“In the beginning the representatives could carry out clients’ orders even a couple of days after they had been placed, because the clients’ requirements for the goods’ shipping were much longer than they are now. Things have changed and today everything has to be available every single day. Speed and obviously competitive prices are the main principles we have to follow to ‘work’”. Bianchi also talks about the changes over the last years, pointing out that shops, retailers and large retailers have reduced or sometimes even eliminated warehouses, while storage is now shouldered exclusively by the distributor. How to tackle these changes? G&B Trading’s answer is the following: setting the goal to reduce as much as possible all paper-based operations introducing avant-garde computerisation for automated and integrated administration, logistics and sales. Paolo Bianchi, President and founding partner at G&B Trading talking about how the market’s dynamic has influenced the company to more and more specific requirements in terms of its organisation.

How Mago.net improved Customer needs The company is now on its way of its procedures’ complete automation. “A couple of months will be necessary to start up the programmes, but with Kirio’s continuous assistance we’re proceeding well,” Bianchi underlines. Especially the warehouse is now organised as follows: the goods are divided into categories on shelves, with two picker shelves and the others in stock. The worker now uses a terminal, which, thanks to K-Logistic, enables him to visualise the work to be done to fulfil the orders, from packaging to printing labels and invoicing, thanks to the integration with Mago.net. “We’re already planning to change the shelf layout with the stock in the back, to avoid that the worker has to go up and down. Naturally K-Logistic is set up that it can be adapted to these modifications. We’re already experiencing some improvements in the procedures and I think that with the representatives getting more involved on an IT level we’ll reach our goal,” Bianchi concludes. G&B Trading wants to “close the circle” with the computerisation of its representatives, installing Kirio’s automated management application system K-Order for orders. Orders will the come in in real time to the company’s server, being forwarded to the warehouse – all under the sign of speed and integration – keeping up with the times. Customer Facts G&B Trading is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is banking on innovation, following continuous growth inherent in the company’s short history. In the year 2000 two business partners met and decided to start a company with its headquarters in Rome. Their background was years of experience in sales of stationary, office supplies as well as homewares, when they stared importing hardware for a Dutch company. The following idea was: putting together a selection of suppliers from all over the world, importing their products and distributing them on the Italian market, paying attention to opportunities along the way. At the moment the main sector of G&B Trading is lighting and electrical supply as well as accessories for home, bathroom, gardening and hardware. Their main customers can be found in the area of large retail, while the company is taking also care of the POS layouts with personalised set ups and ad hoc packaging. The sales network consists of 8 representatives in Italy.

Company needs In early 2010 G&B Trading decides to change its IT system. “We noticed that with the previous system we had to carry out steps, which made us lose time, especially regarding the warehouse. In fact the orders were downloaded by the office in charge, the picking forms were printed on paper and handed over to the picker. We thought that if these steps were automated, the personnel could dedicate more time to activities with additional value,” Bianchi confirms. This was when a software selection was initiated and soon afterwards a decision was taken: the solutions suggested by Kirio, the software house from Bologna. For the administration (invoicing, accounting etc.) Mago.net from the software house Microarea was installed, integrated with K-Logistic, the warehouse management software from Kirio. “Naturally the systems we were offered met our requirements, but more than anything else we opted for the people behind them. Kirio is a competent, reliable partner with the sam passion for work as we have,” Bianchi says.