In response to significant e-commerce growth and customer demand for a seamless digital and physical experience, Sonepar Group is investing in Manhattan’s industry-leading solutions to deliver the highest standard of service in a fast, reliable and more sustainable way.
Sonepar, alongside its Australian subsidiary business Lawrence & Hanson, has an ambitious supply chain and digital transformation agenda: its goal is to become the first global B2B electrical distributor to provide a fully digitised omnichannel experience to all its customers. Sonepar leverages its multichannel distribution and logistics network to optimise its supply chain, offer competitive prices and improve its customer relationships. Its products are available anywhere, anytime at the company’s branches, showrooms, online and on mobile devices.
With this rollout, Sonepar is building on its previous successes with Manhattan’s Warehouse Management solutions. Manhattan Active Warehouse Management (WM) will initially be rolled out at Sonepar’s Cebeo division in Belgium with other locations to follow.
“Manhattan’s cloud native supply chain solutions are innovative and run on a unique platform enabling us to drive the rapid rollout of state-of-the-art distribution facilities globally; underpinning the buying journey and offering our customers a seamless omnichannel experience,” stated Sonepar chief supply chain officer Jo Verbeek.
“We believe expanding the global partnership with Manhattan will help Sonepar Group become the first global B2B electrical distributor capable of delivering a truly complete omnichannel experience to each and every one of our customers, in a more sustainable, cost-effective way. We look forward to working together with Manhattan’s team of experts in the coming years to realise this long-term, strategic goal,” finished Verbeek.
Manhattan Active WM is the most technologically and operationally advanced supply chain execution system created. The cloud-native application has no version so it never needs upgrading, letting businesses focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences, not on systems.
Order Streaming technology makes Manhattan Active WM the only solution to continuously plan, learn and replan every task and resource simultaneously across retail, wholesale and direct fulfilment workflows. As soon as orders arrive, they are streamed individually or sorted into wave-like collections depending on the urgency, type of fulfilment and customer needs. Rather than flood distribution facilities with work all at once, Order Streaming technology ensures the right resource with sufficient capacity is quickly identified, so orders get to the dock ahead of the carrier cut-off times and promised service commitments.
Manhattan Associates senior vice president Henri Seroux commented: “At the core of Sonepar’s offering today is the need to respond to the unique and evolving requirements of every customer. By providing digitised and orchestrated omnichannel capabilities through Manhattan Active Warehouse Management and our other cloud native Manhattan Active Supply Chain solutions, Manhattan is demonstrably and actively contributing to Sonepar’s international business goals and long-term success as well.”
Manhattan Active WM is powered by artificial intelligence to optimise customer distribution processes. This supports organisations like Sonepar to enhance execution across inventory, labour, advanced automation, robotics and physical space; and simultaneously balance competing task requirements across retail, wholesale and direct channels to achieve optimal fulfilment.
“With a built-in warehouse execution system (WES), Manhattan Active WM is the only distribution system capable of the seamless orchestration of all work across man and machine. Organizations like Sonepar and their Australian subsidiary business Lawrence & Hanson will have more visibility than ever before with Manhattan Active WM’s highly actionable, real-time operational data visualisations across every facility in the enterprise and integrated direct communication with the workforce,” concluded Manhattan Associates managing director for Australia & New Zealand Raghav Sibal.
About Sonepar
Sonepar is an independent family-owned company with global market leadership in B-to-B distribution of electrical products, solutions and related services. Through a dense network 100 brands spanning 40 countries, the Group has an ambitious transformation agenda to become the first global B-to-B electrical distributor to provide a fully digitalized and synchronized omnichannel experience to all customers. Drawing on the skill and passion of its 45,000 associates, Sonepar had sales of €26.4 billion ($39 billion) in 2021. Sonepar makes its customers’ lives easier, over the counter, visiting customers, by phone or online, – however we’re needed.
About Manhattan Associates
Manhattan Associates is a technology leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce. We unite information across the enterprise, converging front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution. Our software, platform technology and unmatched experience help drive both top-line growth and bottom-line profitability for our customers. Manhattan Associates designs, builds and delivers leading edge cloud and on-premises solutions so that across the store, through your network or from your fulfilment centre, you are ready to reap the rewards of the omnichannel marketplace.