Huws Gray is the UK’s largest independent builders merchant, supplying building materials to trade and DIY customers. The business has expanded, through organic growth and acquisitions, from a single branch in Anglesey in 1990, to now operate from over 100 locations across North Wales, the North-West, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and East Anglia. Huws Gray employs over 1,800 people across the Group with a turnover nearing £500M.

The challenge

Huws Gray identified a need for their fleet of delivery vans to have real-time stock visibility per van, to enable efficient and accurate stock replenishment without the need for manual stock takes. The solution needed to completely autonomous with no interaction with stock data by the van operative.

The solution

Following scoping sessions with the client, it quickly became obvious that traditional RFID tracking technologies were not going to be suitable. Missing Link demonstrated how new IOT technologies using cutting-edge powerless Bluetooth tags would be able to deliver an automated and highly effective solution.

The results

Huws Gray can now monitor each item within a vehicle using our system which reports live data in real-time to the operatives and to their local Huws Gray branch. This enables accurate stock replenishment which saves many man hours in stock taking and provides significant cost savings by eliminating missing items.