Norwegian DIY retailer Mestergruppen has successfully implemented Blue Ridge’s supply chain software. The investment has already almost paid for itself after just eight weeks of operation. During a webinar by Supply Chain Media and Blue Ridge, Ove Berger from Mestergruppen explained what made this project so successful: “Our approach made it very easy to select the right software vendor.”
By Marcel te Lindert
Mestergruppen is Norway’s largest supplier of building materials. Besides supplying to construction companies, the company also has 420 do-it-yourself (DIY) stores in Norway and Sweden. Mestergruppen has grown rapidly in recent years, partly through acquisitions, which has resulted in a fragmented IT landscape. “Our IT director recently said that he has stopped counting our ERP systems,” chuckled Ove Berger, senior supply chain specialist at Mestergruppen.
Despite that fragmentation, Mestergruppen has successfully implemented Blue Ridge’s supply chain software. According to Sverre Rosmo, general manager of Blue Ridge in Scandinavia, that success didn’t happen by chance: “It’s not just a matter of good or bad project management. A software implementation entails a large number of consecutive steps and involves almost the entire company. If any of those steps aren’t taken seriously enough, it can jeopardize the entire project and even the company’s future.”