The Van Pelt Group is growing. The Belgian building materials supplier acquired Paesen Bouwmaterialen at the end of 2017, becoming one of the largest and most diversified construction groups in Belgium. But just like all their competitors, they are concerned about the logistics situation in Belgium. The solution? Digital innovation.
Growing Company
Growth is Van Pelt It’s in their blood. Supplying building materials is their core business, but they also provide construction-related services. The company handles demolition, excavation, tiling, and even recycling. Van Pelt also operates two concrete plants and delivers directly to the job site. This is no easy feat, as concrete must remain in motion and must not spend too much time in transit—even in a concrete mixer.
Enter the Belgian issue of traffic jams, tunnels, the Oosterweel project, and other transportation links.
BuildMaster ERP and Logistics
Microsoft Dynamics has been part of Group Van Pelt since 2006, first as NAV, then as Business Central. The Alistar ERP Solution for Building Supply Stores and Technical Wholesalers, adapts Microsoft’s core application to the needs of building supply businesses. ‘There are so many possibilities in BuildMaster that most users aren’t even aware of yet. Creating a new field, for example, or modifying an existing one. You can’t call that customization. And that’s exactly what we needed: a standard ERP solution tailored specifically to our business, requiring as little customization as possible,” says Luc Van Pelt, director at Groep Van Pelt.
Alistar also helps find solutions in the logistics sector. Van Pelt is unable to transport as much concrete as usual due to logistical problems in Belgium, particularly around Antwerp. Even if the concrete remains in motion inside a concrete mixer, it can only be transported for a limited amount of time.
Alistar helped the company integrate with Suivo, a vehicle tracking application. This way, Van Pelt always knows where the drivers are, and they can keep customers informed.
Future
“In the next phase, we also want to allow our drivers to make changes to those documents themselves. This will make it easier for them to respond to unexpected requests from customers, such as bringing along a few empty pallets. If they can enter those returnable items into our ERP system right at the time of loading, they’ll be ready for invoicing immediately. In our industry, fast invoicing is quite important. If you can send a correct invoice to the contractor right away, it often saves time in follow-up,” says Van Pelt.
For that reason, the information from the weighbridge has already been linked to the invoicing in the software. “You can also have the data from the tachograph imported directly into the ERP system, so we don’t have to read it out over and over again,” adds Luc Van Pelt. “And those are just a few concrete examples of the many benefits that ERP integration can offer construction supply and technical wholesale businesses,” he concludes.
