reserve production capacity.’ Another challenge is the highly dynamic nature of demand patterns. ‘One customer orders every week, another only a few times a year.’

Limitations of Excel

To facilitate the company’s growth, Scholtus had already invested in modern IT systems for ERP and planning. Until four years ago, inventory management was still done with Excel. ‘We were increasingly running into limitations,’ recalls Van den Bosch. “Excel works adequately for stable order patterns, but when customers place large orders on irregular days, it becomes problematic. Spreadsheets are also not very useful when introducing new products.”

Increasing returns

Scholtus decided to implement Slimstock’s supply chain software. ‘We looked at other solutions, but they didn’t meet our high standards.’ The goals for the Slim4 project went beyond simply improving service levels.

“We wanted to increase the utilisation of our production capacity, optimise production series and ensure that raw materials and packaging were purchased just-in-time.” Another goal was to improve the efficiency of the planning department. “We want to grow significantly as a company, but we would rather not hire additional staff.”

Goals achieved

The Slimstock platform has now been in use for a few years, and Van den Bosch notes that his goals have been more than achieved. ‘We have achieved the desired delivery reliability, and customer satisfaction has increased. In addition, we need to adjust our production lines far less frequently.’
Van den Bosch experienced first-hand how Slim4 increases the efficiency of the planning process when he was temporarily without a planner. Together with the production manager, he assumed responsibility for planning and stock control himself. ‘We did this alongside our regular work, and Slim4 was a great help.’

User-friendly system

Scholtus has since strengthened its team with Nitin Verma, who has joined Scholtus as a planner. He is very satisfied with Slim4. ‘In my previous roles, I worked with various other systems, but Slim4 stands out for its user-friendliness. The management of exceptions and priority lists are particularly useful for me as a planner.’

This allows him to organise his day optimally: urgent tasks in the morning and long-term projects, such as entering and phasing out items, in the afternoon. ‘I learned how to do this most effectively at the Slimstock Academy.’

Product introductions

During the conversation, the team reflects on specific functionalities within Slim4. ‘One particularly helpful feature is how Slim4 supports new product introductions,’ explains Verma. “You can input your forecast for a new product, or let Slim4 calculate it based on comparable items from the past. The system then plans when we need to start production and, for example, when to order packaging.”

Van den Bosch adds: “For private label customers, it is sometimes agreed that packaging must be approved before purchase. We’ve established a dedicated process for this within Slim4.”

Ideas for the future

‘It would be very interesting for us to be able to proactively manage and simulate working capital to a preferred level and test its impact on other KPIs,’ says Van den Bosch. ‘This is high on our wish list for Slim4.’

Growth ambitions

With the implementation of Slim4, Scholtus has made its IT landscape and supply chain organisation complete and future-ready. ‘We are ready to realise our growth ambitions,’ says Van den Bosch. ‘Thanks to Slim4, we have room to grow in our existing lines. This proves to me that we made the right choice with Slim4.’