Bakker Transport & Warehousing

"We have the room to grow, without increasing the administrative burden."

Arjen Hoekstra, Logistiek Manager at Bakker Transport & Warehousing

At Bakker Transport & Warehousing they possess a healthy growth ambition. Since its start in 1991, the organization has grown continuously, which has resulted in the current four high-tech warehouses of an impressive total of 32,000 m2 on the industrial estate of Heerenveen. The most recent warehouse has been in use for barely six months, and the construction drawings for a possible expansion are already on the table.

To support this growth and to be able to effortlessly respond to customers’ wishes, they concluded in 2018 that they could no longer work with their previous WMS. The WMS Boltrics offers turned out to make the bull’s eye thanks to the available functionalities and the “always up-to-date” guarantee.

Bakker Transport & Warehousing constantly analyze how they can improve their service and fine-tune their processes. How can we meet market demand, what possibilities are there and how can resources be used as efficiently as possible? Thanks to this approach, many food specialists know where to find the logistics service provider. The innovative DNA of the organization did not go unnoticed, because in 2019 they won the title “Frisian company of the year”.

A pronounced preference for standard software

With the growing customer base, the package of wishes also increases. Arjen Hoekstra, Logistics Manager at Bakker Transport & Warehousing: “Ten years ago we had a preference for custom software, but we quickly came to the conclusion that as a logistics service provider you do not distinguish yourself in the field of IT. You do so with your services. In addition, developments in IT are going so fast that as a logistics service provider you can hardly keep up. We were therefore looking for a standard solution with which we could support our processes effortlessly.”

Some of the requirements that the logistics service provider set for their new software were user-friendliness, the ability to set processes for each customer, and a clear overview of reliable KPIs.

All information available at the touch of a button

Arjen: “With our previous WMS we could register orders and shipments, but intermediate actions for example not. While this is essential for invoicing. In addition, we had insufficient insight into what was available in terms of stock or where pallets were stored in the warehouse. If a customer asked for this information, it had to be checked manually on a regular basis. This easily took the workload of one employee each week. All in all, you will soon have to deal with hidden costs. Now we retrieve this information in the system at the touch of a button and questions are answered in no time.

By also looking closely at our processes, we have managed to drastically reduce the administrative burden. The fresh perspective and knowledge of Boltrics were very helpful. Thanks to a link with the system of our customers, manual entry of orders and sharing updates are now also in the past. Reducing the need for one FTE at least. We can now use the knowledge and experience of this colleague for other activities.”

“We no longer need to hire additional staff when connecting new customers. Simply because we automatically share information via EDI.”

Arjen Hoekstra

Logistiek Manager at Bakker Transport & Warehousing

Insight into stock, workload, and performance

Thanks to the dashboards in Power BI, we know exactly how we are doing. For example, which customers contribute the most, what is the expected work stock and how well do we score per customer in terms of quality and performance. This offers the opportunity to further optimize processes and to inform customers better.”

Successful at Bakker Transport & Warehousing and promising for you:

  • Release your key users from normal work, so that they can fully focus on mastering the system.
  • Provide up-to-date master data and involve your customers if necessary.
  • Involve the operation for more support. From the selection to the choices in terms of functionality.
  • Record processes. Making it clear to everyone what the process is and what agreements have been made.

Facts & figures

  • 10% growth in turnover with 20% less personnel
  • 1 FTE released thanks to EDI integration
  • Reduction of customer questions thanks to automated updates
  • Always insight into the latest status of orders

About Bakker Transport & Warehousing

Bakker Transport & Warehousing is a specialist in the field of food logistics. With more than 25 years of experience in the food sector and all related products, Bakker Transport & Warehouse knows that it is all about quality, food safety, and product protection. From the correct temperature and storage to (inter)national shipping and the correct documentation of goods, the entire team is committed to ensuring that customers’ goods are handled and delivered safely and as agreed.