“This new component from Hardis Group is very promising and should help us to stand out from a business point of view. It’s a useful tool for sharing data externally with our customers and giving them real-time visibility and transparency. It saves us time by avoiding the need to pick up the phone or write emails. We also use it internally to build real-time dashboards.”
The project at a glance
Logistics provider BMV has been using Reflex WMS to manage its warehouses since 1999. In early 2023, it rolled out Reflex Visibility. Via this supply chain collaboration platform , the company now provides its customers with real-time visibility of available stock, order picking status, and key performance indicators for its services.
Context and objectives
BMV operates as both a carrier and a logistics provider. Founded over a century ago, it employs 1,100 people across 33 sites in France and Germany. The company has used Reflex WMS to manage the logistics side of its business since 1999. In keeping with its strategy of building out its 4PL service offering, BMV needed an application that would give its customers exhaustive, real-time visibility of stock, moves, and completed logistics operations.
The extranet system BMV used until 2022 lacked certain information-sharing capabilities and the interfaces were outdated. The company considered three options: ask the provider that developed the extranet to update it, entrust the development of the new portal to its own IT department, or opt for Reflex Visibility.
Application
BMV chose Reflex Visibility for three reasons. The first was its native integration with Reflex WMS. The second was the short deployment time, which would not have been possible with the provider that developed the extranet, or with the company’s in-house IT team, which was busy working on another application. And the third was BMV’s close relationship with Hardis Group, which provided guarantees on the development of a new feature that the firm needed.
With help from the Reflex team, BMV rolled out Reflex Visibility in just a few weeks for an e-commerce pure player specializing in wines and spirits. The company then onboarded another customer onto the portal, this time without outside support.
In both cases, the information made available via the portal was tailored to the customer’s requirements. For the time being, the portal only displays data from the WMS. But, in the longer term, BMV plans to include transport events to give its customers even greater visibility.
BMV is so satisfied with the application that, in the coming months, it intends to roll it out to new customers. It will also add a new feature that will allow customers to input orders directly in the portal.
Benefits
- Real-time data-sharing with customers
- Real-time visibility of stock, moves and completed logistics operations
- Transparent view of key performance indicators for BMV’s services
- Time saved by avoiding the need to pick up the phone or write emails
- Ability to stand out from other logistics providers from a business point of view
- Creation of real-time dashboards for internal use