Casting Off Excel: How Grundéns Hooked Predictive Planning and Reeled in Inventory Success!

Tackling inventory challenges as Grundéns scaled

Before adopting Netstock’s IBP solution, Grundéns, with $35 million in revenue and 100-150 styles, struggled to manage its growing inventory manually through Excel. As the company expanded to over 600 styles, the static forecasting and manual processes they were using couldn’t keep up. They faced significant challenges with inaccurate data, inefficient collaboration, and difficulty managing the growing complexity of their inventory. Long production lead times of about 200 days with global vendors, further complicated their operations.

Why Netstock’s the catch of the day

Better demand planning: the implementation of Netstock has allowed for more accurate, dynamic forecasting. Grundéns is now able to forecast by style-color and split those into sizes using categories and location segmentation. This improved accuracy was crucial for managing their large variety of SKUs.

We forecast at the style-color level and then break it down further by size before moving it to the SKU level. This then feeds into the supply model. We also use hierarchies for categories and segmentation by location, so there’s a lot of pivoting involved when analyzing both models.

Improved collaboration and data accuracy: The introduction of Netstock significantly improved collaboration across teams. It offered real-time data through a dashboard, which the sales and product teams found especially useful. The shift from Excel to Netstock enabled faster, more accurate decision-making and reporting, reducing manual errors.

The S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) process involved line-by-line discussions from Excel, taking almost a day and a half to get everyone to agree on what to buy.

Time savings and efficiency: Netstock has saved hours in managing supply and demand planning. Location batching is now automated, removing the burden of splitting orders across different sites.

Optimizing operations: Grundéns is able to tackle bottlenecks by improving vendor forecasting, introducing safety stock, and refining raw materials management – with Netstock playing a critical role in these adjustments as the company continues to evolve its supply chain.

Ongoing support and learning

Grundéns has experienced exceptional ongoing support from the Netstock team, with responsive consultants and onboarding assistance from IT. Educational resources, like webinars and the Netstock Learning Center, have been especially beneficial.

Being prepared with scenario planning

With potential disruptions in their supply chain and the potential increase in US tariffs, Netstock’s scenario planning capabilities are helping Grundéns plan for various “what if” scenarios, enabling the company to adjust costs and margins in real-time.

Grundéns daily ‘go-to-features’ in Netstock

• Visual supply and demand graphs: These are essential tools for the sales team, providing clear insights into inventory status and future needs.
• Batching feature: For the inventory team, the batching feature has become a staple in their workflow, simplifying how they place orders by style or color with vendors.

Sailing into the future

Grundéns continues to optimize its supply chain, aiming to shorten lead times and increase operational efficiency. With Netstock as a key strategic partner in this journey, the company has successfully scaled its operations while improving accuracy and decision-making across its fast-growing business.