“Jan once organised the stock for us and he does good advertising for his warehouse services, so it didn’t take long to make the choice to call on him to fill in our new warehouse lift”, says Ann Stroo.

“We had a specific requirement to combine different groups of parts per drawer so that we could use fewer drawers and still keep certain parts together. That took a lot of puzzling, but Jan started working on it and using his software program eff-fill, he effectively found a solution. But it didn’t stop there: you not only get an overview and a schedule for proper filling, but also a lot of advice. Jan was there when we did the inventory beforehand and also for the final move. He explained everything clearly, step by step. If we had done everything ourselves, it not only would have taken much longer, but it would have been less efficient. We would certainly recommend that other companies use Jan’s experience and knowledge.”

After taking over three companies, Wabtec decided to centralise its Dutch activities in one service centre, specifically in Ede. Because the relocation of the old carrousel systems proved to be too expensive, two new carrousel warehouse systems were also purchased. These were higher and had deeper shelves than the old systems.

“When I joined Wabtec, they were in the process of organising the warehouse move”, says Supply Chain and Demand Planning Manager William Ruiter. “But because this seemed to be difficult and expensive, we ultimately decided to work with someone who had done this kind of thing before. At my previous employer, I had positive experiences with Jan who had managed a similar project on the basis of his eff-fill process. One small problem: the physical move was planned for 7 weeks later. But Jan visited us the same week and made a limited inventory to assess the feasibility of the project. He had previously moved a shelf warehouse to a shuttle system and a carrousel to a shuttle, but he had never outlined the process from carrousel to carrousel. So it was a challenge for him, too, but he did succeed. We received a step-by-step plan and from that moment on, everything went smoothly, both the preparation and the physical move itself, which Jan also guided us with. We moved right on schedule at the end of November and the following Monday we were able to get back to work.”

“The supplier of the carousel system put us in touch with Jan. It was clear already from our first meeting that he had the expertise we were looking for and that – just as we had suspected – careful planning was key.
I think that Jan was a bit taken aback by our ambitious plan of getting the move done in just one month’s time. But he took up the challenge and delivered on every one of his promises. He had to work on a tight deadline, but so did we: we had plenty of homework of our own to do. Meanwhile, he kept a close eye on the progress. We received same-day feedback on the data we supplied. And Jan would call us first thing the next morning to discuss the next steps. He had a very good sense of how to keep things moving along.
Our warehouse has everything we wanted it to have, and it’s more efficient. The next step is to take a more thoughtful approach to managing our stock, which is possible thanks to the better overview that we now have.”

Having recently experienced rapid growth, the company decided to create more warehouse surface area and install new systems in order to shorten the throughput time. Mark van Riet, supply chain project manager: “We briefly considered filling those systems ourselves within a timeframe of 10 working days. That would require very strict order picking planning in order to avoid production downtime. However, it soon became clear that Jan could get the job
done much faster and had vastly superior expertise in getting maximum results from the systems. We found that out
the hard way: through a decision of our own – which Jan had advised against because of the ramifications – a system
temporarily functioned more slowly than we had hoped. In the end, filling the warehouse systems took a day and a
half. That’s mainly because Jan had really thought it through with us and proved highly flexible. We were also able to
reach him on weekends. Everything he provided to us was clear and high-quality. I would certainly recommend his
services.” went without a hitch.”

“When we purchased new Kardex systems, for filling them, we were advised to call upon the services of Jan De Graeve”, explains Rik Muylle, Director of Operations. “As soon as we spoke to him, we felt on the same wavelength in terms of knowledge and possibilities. Based on a thorough tour of the warehouse and accurately providing all the necessary data, he advised us on the type of trays to purchase, 11 different types in total. Using his self-created eff-fill software, he also calculated how the trays could be efficiently filled. Moving labels were printed in preparation for setting up the storage arrangements. Thanks to this good preparation and crystal-clear agreements, we were able to move 3,000 items in a single
day. On the morning of the second day, there was another check and that was it, the job was done. The system using drawers divided into smaller trays works great. It makes picking much faster and allows us to better manage our stock.”