CDs and cassettes are now a relic from the old days - in German chil-dren's rooms, Tonies from Boxine GmbH have long been playing the music. The little play figures, which are simply placed on a matching audio play box for audio playback, have triggered a great deal of hype. To continue to meet the steadily increasing demand and to optimize the disposition of the articles, the company now relies on the REMIRA LOGOMATE inventory management software worldwide.
The idea for the audio play boxes came to the two founders and managing directors Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl back in 2013, and three years later the first Tonies and Tonieboxes were sold. Sales rose steadily and reached 100 million in 2019. At the same time, another milestone was reached: entry into the US market in September 2020. There are now over 300 different Tonies, almost 2.4 million Tonieboxes and 25 million Tonies have been sold (as of September 2021) since the launch. Therefore, it was necessary to support the expansion with software. Kai Naujoks, Supply Chain Manager at Boxine GmbH, became aware of REMIRA through a part-ner. "Due to our rapid growth, the complexity in scheduling has also in-creased. The previous methods with Excel and the ERP caused too much manual effort. Since LOGOMATE already has interfaces to Dynamics 365 Business Central, the implementation went smoothly," explains Naujoks.
From Manual to Automated Replenishment
Until now, scheduling at Boxine was mainly done manually. But rapid com-pany growth and ever-increasing demands eventually required software-based help. "With the rapid growth, also in international markets, our suppli-er network also grew unusually fast and quickly revealed a high level of complexity. In addition to multisourcing, lead time for suppliers from abroad is also an important aspect in planning. Thanks to LOGOMATE, such factors can now be included in scheduling as well," says Naujoks. Also, the re-sharpening of orders during the year, the disposition of international loca-tions or the reaction to extraordinary situations by management-by-exception are no problem with the inventory management software, furthermore the manual data maintenance is reduced to a minimum. Kai Naujoks is looking forward to further standardizing and thus optimizing supply chain processes with LOGOMATE in the future:
"We will definitely be able to significantly reduce the administrative effort and create more transparency in goods planning. At the same time, the software helps us to optimize our stock levels so that the ability to deliver remains high and no out-of-stock situations arise. The cooperation with REMIRA was flawless on a product and interpersonal level."
What are tonies, anyway?
tonies® was launched in 2016 by Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl. Since then, the Toniebox has replaced CD players or tape recorders in nu-merous children's rooms. The soft cube with a digital core is intuitive to use: By placing the audio figures, such as Benjamin Blümchen or Räuber Hot-zenplotz, the audio play starts immediately. The Toniebox with its Tonies is suitable for children from the age of three. The audio system is available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, the USA and, since Sep-tember 2021, also in France.
