Veenhuizen
From refrigeration technology to a total installer
In recent years, what started as a refrigeration service company has evolved into a versatile organization with multiple disciplines within the installation industry. Veenhuizen serves, among others, the hospitality, retail, and foodservice sectors and is active in refrigeration technology, kitchen technology, bakery technology, and vending equipment, including the well-known Coca-Cola vending machines. With around a hundred employees, most of whom are in the field, Veenhuizen provides service to a wide range of customers throughout the Netherlands. ‘You rarely come across a hospitality or retail establishment without a device that Veenhuizen services,’ says Rob Uitenhoven, Application/IT manager at Veenhuizen.
What was the challenge of Veenhuizen?
Veenhuizen worked for years with an outdated ERP system and a separate system for field service. Both systems ran for over ten years but became increasingly obsolete. The connection between the two packages was especially lacking. Moreover, Veenhuizen had to deal with customer-dependent customization, such as pricing agreements, making further optimization difficult.
How did Veenhuizen end up at Bluace?
“Initially, we were looking for a new field service package,” says Rob. “Through Sigmax, we ended up at Bluace. It soon became clear that we needed a complete renewal of our ERP system.” A significant obstacle was the large amount of customization within the organization. Bluace’s motto, ‘innovation through standardization,’ starkly contrasted with how Veenhuizen had worked for many years.
“After the demo, we were sure: we just have to do this.”
What was the deciding factor in choosing Bluace?
We saw an extensive demo of Bluace’s solution during the selection process. It looked promising from the start and matched well with what we sought. A significant advantage was the choice of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as the foundation. Microsoft is a large, reliable player in the market. That environment feels familiar to many employees since we already work with Microsoft products like Outlook daily.
Within Veenhuizen, we deal with users who are not always enthusiastic about changes. Therefore, we wanted a user-friendly and recognizable system. Other providers devised solutions that felt too complex and cumbersome for our organization. Bluace offered a clear and practical approach. The overall picture felt good, and that ultimately made the difference.
The collaboration with the Bluace team was enjoyable. There was a lot of expertise in-house, short lines of communication, and always a willingness to help.
How did the process with Bluace go?
The journey with Bluace started carefully and was structured. In the preparatory phase, we began with extensive brown paper sessions to map our processes and bottlenecks. These sessions were valuable: Bluace challenged us to assess our working method critically and helped us move towards more standardization. This required a change in mindset but laid a strong foundation for further optimization.
Like many complex projects, the implementation brought with it the necessary challenges. Not everything went smoothly: the transition to new working processes demanded more from our organization than anticipated. There were also internal stumbling blocks, such as limited time and capacity for key users to test adequately. As a result, the go-live was more intensive than hoped.
Still, Bluace remained involved, knowledgeable, and solution-oriented throughout the process. The collaboration has resulted in a solid foundation for the future and valuable insights into how processes can be organized more efficiently.
“Business Central felt immediately familiar. It’s from Microsoft, and that lowers the threshold for users.”
The solution: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Sigmax, and Ortec
In collaboration with Bluace, Veenhuizen chose a total solution that consisted of:
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the ERP system;
- Sigmax for the field service application;
- Ortec for advanced planning functionality.
This solution was chosen because it integrated the various systems and because Microsoft software was already familiar territory for the users.
What has the solution Veenhuizen yielded so far?
The collaboration with Bluace has helped Veenhuizen achieve more overview, uniformity, and efficiency in the work process. Whereas previously multiple separate systems were used, the entire organization works in one central environment. All departments have access to the same data, such as contracts and object information, significantly benefiting collaboration and data quality.
Improvements also benefit planners. Thanks to Ortec’s visual planning board, there is now insight into travel times and route optimizations, which were lacking in the previous situation. Although automatic planning has not yet been fully realized due to the complexity of the organization and the master data, the first optimizations are visible.
Additionally, user acceptance has grown. Where there was initially resistance, many employees now experience the benefits of the new working method. The system now feels familiar, and wanting to go back? No one wants that anymore.
Are you interested in a similar process for your company?
We want to show you the possibilities of our service and maintenance software. Please feel free to contact us.