Richard Penichout, Metal Part Buyer, Somfy, France

"Streamlined processes – positive bottom line impact"

As a global market leader in the field of motorized and automated controls for awnings, blinds, shutters and gates, it makes perfect sense for us to work with a single supplier for fastening elements. With annual volumes from a few thousand to 3 million units per year – the numbers vary widely depending on the item – we aim to reach an accurately calculated average price through single sourcing. We expect Bossard to provide highquality products and services within controlled economic parameters. Bossard achieves this with its efficient procurement network that is based on a proven quality assurance system and by providing the corresponding logistics services.

At any time the right parts available
Bossard supplies our production facilities in France and Tunisia (and soon Poland) through our state-of-the-art warehouse in Germany. Our production teams have to be able to respond immediately to every request. Therefore it is extremely important for the right part to be available. As a result, Somfy maintains an inventory of finished products in order to deliver orders in less than 48 hours. This means that our suppliers have to have a supply chain that is flexible and agile in order to support our process. This is why we work with Bossard: Because of it‘s efficient warehouse management system. The savings are enormous. Bossard is managing between 8 million to 10 million parts per year for Somfy. We would incur significant costs if we had to permanently maintain such a large inventory ourselves. 

Reducing costs goes well beyond simply lowering prices
As a metal parts buyer for Somfy, I’m aware of the potential – particularly as I come from the automotive sector – that could come from expanding our business relationship and working together more closely. I do see the benefits of developing our simple customer-supplier relationship into a full-fledged partnership. We are still at the beginning of this partnership. In the future, we would like to benefit from the expertise and resources of the engineers at Bossard in developing parts based on functional specifications from Somfy. In my opinion, it is important to expand our supplier model successfully. Because reducing costs goes well beyond simply lowering prices. Ultimately, our relatively new partnership with Bossard should help to streamline processes and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

Ref. BOF-CL-EL-01814