Streamlined Print Management & Fulfilment Solution
Challenge
BPEC were facing the challenge of balancing order volumes efficiently and keeping track of unit price. Too few orders and the unit price wasn’t a commercially viable rate, too many and stock could sit for months on end. Some courses were incredibly popular, whereas others were more niche, and putting equal quantities of manuals into stock to achieve consistency of price meant stock levels were disproportionally high. Furthermore, when changes to courses were required large volumes of manuals had to be scrapped – a waste on many fronts.
Stock management was another challenge. With the stock being held off site and picked by their incumbent supplier, getting records to tally and performing stock checks was an admin nightmare! Many of the manual design’s had also become outdated, due to stock sitting with BPEC for long periods of time.
Our objective was fourfold:
- Make the process easier
- Reduce the value of stock sitting on shelves,
- Provide more even pricing across the range of manuals
- Bring all of the learning material’s designs bang up to date.
Solution
To kick start the project, we updated all of the artwork across the whole suite of manuals. This included a new finishing process for each manual which resulted in a slick set of refreshed branded manuals across BPEC’s full learning material offering. During our consultation, we explored ways in which we could create an even pricing matrix that considered the total overall manual usage and not just the individual manuals. This enabled us to provide effective scale that reduced annual spend significantly. There was very little historic data to work from, so together we drew up some assumptions that would allow for a monthly level of stock to be held for each manual, with a back-up of a 48-hour turnaround if any exceptional order requests for made.
Our primary focus for BPEC was to make the transition to us as seamless as possible, so we liaised directly with their incumbent supplier and moved all of their stock into our 27,000 sq. ft. warehouse. The stock was counted on receipt and the figures were confirmed back to BPEC in preparation for the first stock orders to be called off. Our ‘first in first out’ stock management process was ideal to ensure the older manuals were dispatched first, therefore making use of stock that was already paid for.
Services & Products Used
Print Fulfilment & Delivery
Design for Print
Print & Print Management
Results
We provide monthly usage and movement reports which clearly demonstrate patterns of usage and seasonal impacts. These have enabled greater control of stock levels during peak and off-peak periods and allowed us to manage stock levels more dynamically, particularly during the pandemic.
BPEC training manuals are now all consistently on brand, stock levels are managed to a fine margin, maximising both on demand production and economies of scale, and stock usage is reported each month.
In addition, by adding unique barcodes to each manual we’re now able to trace each training manual to a college or user. This has further protected the intellectual property of BPEC which is contained within each manual.
–––––––––––––– If you can see it and touch it, we can brand it for you ––––––––––––––
Testimonials
Lovely words from our customers…
Birch print is more then a printers. They get to know your business, your customers and make sure your visual messaging is being delivered, From the swing ticket on my garment to the design of the box my customer receives. My brand values were transparent on every touch point. Thank you Birch Print for caring, Alicia x
Alicia Kite – CEO / Founder
Birch produce and hold stock of various marketing collateral for our depots to call off, this ranges from pull-up banners and foamex header signs to bone china teapots and engraved cutlery. Birch have proven themselves time and again to be highly competitive on costs and having such a trusted supply partner for such a wide range of services saves so much time, administration and worry over sourcing new suppliers.
Andy Webb -Marketing Communications Manager
Pitman Training Group has worked with Birch for close on 10 years and they have always delivered high quality materials across a whole range of products, from posters to pull up banners and much more. They have partnered with Pitman Training to ensure we have consistent branding across our marketing material and have integrated their Marketing Resource Centre (MRC) into our Pitman hosted “Marketing Hub”. Birch have always operated in a very professional manner and respond to requests quickly and efficiently.
Paul Lewis – Managing Director
Thank you to the team at Birch for all of their help with my latest order of promotional items for our charity event. Flawless service and fast delivery.
Brian – Managing Director
I approached Birch Print to get some printing done having used them in the past. What immediately impressed me was the interest in and enthusiasm for my new fledgling product. There was an immediate input of ideas, innovation in design and a genuine interest in both my market and business.
Birch Print not only PRINT for you but they also PARTNER you in the journey and truly add value to your design, marketing and ultimately your product.
Colin Hutchison – Founder and MD
Working with the Birch team was a pleasure. When building a new store we needed a business partner who took away the headaches, and created solutions not problems. Birch managed to hit deadlines and produce high quality POS enabling us to get open on time and with a great looking store.
Steve Fleming – MD Acuitis UK
