Automotive Spare-parts Distributor FTZ Chooses RELEX to Ensure High Availability

FTZ, Denmark’s leading automotive spare parts supplier, has chosen RELEX Solutions to power its replenishment and supply chain planning in order to increase availability at its 51 branches across Denmark.

FTZ handles more than 300,000 different spare parts and supplies more than 11,000 customers throughout Denmark, including its own franchise workshops such as AutoMester, Din Bilpartner and CarPeople. In order to increase the efficiency of its supply chain to meet customer demand, FTZ wanted to upgrade its supply chain planning processes.

At the outset, FTZ wanted to manage its inventory more efficiently to ensure all parts are available without tying up millions of euros in excess stock. The company also wanted to rationalize its ordering to reduce the number of shipments and, consequently, costs.

“We needed to replace a legacy system with something that would give us better process support, a more efficient supply chain and, above all, will guarantee high availability,” says Christian Heimer, FTZ’s VP, Logistics, IT and Purchasing.

After a careful selection process, in which several providers were evaluated, FTZ chose RELEX. The system’s use of in-memory computing allows it to process huge quantities of data quickly, meaning users can constantly monitor stock, sales and demand in real-time. RELEX also makes use of intelligent algorithms and machine learning to make sure all demand forecasts are optimized automatically.

The project kicked off during December 2018 with the goal of having the system fully operational by the end of summer 2019.

“We are excited about cooperating with FTZ and look forward delivering on our promises to improve inventory turnover and availability while maintaining a high service level,” says Søren Christensen, Country Manager, Denmark at RELEX Solutions. “We’re only happy if our customers are happy and we’re confident this will be the case with FTZ, as with all our customers. Optimizing a supply chain of hundreds of thousands of unique products across many locations is the kind of challenge we love.”