Boon Edam - Access to VMI and Large Product Range

Boon Edam, known for its revolving doors and turnstiles, picked itsme as their main electrical components supplier last year. The large product range and the vendor managed inventory (VMI) solution for the grab stock of electrical assembly materials were the deciding factors. “When you install VMI, you actually do it forever.” 

Boon Edam provides secure access solutions worldwide. The company has been in business for 150 years, employs more than 1,200 people, has factories in the Netherlands, China and the US, and has 18 international subsidiaries. Production in the Netherlands is handled at the head office in Edam and several assembly partners. Procurement for production in Edam and the global spare parts supply is provided by an operational procurement team directed by José Overmars. “Boon does assembly and coating here and processes the technical compositions supplied by partners. This is how we prepare the products before they go to the subsidiaries. We do panel building ourselves, but when it gets hectic we also bring in partners. All partners handle their own procurement; however, they can piggyback on our contracts with suppliers.” 

Analysis and Advice

New in the supplier database is itsme. The contact was established when the existing main supplier was going to discontinue its VMI services. However, the seeds for the switch were actually planted during the pandemic, when supply problems hit the industry. “The supplier we had at the time could not supply us as we wanted, but it was not the time to switch. Because of the supply issues, we needed time to get the materials. After the pandemic, we reviewed our entire package; we had experienced a proliferation of suppliers because we needed to get things from everywhere. We started to bring that down to a minimum again.”  

Talks with several technical distributors followed, including itsme, which actually spearheads VMI. There are several parties that can offer VMI, says branch manager Danny van Leeuwen at itsme Amsterdam. “However, the intensity and knowledge we add to this is interesting to a number of clients, including Boon Edam.” Overmars: “VMI makes sure we always have stock available and we don’t have to keep track of it ourselves, so our production can continue as usual.” Moreover, the overriding factor was that the assembly partners had been in contact with this distributor for some time. “They were very complimentary, which is why we decided to go with itsme.”  

“Our assembly partners spoke highly of itsme.” 

It goes without saying that the price, the service and itsme’s large product range also played their part, Van Leeuwen adds. “Our product range expands daily; we now supply almost 2.5 million different items. This shows that we can rely on a huge network of suppliers. Exactly what José is looking for: bringing down the number of suppliers, because we take over from them.” In the meantime, itsme has implemented a VMI 2BIN system at Boon Edam for the grab stock of assembly materials and is the main supplier of electrical components. It also supplies fully assembled cable sets.

Van Leeuwen: “We conducted an analysis of their data: which items have been regularly purchased in the past months/years? Based on that, we made agreements on which items we were going to stock there and what minimum and maximum stock we were going to maintain in the process.” The VMI now encompasses around 300 articles, says Overmars. “In addition, there are a lot of electronic materials that we still need to work out whether or not to transfer. When itsme has gained a good understanding of our products, they also check if they can combine materials. For example, we currently have five different cables that all do the same. We actively seek their advice on what’s best. The same goes for various exotic materials; can we exchange them for more common items?” 

Increasingly Intensive Collaboration

A part of the warehouse in Edam is reserved for the VMI, identifiable by itsme’s blue bins, explains Overmars. “The visual aspect is important because that’s how we can clearly see which materials are ordered by itsme.” Van Leeuwen: “Our employee checks the bins every week. They scan what is almost empty, replenish bins that were scanned the last time, put them back in the warehouse, clean up and check packing slips. This is how we basically took a chunk of warehouse management out of Boon’s hands, so they can get on with what is important to them and put as little energy into this as possible.”

“The implementation went well,” says Overmars. “Boon Edam included all the people who were going to work with it. They were given an introduction and could ask questions about the new way of working. That was very well received by our colleagues. We started this year and sometimes missed some materials, which we quickly resolved with itsme each time. We expect the process to run smoothly from April.” 

“We took a chunk of warehouse management out of Boon’s hands.” 

Meanwhile, the partners are already looking ahead. Overmars: “We will team up with itsme to not only analyse which other materials in our package we can transfer, but also to find out if there are materials that we should take out of the VMI. The turnstiles are not yet included in the whole VMI thing because their production takes place at a different location in Edam. We may add another VMI there, but not this year.” 

Van Leeuwen: “We are still in the early stages and the current VMI has priority. We are now fine-tuning it. The other solutions we offer, for example with regards to industrial automation, we will slowly introduce at Boon. The level of cooperation will therefore intensify, as will the discussions about new developments in the market and technology.” Overmars: “That’s not an issue at the moment. But we have already had visits from itsme engineers, to get to know each other, so that our engineers know who they can turn to for advice.” 

Trust 

Both parties have the intention to make it a long-term collaboration, says Van Leeuwen. “Our goal is to achieve an extremely efficient supply process at Boon Edam so they can be successful with their customers. That means trust and a long-term relationship.” The VMI contract, which is about to be signed, has a two-year term. That is only the formal term, Overmars notes. “It’s a very big project to transfer the VMI, so it’s not something you want to do every few years. When you install VMI, you actually do that forever.” Talk about trust! 

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