Elit Group Improves Branch Inventory Management With Syncron Inventory

For 25 years, Elit Group has built a vast distribution network for its customers and a reputation for rapid and reliable delivery of high-quality after-sales services regarding automotive spare parts.

Elit Group serves as the biggest spare parts distributor worldwide, managing a central warehouse in the Central and Eastern European region. For the past eight years, Elit Group has leveraged Syncron Parts Planning to improve branch inventory management over its vast network.

Challenges

With too much manual processing, including handling orders to suppliers and distributing goods at branches, the manpower needed to execute tasks efficiently was overwhelming. They were also suffering from too low of a range of stocked items in the company while simultaneously having too high of stock on fast movers. These issues were due to a lack of proper forecasting, seasonality and buffer stock management, leaving them searching for a transparent and optimized inventory management solution.

Solutions

While managing slow-moving parts was their biggest challenge, the Syncron solution has completely transformed their traditional parts planning system. With Syncron Parts Planning, virtual inventories have allowed for better management of regional inventories, reduced manpower needed for purchasing activities, and more accurate forecasting of purchase orders to suppliers. They can now use automated steps in repetitive processes and transparency from the top down to combat their previous lack of advanced forecasting and proactive planning capabilities.

Results

The amount of manual intervention in the stock order review process was initially overwhelming, but by partnering with Syncron, Elit could optimize the inventory of a multi-echelon distribution network to reach best-in-class customer service – at the lowest possible cost. Now known for providing their customers with additional support to help them meet the demanding requirements of the current automotive service, Elit also reported:

• Extended offer of stocked range of spare parts by 10-30 percent.
• Increased overall parts availability by 3-6 percent.
• Reduction of lost sales by approximately 40 percent.
• Improved forecasting accuracy and buffer stock methodology.