Clean Water for Happy Customers
On a sunny day in June, we meet Polina Chobanova at her office in Kolding, overlooking soda popsicles, summer vibes and ships at the harbour. From this view, she works as the Operations and Finance Manager at WeServe, a company providing full-serviced rental agreements on their ESPOIR brand to customers in Scandinavia and the UK.
Polina and WeServe have a clear mission: To deliver the highest quality of local filtered water to thirsty and quality-conscious customers: “We work to deliver locally purified drinking water and offer filtration systems with a filtration degree of 0.1 micron, which is far higher than the standard,” explains Polina.
The company mainly leases their equipment to restaurants, which means they own the equipment throughout its lifecycle and have full Operational Planning & Control through the supply chain from start to finish:
“We have close contact with our suppliers, and we have distributors in Denmark, the UK, Norway, and Sweden,” she adds.
But planning and being in control of the supply chain requires structure, overview and automation to prevent disruptions across borders. Therefore, WeServe needs a solid system to handle their inventory management and operational needs.
And that’s where Rackbeat comes into the picture.
A Complex Setup Requires a User-Friendly Tool
Before Polina joined WeServe, the company was looking for a system that could support their subscription-based business model. The model means they never say goodbye to their goods, since they are not sold, and it also requires full insight into the movements of goods at various warehouses and locations.
Thus, the system had to not only handle the purchasing management, order management and inventory with multiple locations efficiently but also allow WeServe and their distributors to have the same overview to prevent operational errors.
They chose to go with Rackbeat.
When Polina then joined WeServe, one might think it would be quite a challenge to keep track of all the business threads with a system she didn’t know.
But, fortunately, the learning curve was surprisingly flat for her: “It didn’t take me long to learn Rackbeat. Of course, there’s always something you can dig deeper into. But now I know what to do and where to go. So after a few weeks, you realise it offers many possibilities.”
And possibilities are certainly needed when you need a comprehensive overview of all the business links.
Accurate Inventory Numbers, Location Control and a Shared Overview
As mentioned, Polina is the Operations and Finance Manager. This means she loves data – and even more so, correct data: “For me, the ability to extract data and being able to trust the data and inventory is so valuable.”
Here, Rackbeat’s reports give her something to smile about, as she can always track the journey of the goods and keep an eye on the inventory values:
“I always use the reporting functions. What I look at the most are the purchasing and sales statistics, the financial inventory value report and the item ledger. These allow me to dive deep into the numbers and product movements.”
And even though it might seem cumbersome to get everything to match up when sitting far away from the warehouses, Rackbeat gives Polina the location management that Polina needs:
“As I mentioned: We work with one warehouse in the UK, one in Norway and two in Denmark. So I need to ensure that all our inventory is recorded correctly without discrepancies at all times. And so far, there have been no mistakes, so I am very satisfied with the workflows.”
In this context, Polina relies on the various distributors that WeServe collaborates with. And Rackbeat facilitates a close partnership by providing the distributors with access to the inventory system:
“The distributors input the sales orders and then I double-check before any inventory changes happen, and then I book the orders. The system is set up in a way so you can use and customise it to your needs. It is very flexible and user-friendly,” explains Polina.
Thus, with refreshing water and clean inventory numbers in the tank, WeServe can look to new markets with peace of mind – without fear of being flooded with inventory errors:
“We aim for significant growth and to make our brand more recognizable. From an operational standpoint, I am convinced that we can continue to grow. And I would definitely recommend Rackbeat to other companies in the same situation. It’s easy to use.”