WEITBLICK GmbH & Co. KG is optimizing its stocktaking processes with REMIRA's TÜV-certified, cloud-based sample inventory software STATCONTROL Cloud. With the smooth update of the software architecture, the manufacturer of workwear is taking the proven sample principle to the next level. The counting effort has been reduced from around 25,000 items to just 39 random samples, which corresponds to 99%.
WEITBLICK GmbH & Co. KG has been producing and distributing high-quality workwear for various industries such as crafts, catering, food retail, and medical & care for over 90 years. The fourth-generation family-owned company has two warehouse locations: The automated small parts warehouse (AKL) at the Alzenau site is the heart of the company's storage capacity. The second warehouse in Kleinostheim houses additional storage space as well as the company's administration.
The long-established textile company has simplified the stocktaking of 40,000 stored article variants by 99% in two steps. With the help of a comprehensive RFID solution, the automatic small parts warehouse (AKL), which went live in September 2017, meets the high demands. Each item of clothing in the company has a hang tag with a transponder chip that is read at various stations in the automatic conveyor system. Despite the perfected inventory management, this warehouse is also subject to the legal inventory requirement.
“In 2017, we were faced with the question of how to carry out an inventory in an automated warehouse,” recalls IT Director Michael Dyroff, who had already replaced the full inventory at Weitblick with a sampling procedure ten years ago. At that time, the family-owned company's approximately 40,000 warehouse items were still located at four different sites.
Surprise at the trade fair
The authorized signatory became aware of random sampling during a visit to a trade fair:
“I was completely surprised that in Germany, a legally compliant inventory can only be created by taking random samples,”
The background to this is Section 241 (1) of the German Commercial Code (HGB), which has recognized sample stocktaking as a partial survey since the 1970s. According to this, no physical stocktaking is necessary if the inventory can be determined by type, quantity, and value using random samples and mathematical-statistical methods. To take advantage of this option, Weitblick opted for REMIRA's certified sample stocktaking software STATCONTROL, thereby achieving significant savings. STATCONTROL uses, among other things, the extrapolation method, which is particularly suitable for conventional warehouses and allows value deviations within certain limits. The proportion to be counted is usually between five and ten percent of the warehouse items.
For a long time, the company relied on classic full stocktaking for its approximately 25,000 stock keeping units (SKUs). However, this is both time-consuming and labor-intensive, as well as prone to errors. Weitblick therefore switched to a software-supported sample stocktaking with extrapolation. This reduced the counting effort to just three to four hundred items. The AKL also made it possible to carry out random sampling using sequential tests, which further reduced the effort involved. This was made possible by a software-supported random inventory system from the Dortmund-based software developer REMIRA. For even greater flexibility, WEITBLICK GmbH & Co. KG has now switched to the cloud-based version of the solution.
“With STATCONTROL Cloud, we wanted to switch to a certified, cloud-based solution at an early stage. This gives us a clear and intuitive overview of everything at a glance, without any license or location restrictions,”
explains Michael Dyroff, IT Director at WEITBLICK.
Minimal effort, maximum efficiency
The stocktaking processes at WEITBLICK, which have been established and proven over many years, will remain unchanged with the switch to STATCONTROL Cloud. This also includes the sequence test, which is now carried out in the cloud. The rest of the process remains virtually identical. Specifically, this means that at Weitblick, the two physical storage locations are divided into six separate storage units for better differentiation in the software. STATCONTROL Cloud imports all data on the respective target stock levels via an interface to the inventory management system. The software then creates counting lists of the items to be counted.
At WEITBLICK, a team of seven to ten inventory staff processes these lists; however, IT Director Michael Dyroff is the only one who transfers the count results to the system and initiates the final target/actual comparison via the software.
“This allows us to reduce the error rate even further and achieve better traceability. Overall, we are still talking about 39 random samples from around 25,000 actual items,”
says Dyroff happily. This corresponds to a 99% reduction in stocktaking effort.
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