Category: Interviews

Customized mechanization, is Abemec’s motto. This agricultural mechanization company with 23 branches throughout the Netherlands offers livestock farmers, arable farmers, horticulturists, fruit growers, and contractors a wide range of top brands. In order to guarantee the best service, the company keeps an enormous stock of spare parts, part of which is obsolete. To get rid of these parts, they entered into a partnership with BartsParts. With great success!

About Abemec

Hans Quint is general manager of Abemec. From his office, he offers us a glimpse into the world of agricultural mechanization. ‘We are mainly located in the middle and south of the Netherlands, but we also have branches in the north. We focus on the repair and maintenance of agricultural machinery. In addition, service and support to our customers is very important to us. Together with the customer, we look for the best and most efficient solution for the purchase, maintenance, and repair of machines. In addition, we customize machines as per the wishes of the customer. We do this with a total of 330 employees, who try to unburden entrepreneurs as much as possible.’

Customised mechanization

‘Every entrepreneur has a different strategy and different wishes. That is why we find custom mechanization so important. We enter into discussions with the customer and, for example, look at the long term. Is this repair or purchase the right one for the coming years? We are a sparring partner and a discussion partner. Everything to improve the use of machines.’

Spare parts

‘In order to guarantee the best possible service, we have an enormous inventory of spare parts. We have more than seven million euros worth of parts here, of which at least 10 to 15% is barely selling. We try to solve this internally as much as possible within our 23 locations. In some cases, for example, we can use up each other’s stock. But we notice that this does not always work well.’

BartsParts

‘That’s a shame; so a few years ago we started looking for a way to get rid of our obsolete parts. That is how we got to know BartsParts. I already knew Arno from the trade association for agricultural machinery. From the first contact, the collaboration with BartsParts was very pleasant. Me and Arno had 1-on-1 contact and he personally came by on-site to evaluate our spare parts. He took pictures and collected the necessary data, and that’s how the ball started rolling. Today, the process is fully automated, from the moment of sale up to the payment. Our IT system passes on our available parts to BartsParts. As soon as they sell an item, they order it from us, and we prepare it for pick up by BartsParts courier. Zero effort for us!’

The future

‘The strength of BartsParts lies in the fact that the platform connects dealers and buyers outside of the dealer’s region. BartsParts fills the gap between dealers who have purchased inventory that is no longer necessary for their own customers and buyers who are looking for certain parts that are difficult for them to obtain. That connection, in combination with the zero effort, is what we really like about BartsParts. In the future, we are confident to further expand our cooperation with them.’

Christoph and Andreas don’t beat around the bush: BartsParts is their ideal way of getting rid of dead stock. They work for AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG, an agricultural company in Germany that specializes in plant cultivation, livestock farming, construction, machinery and more. This also means that they have a lot of spare parts that take up valuable space. Three years ago they started selling their dead stock through BartsParts. Read all about their experiences here!

About AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG

Christoph: ‘AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG is an agricultural co-operative based in Germany. As agricultural partner we can be a part of every step of the way for farmers and contractors. I am head of after-sales here at the technical department. With my team we make sure our 120+ outlets can successfully support our farmers. AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG sells agricultural machinery. We also provide spare parts and services.’ Christoph works closely together with Andreas, supply chain manager in the technical department. Andreas: ‘Making sure we have all spare parts quickly available is part of this. AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG has many suppliers and a huge network, so it takes a lot of organisation and communication. Our company works with a big variety of brands.’

The start

Andreas: ‘We always want to make sure that our stock is sufficient and complete. But because the market changes it is not always possible to forecast accurately, so we always end up with spare parts that are unlikely to be sold still. Luckily, in 2020 BartsParts reached out to us. They explained their platform, their target audience and what they could mean to our company. This immediately sparked our enthusiasm.’ Christoph adds: ‘We had tried a few other ways to get rid of our dead stock. We contacted a few partners, but none of them really worked for us due to a number of reasons. But we wanted to give BartsParts a chance, and this turned out to be a very successful collaboration.’

Good connection

Christoph: ‘Every successful collaboration starts with good communication. With BartsParts, this is definitely the case. From the first minute we had a good connection with Arno and Michiel, our main contacts. Together we spent a lot of time brainstorming about the possibilities. Once we made a plan, we started offering a small inventory of spare parts to test the waters. We soon discovered that BartsParts’ method worked for us, so we slowly kept expanding our inventory. In fact, at the moment we are one of their biggest partners!’

Expansion

‘During our first year we sold roughly 25.000 spare parts. This was more than we had ever hoped for. And sales are going great this year as well. We have sold more than double of what we sold last year these first few months’, explains Andreas. What’s more, the process runs fully automatically. Christoph: ‘Every night the interface automatically uploads new stock to our virtual warehouse. It is a reliable system that saves us a lot of time. It enables us to offer as many parts as possible, with little effort.’

Automated process

‘BartsParts really takes care of everything, it’s an automated process that reaches customers all over the world. The only thing we have to do is label the parts that are sold and picked up’, Andreas explains further. Christoph agrees: ‘This makes the process of selling very easy.  And we also really like the culture and spirit of BartsParts. Arno and Michiel are always hungry for new business and they actively involve us in their decisions and the process. They want us to be successful, as our success is their success. We speak to each other online every month and there’s an open conversation and company culture, which is what you need in order to work together efficiently. We are looking forward to our further collaboration with BartsParts and the opportunities this will bring us.’

AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG

AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG is a modern agribusiness company with the segments agricultural products, animal nutrition, plant production and agricultural technology. It is also active in the areas of energy and consumer markets, including building materials dealers, and in project construction. With more than 6,300 employees, the AGRAVIS Group generates sales of EUR 7.3 billion and is a leading company in the industry with more than 400 locations, mainly in Germany. International activities exist through subsidiaries and associated companies in more than 20 countries and export activities in more than 100 countries worldwide. Company headquarters are in Münster.