Erico Pallets
As a pallet management company operating across 12 countries and supporting more than 2,000 customers, Erico Pallets "are proud to drive your supply chain transformations. They supply and recover pallets and packaging, they provide asset management, on-site services and sustainability solutions to keep your capacities optimised, your overheads down and your green goals on track".
The Challenge
Erico had over 2,000 customers across Europe, and while their total sales and profits were strong, they had little idea which suppliers and customers drove their performance, which were their key customers, and what commercial terms were most appropriate for the current and future customers
What I Did
I put Microsoft Dynamics Business Central 365 into the business. A very strong enterprise resource planning ("ERP") tool, Business Central is an online software package which provides your entire finance needs.
Set up properly(!), it gives fantastic user functionality to buy products, store them, pick and despatch them, invoice them and then to appreciate significant amounts of solid analytics on where the best sales and profits are made in the business
What I Achieved
An increase in group sales of +30% in 2024 versus 2023, a strong understanding on which types of customers to focus on going forwards, those requiring new commercial deals and those to "walk away" from. The source of profitability in pallet management is not a typical "buy for £3.50, sell for £6.00, profit = £2.50" scenario - profit is made from many sources. Putting Business Central in place gave focus to all types of profits made, putting the owners into a great position in how to position their business in future