MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
As the uptake in inventory management software rapidly escalates, major account gains made by a Coventry-based developer underline the UK’s leadership at the forefront of the new technology – with Slimstock’s Slim4 tool confirmed as Europe’s best-selling optimisation tool with a dramatically widened sales gap between its nearest rivals.
Thirty-seven key new account gains in the first six months of 2012 have propelled the tool into a field-leading position as results-driven companies bid to secure financial stability by reducing stock investment.
Alongside existing Slim4 users Kwik-Fit, Halfords, Euro Car Parts and Paperlinx among others, a raft of significant account gains so far this year includes Cotswold-based Robert Welch – designers of cutlery favoured by HRH Prince Philip and 10 Downing Street – UK-wide flow control and water management systems distributor JDP (John Davidson Pipes), supermarket chain Spar in Holland, global fastenings suppliers Grupo Desa and pioneering surgical implants designers and manufacturers Tournier.
Major players across the Eurozone – Baarsma Wine Group and other leading names in retail, automotive, construction, pharmaceuticals and, as Brits and Europeans rail against the price of fuel, leading bicycle retailers Minerva and Seattle Bike Company – have all opted for the advanced software tool that actively guarantees to slash inventory levels by up to 30% yet still boost service and availability to deliver higher margins, faster turnaround, increased productivity and return on investment.
"Uncertainty over the future of the Euro has sparked-off growing acceptance of the close relationship between effective supply chain management, financial expediency, and the role of technology in achieving it – and that software is not only the key to making it happen but also that Slim4 is unique in virtually guaranteeing that it will happen" says Richard Evans, Sales Director of Coventry-based Slimstock UK.
"Results are regularly measurable within weeks of commissioning the tool" he said.
Aside from the field-leading technical features that have steered Slim4 into Europe’s biggest-selling program of its kind with more than 2500 active users in the Eurozone alone, the company’s exclusive concentration on developing and enhancing a single product is one factor reckoned to be key to this year’s success – alongside its aim of never knowingly selling a package with a pay-back time exceeding twelve months.
A year on from £1 trillion asset ING Group judging Slimstock as the force behind the year’s ‘best idea in retail excellence’, so far 2012 has also witnessed Slim4’s speed capabilities significantly uprated and more than 98% client retention from its 2,500-user database.
The year to date is also marked by an active research and development programme resulting in enhanced web-enabled functionality, and ‘a close working partnership’ with Cranfield University to deliver a new supply chain planning and management course based on Slim4 and described as ‘breakthrough’.
Richard Evans adds that the half-yearly figures to date indicate a ‘marked’ escalation in activities over last year – itself the most successful year up to then.
