Bidfood reduces stock value by £6 million and stock write-offs by 60% with Slimstock

Slimstock today announced that leading foodservice provider, Bidfood, has adopted its advanced supply chain planning platform to drive greater service, reduce inventory and tackle waste. Following a successful supply chain transformation, Slimstock has been recognized by the company as "Supplier of the Year".

With 31 depots, 250,000+ active SKUs, and 40,000 customers, Bidfood’s operational model is complex, with a remit to ensure ease and simplicity for its customers. As such, the food service leader turned to Slimstock to boost customer service through enhanced product availability. Through leveraging Slimstock’s powerful planning capabilities, Bidfood has successfully completed the first phase of an ongoing change management programme focused on delivering supply chain excellence.

Slimstock’s platform brings all of Bidfood’s supply chain information together in one place. Insights on stock levels, how stock is performing and what levers need to be adjusted to meet KPIs and drive service levels empower the team to make better planning decisions.

“To service the needs of our unique mix of customers, we need a huge amount of flexibility. However, we do not have elastic walls. Therefore, optimising our resources is a continuous challenge,” comments Louise Lyle, Director of Supply Chain at Bidfood. “Digital transformation has helped us to bridge this by creating the agility required to stay one step ahead of new menus and customer mobilisations.”

Since adopting Slimstock’s supply chain planning platform, Bidfood’s 55-strong supply chain planning team have fully embraced the solution’s capabilities to achieve impressive results in a range of areas. Stock value has reduced by £6 million from £115 million while improving service levels, while the company has seen a 60% reduction in stock write-off, minimising waste. Reduced cash flow issues & improved working capital have also converged to enhance the bottom line.

Louise highlights, “In meeting our supply chain goals, we need robust insights to accurately plan and resource goods volumes in relation to seasonal activity, product launches and new customer mobilisations. Slimstock not only allows us to deliver this but provides a future-proof platform to scale and exceed customer expectations as we do so.”

“Our warehouse team is constantly trying to manage capacity constraints. Slimstock supports the wider business by ensuring we invest in the right stock,” Louise explains. “While we can’t physically create a warehouse with elastic walls, we have the next best thing in Slimstock.”

“Part of our collaborative approach means using insights from Slimstock to align with the commercial team. For example, to capture market intelligence. Through enabling greater cross-functional collaboration, commercial teams can access greater insight on how promotions have performed to support both campaign evaluation and future planning. Having seen how quickly the platform has delivered ROI, I only wish we had invested in it years ago, and would recommend it to anyone looking at elevating their supply chain planning capabilities,” Louise adds.