LÜNING: Intelligent supply chain solutions from REMIRA ensure greater process efficiency

LÜNING, one of Germany's 20 largest food retailers, relies on innovative software solutions from REMIRA. In addition to the existing challenges in supply chain management, the family-owned company also faces industry-specific inventory challenges – from the limited shelf life of perishable goods and seasonal planning for various products to fluctuations in demand due to advertising campaigns. To overcome these challenges, LÜNING uses REMIRA's sales forecasting and procurement solution, which significantly increases the level of automation and continuously optimizes the entire inventory management process. In addition, the company recently switched to REMIRA's cloud-based sample stocktaking software – and now only needs 1.5 hours to complete its stocktaking process.

LÜNING has grown enormously over the past 172 years – from a small grocery store in 1853 to one of the largest trading companies in the country. With two logistics centers of its own in East Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt, the Rietberg-based company operates an extensive range of over 20,000 items. This is supplemented by cross-docking with EDEKA Minden-Hannover as a cooperation partner of the LÜNING Group and collaboration with around 300 direct suppliers, providing customers with a total of around 40,000 food and 20,000 non-food items. To ensure high product availability at all times, LÜNING has been using REMIRA software for sales forecasting and procurement since 2011. This has successfully automated previously manual inventory management processes and centralized all relevant data.

AI-based forecasts ensure optimal inventory levels

The AI-based demand forecasts provided by the REMIRA software, which are constantly being further developed, are particularly valuable in this regard. This enables the company to receive precise order proposals at the right time, successfully avoiding both stockouts and excess inventory. As a result, LÜNING has been able to reduce inventory levels in a targeted manner while increasing its delivery capacity. In addition, the company has increased the level of automation for order items to over 75% in the past five years alone. And despite the globally recognized challenges in the supply chain environment, LÜNING has also succeeded in significantly improving its service level during this period. “In all the years that I have been using REMIRA software, there has never been a requirement for which a solution could not be found. All new developments can be easily mapped with the software – and thanks to the large number of available parameters, even in the standard version,” emphasizes Werner Kamppeter, Head of Inventory and Quality Management at LÜNING, adding:

“Today, we achieve significantly higher order productivity and better results with almost the same number of staff – that speaks for the system.”

Precise sales planning for promotional business

Another key issue at LÜNING is promotional business, where reliable forecasting of expected sales increases during the promotional phase is crucial. Thanks to the REMIRA solution, this is achieved smoothly: promotion-related procurement is fully automated, so that the right quantities can be planned in good time and optimum availability is ensured.

The success is also evident in the procurement of fresh produce: LÜNING has been able to reduce MHD-related write-offs for perishable foods by another 35% in the past two years.

Cloud solution increases efficiency in sample stocktaking process

In addition to the solution for sales forecasting and procurement, LÜNING has also been using REMIRA software for sample stocktaking since 2013. Last year, the company finally switched to the cloud version, which brought further optimizations for the company. This has further reduced the number of items to be counted: while the introduction of the on-premise version had already reduced this number to around 630 items, the switch to the cloud solution has lowered it to approximately 350 items. In addition, the process is now much more intuitive, as the software clearly shows the steps to be taken.

“The cloud solution has made inventory even easier for us and saved us a lot of time – after a preparation time of 2.5 hours for the inventory, the counting teams now count the entire warehouse in just 1.5 hours”,

says Thorsten Stühring, Logistics Manager at LÜNING.

Partnership on equal terms – with a clear perspective for the future

Overall, the trading company is very positive about its decision to choose REMIRA as its software partner and would make the same choice again. Werner Kamppeter particularly emphasizes REMIRA's flexibility and the cooperative and valuable collaboration. At the same time, the company considers itself well positioned to drive further process optimization in the future. An important step in this direction was the successful conversion to the latest version of the sales forecasting and procurement solution, which was implemented at the beginning of the year. This enables LÜNING to once again improve its level of automation and service.

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Photos: Max Lüning GmbH & Co. KG