Slimstock Academy training program help take Moonen Packaging to the next level

Taking full advantage of Slim4

Moonen has been using Slimstock’s Slim4 supply chain platform for more than ten years to manage stock. In this time, the number of backorders has been reduced almost completely as the stock turn rate increased by over 20% However, when Van Bussel joined the company last year, he concluded that there was still much more to be gained from Slim4. There was only one person in the organization who really knew the system well, and they only used it on an operational level. “That’s a real shame. We had a Tesla at home but only half-realised what we could do with it.”

Training program

Van Bussel enlisted the help of the Slimstock Academy and asked for a program to be developed that could raise the level of knowledge of Moonen’s entire supply chain organisation to a higher level. In addition to operational training in the field of inventory management and Slim4, this program consisted of a five-day in-house training that focussed on tactical and strategic inventory issues. Furthermore, through playing the Supply Chain Game, the team greatly increased their awareness about the dynamics of inventory throughout the supply chain and the crucial role of communication.

Tactical Stock Decisions

The training program has now been completed and has yielded many new insights, highlights Van Bussel. He gives an example: “We decided to create a new planning layer for tactical inventory decisions based on an ABC format. Until now, we worked with general guidelines for the number of months of stock we wanted to keep for each item. To not exceed that limit, our planners spent a lot of time negotiating with suppliers about smaller order sizes for C-items, which are sold relatively infrequently. During the training, we found that is far more effective to invest this time in our A-products. However, the right preconditions have to first be determined at the tactical level.”

New Objectives

Now that the knowledge process has been completed, Moonen Packaging will implement the latest version of Slim4. This was a conscious decision, says Van Bussel, so that the new insights can be immediately translated into the new version. “We now have the knowledge to take full advantage of Slim4.”

The company has set new supply chain goals: The stock must be further reduced, from €7m to €6.5m. Furthermore, the service level of A-articles will be increased to 98%. “With our new, well-trained supply chain organisation, I am convinced that we will certainly achieve these objectives.”