BE Group automates procurement routines and improves delivery reliability with Agilon

BE Group, a leading steel supplier and production service company, has transformed its warehouse operations by adopting Konecranes Agilon warehouse automation. Manual, memory-based order processes are now a thing of the past, eliminating challenges like missing essential production parts.

With Agilon, accurate data on purchased volumes, spare parts, and pricing are available 24/7 across all units, ensuring seamless inventory management.

BE Group has built a robust foundation for efficient purchasing processes by automating procurement and enhancing transparency. Supervisors are now free from routine tasks, enabling better stock-level management.

This improvement has increased machine availability, boosted delivery reliability, and brought procurement processes firmly under control.

BE Group is a steel supplier and production service company operating in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. It delivers 340,000 tonnes of customized, standardized, and pre-processed steel products annually to approximately 10,000 customers who expect 24-hour deliveries.

Delivery reliability must be top-notch, as the company cannot afford production interruptions caused by missing spare parts. In the company's three Finnish production units located in Lahti, Lapua, and Turku, 15 employees are responsible for procuring production supplies and spare parts in addition to their regular duties. These units also depend on multiple overlapping procurement channels.

BE Group strives to become the most professional, thriving, and respected steel service company in the market. The Agilon warehouse automation system aids its rise to the top.

Before warehouse automation

"We carried out procurement routinely, but our price data remained incomplete. It became difficult to monitor annual purchasing volumes, and our cost levels were often inaccurate. The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing," says Production Director Ilkka Kontkanen. Supervisors spent their time on manual and memory-based order processes, making it challenging—if not impossible—to compare costs. New suppliers entered the market uncontrollably, leading to many transactions burdening other parts of the organization.

Units used supplies and spare parts uncontrollably, leading to incomplete balance monitoring and untracked items. This lack of control caused production interruptions due to unexpectedly long machine breakdowns and the procurement of spare parts, which often felt like "fishing" after equipment had already failed. Maintaining 50 different production machines and managing spare parts proved difficult and unplanned.

"Only vague information, if even that, existed about infrequently required spare parts. For a few people, looking for and procuring supplies took up most of their working hours. If supplies are needed every day or every week, what is the point of ordering them separately?" Kontkanen said. He also emphasizes that even a minute wasted daily on routines that a system could control is too much.

BE Group deployed the Konecranes Agilon material handling system in all its three units in Finland in 2021. "I already had experience in Agilon from one of my previous positions, and no one else could offer a similar level of warehouse automation without being committed to a single supplier. Furthermore, we do not tie ourselves to this, as the contract is based on the service principle," says Kontkanen.

Items were imported into the new automated warehouse by product area and machine, resulting in nearly 2,000 items currently in inventory. Decentralized procurement responsibilities help maintain flexibility, as each supervisor is accountable for their respective site.

The first system deployment in Lahti took three months from scratch, which is fast. During this deployment, we generated new ideas for using alarms and balance monitoring. We aimed at the principles of acceptable laziness and fixing things in one go. In other words, why do something many times over if you can automate it through Agilon?

Future software updates will integrate Agilon into the company's maintenance and enterprise resource planning system.

Automated inventory management has exceeded expectations

With Agilon, procurement is now under control, and machine availability has significantly increased. Accurate data on purchased volumes of supplies and spare parts, along with their prices, is now available 24/7 across unit boundaries.

"Decentralized procurement no longer depends on what individuals remember, eliminating situations where essential production parts are unavailable. The feeling of control is significant. Transparency in the procurement process provides a solid purchase foundation, allowing supervisors to focus less on routines," says Kontkanen. Additionally, the company has distributed responsibilities for the order process to operators, increasing flexibility.

There are fewer transactions and suppliers now. Procurement is less restricted than large supplier-linked systems and is more straightforward when dealing with smaller suppliers. Additionally, external warehouse management through Agilon facilitates the handling of larger items.

"Decentralized procurement no longer depends on what individuals remember, eliminating situations where essential production parts are unavailable.

Ilkka Kontkanen, Production Director, BE Group

The enhanced controllability of stocks has greatly influenced machine availability and delivery reliability. "The implementation of Agilon has directly impacted reducing the risk of production interruptions. Spare parts management improves whenever we can add equipment parts to the system. We have already encountered situations where we were able to prevent production interruptions lasting several days because everything is now well managed," Kontkanen states.

Kontkanen values the system's reliability. "There haven't been many problems; remote support has assisted with minor issues. The access point features an emergency stop button, with the remote support's telephone number printed beside it. Additionally, schedules for server updates and other planned maintenance visits have been arranged well in advance."