Teka Spain reduces stockouts by 69% and increases stock turn by 33%

Teka Group is a world leading manufacturer and distributor of household appliances, taps and toilets. With 23 factories across Europe, America and Asia, the group needed a partner capable of integrating processes across its headquarters and 32 subsidiaries to provide a unified planning tool. Since April 2018, Slimstock has helped support all of Teka’s planning activity for its assortment of over 160,000 SKUs across all locations. In just over a year, turnover has increased by 33% as stockouts were reduced by 69% globally. For A-items, this figure was reduced by no less than 80%.

Teka is one of the world’s giants in the manufacture and distribution of household appliances, sanitaryware and kitchen and bathroom taps. With a commercial presence in 116 countries, the business operates 23 factories across Europe, America and Asia and serves over 100 million customers worldwide.

With such an immense network, the Management Team requires maximum visibility to make effective decisions.

“Before Slim4, we managed the stock with a lot of will but with few means. We had a tool for our local Spanish market. However, the other 32 subsidiaries had nothing in place. Consequently, there was a great disconnection across the business. It was vital for us to implement a single planning tool that could unify all our processes across the headquarters and all the subsidiaries. This is why we turned to Slimstock,” explains Leopoldo Ojembarrena, SCM Global Planning at Teka.

In April 2018, the Teka Group decided to implement Slim4. With 30 different ERPs, integrating all the data into one system was a major challenge. However, in just over a year, all of the systems were successfully integrated. “We now have greater visibility over our inventory than ever before. For us, this is huge step forwards as before we were blind. Now we have the data in Slim4, we have ready access to all the information we need.”

Greater insight

The data insights provided by Slim4 have allowed Teka to optimise its entire approach to inventory management. In just over a year, the company has increased stock turn by 33%. Furthermore, stockouts were reduced by 69% globally while stockouts for A-items were reduced by 80%.

Leopoldo Ojembarrena highlights how Slim4 allows easy access to strategic information. Ojembarrena emphasises how this helps the planning team to make responsive decisions: “Above all, Slim4 allows us to remain responsive. In the past, it would take us a week to make a decision. We can now see the reality of what is happening in the subsidiaries every day. We understand the situation and can make more informed decisions for the future. This means decision-making is much faster. More importantly, this has been achieved without limiting the autonomy the branches need on a day-to-day basis.”

Optimised Phase in / Phase out

One of Teka’s main goals is to streamline its product phase-in/phase-out process. Slim4 plays a fundamental role in this. “We are improving our process for adding and removing articles from our assortment. With Slim4, we are better positioned to manage product lifecycles. We are already using Slim4 to build forecasts for new products and we believe our forecast accuracy will increase significantly.”