Welzorg Case

Customer challenge

When UC Group started its first job at Welzorg, the company was in a difficult phase. A major centralization battle had taken place where stocks were moved from the local branches to a central DC in Raamsdonksveer. “Where in the past, Welzorg's advisors could simply walk into the warehouse themselves to select the right tool for a client, they now had to request it via a digital form,” says the UC Group consultant. “That took some getting used to. Each wheelchair has unique features and is assembled to customer specifications, so ordering aids was also a rather complex process. In addition, there was a lot of pressure on the organization to work more efficiently and thus get out of the red numbers.”

Approach

In the more than five years that UC Group has been active at Welzorg, they have fulfilled various roles. “The Louwman Group is Welzorg's parent company but is also an importer of Toyota cars. The management is an avid supporter of the Japanese lean philosophy, which means, among other things, that continuous improvement projects are being launched. The UC Group consultants have been able to lead a large number of them.” As examples, one of the consultants mentions the reduction in the lead time of the overall process, the automatic allocation of tools, the WMS implementation, a productivity improvement process among service technicians, the introduction of S&OP, the introduction of KPI reports and the start of a new ERP system. “In addition, I was the interim manager of the business office for a year, with the tough task of phasing out this department within a year.”

Results

Some of the results achieved:

• Reducing the lead time of the overall process by several days
• Introduction of automatic allocation so that 35% of the intakes go through automatically, without intervention by administrative staff (faster and fewer errors)
• Implementation of the WMS system in central DC with a reduction in FTEs
• Productivity improvement among service technicians by tens of percent
• Introduction of the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, which gives the organization more control over forecasts and the overall process
• Development of a KPI reporting system with more control options for the organization
• Started with a company-wide ERP system, making Welzorg more efficient and ensuring a future-proof system