The timber trade faces unique challenges: thousands of articles in different units of measure, volatile demand, and high manual planning effort weigh heavily on procurement and replenishment teams. Karl Pichler AG is one of the leading timber merchants in the German-speaking world. Together with numi solutions, the company has charted a new course: digitalizing procurement with AI-powered inventory planning, automated order suggestions, and intelligent document processing. The result: 19% better inventory turnover in just 12 months.
"As Managing Director, the increased transparency has given me a much better overview of procurement, improving efficiency, avoiding supply shortages, and reducing excess inventory." Christian Pichler, Managing Director, Karl Pichler AG
Procurement Challenges in Timber Trade: Complexity Meets Manual Planning
Karl Pichler AG manages a product range of over 50,000 active SKUs, including timber in a wide variety of dimensions, qualities, and order units such as linear meters, square meters, or cubic meters. Until recently, procurement planning was handled predominantly manually within the existing ERP system, involving significant effort and a high risk of errors.
Standard ERP functionality could not meet the specific requirements of the timber trade procurement process: article successor relationships, multi-level inventory optimization, and truck capacity constraints were not handled by the system. Teams had to make ordering decisions based on experience, which increased the risk of both excess stock and supply shortages.
The Solution: AI in Procurement and Inventory Optimization Software
numi solutions elevated Karl Pichler AG's entire procurement and inventory planning onto an AI-powered supply chain software platform. The procurement software combines forecasting software, automated replenishment, and ERP integration in a single system:
- AI forecasts for over 5,000 articles: Automated forecast generation using AI, including intelligent merging of predecessor-successor relationships, so discontinued articles flow seamlessly into the demand planning of their successors.
- Daily order suggestions: The inventory optimization software generates daily optimized order proposals across all warehouse locations, accounting for different order units (linear meters, m², m³) and automatically calculated safety stocks based on current forecast accuracy.
- Logistics optimization via truck fill-up: For partial orders, numi automatically recommends which additional articles can sensibly be added to a truck load. This improves transport efficiency and reduces logistics costs.
- Automated ERP integration: Confirmed order suggestions are created directly as purchase orders in the ERP with a single click. Inventory parameters such as safety stock and reorder point are automatically recalculated daily and written back to the ERP.
Measurable Results: 19% Better Inventory Turnover in 12 Months
The digitalization of procurement at Karl Pichler AG has already delivered impressive and concretely measurable results:
- +19% inventory turnover within 12 months (from 2.1 to 2.5) through continuous AI-driven inventory optimization, with less tied-up capital and higher availability
- 5 to 10 hours saved per user per week through automated order suggestions. Buyers can focus on exceptions and strategic decisions
- Significantly improved procurement transparency: Management and procurement team work from a shared data basis, with daily KPIs, proactive alerts, and data-driven decision support
- Supply shortages largely avoided: As safety stocks are continuously recalculated based on current demand data, orders are placed in a more timely and demand-driven manner
Document Automation: Procurement Digitalization at the Next Level
Beyond automated inventory planning, numi solutions offers another lever for efficiency gains: fully automated processing of incoming documents. In timber trade and building materials trade, dozens of documents are generated daily that must be manually transferred into the ERP, including order confirmations, incoming invoices, customer orders, and quote requests.
With the numi Document AI module, incoming emails and PDFs are automatically read, validated, and fed directly into the ERP. When the accuracy score reaches 100%, the entire process runs automatically without a manual review step:
- Purchase Order Confirmations: Delivery dates and quantities from incoming order confirmations are automatically read and existing purchase orders in the ERP are updated
- Invoice automation: Incoming invoices are processed via email or PDF upload, enabling faster invoice verification and less manual entry
- Customer order and quote automation: Incoming customer orders are automatically interpreted and created directly as sales orders in the ERP
Supply Chain Planning for Trade: First Results in Week 1
Another advantage of the numi procurement software for supply chain planning in retail and trade is short time-to-value. Already in the first week, before full ERP integration, initial supply chain KPIs could be analyzed and improvement levers identified. The implementation follows a three-step model:
- Weeks 1 to 2: Initial setup with analysis of current inventory performance
- Weeks 3 to 6: Implementation and fine-tuning of optimization logic to specific business requirements
- Go-live & continuous improvement in daily operations, while ERP interfaces are built in parallel
Conclusion: AI in Procurement as a Competitive Advantage in Timber and Building Materials Trade
The Karl Pichler AG example shows that AI supply chain is no longer a future topic. It creates tangible competitive advantages today. A 19% increase in inventory turnover, 5 to 10 hours saved per buyer per week, and significantly improved customer availability are not theoretical promises, but measured results after 12 months in operation.
For companies in timber trade, building materials trade, and other trading industries with high assortment complexity, numi solutions offers ready-to-deploy supply chain software, from forecasting software and automated order suggestions to intelligent document processing and full procurement digitalization.
