Bela to optimize wholesale and retail supply chain with RELEX

Bela will implement RELEX forecasting and replenishment capabilities to increase availability, reduce inventory, integrate processes, and gain greater visibility. 

Bartels-Langness, or simply Bela, an owner-managed German grocery retailer and wholesaler, has chosen to work with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions. Bela, who operates largely across northern Germany, will use the RELEX forecasting and replenishment capabilities to manage supply chain planning across all categories for their approximately 130 retail stores under the famila and Markant brands, their wholesale business, and their three distribution centers. 

Bela’s retail and wholesale business areas represent separate processes that operate independently and rely on separate ordering processes. With RELEX, the company plans to link the ordering and logistics processes of the two divisions, reduce stock levels and optimize the availability of goods for customers. RELEX partner Wysupp will provide support with internal change management and solution implementation. 

Bela sought an advanced solution that could flexibly adapt to any upcoming process changes and evolve with the company’s growth. The flexible adaptability of the RELEX system’s UI-based configuration tools was of particular interest to Bela as these tools would enable the company to define and adapt business rules easily.  

“At Bela, we wanted a modern, integrated planning system that would bring processes together instead of treating them in silos,” says Christian Hirdes, Project Manager SCM at Bartels-Langness Handelsgesellschaft mbh & Co. KG. “We feel a holistic approach is a prerequisite for any technology we implement across our wholesale and retail business. We trust that RELEX will simplify our processes with greater transparency and provide us with a more efficient way of working.” 

“With Bela, we welcome Germany’s tenth-largest grocery retailer as a part of the RELEX family. We look forward to quickly showing them the benefits of integrating their retail and supply chain planning with RELEX,” says Stefano Scandelli, Senior VP Sales EMEA at RELEX Solutions.