Our businesses

Logistic

Purchased goods are delivered to our warehouses by truck (36% in containers). The total volume is equivalent to 1,931 containers of 20 feet in length. The initiative launched in 2022 to green the post-carriage of our imports from Asia (containers) has enabled us to convert 164 containers to other modes of transport (156 by train from the port of Marseille and 8 by barge). We have 128,969m² of warehouse space with a capacity of 125,830 pallets and 310 pieces of handling equipment from 3 carefully-selected manufacturers. We have 66,636 items in stock. Our 197 warehouse staff prepared and dispatched 533,804 orders comprising 3,018,246 product lines. Our customers’ purchasing processes are computerised: 47% of the orders entered in their systems come via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), character recognition and/or directly on our websites, resulting in a significant reduction in manual data entry by our teams. The average value of an order is €1,214.

✣ Our subsidiaries may have one or more warehouses from which they ship orders to customers in France, Europe and Africa. They guarantee delivery times to customers:

✣ 24/72 hours for France.
✣ 2-6 days for overseas depending on the destination.
✣ Sodeco Valves, based in Belgium, can deliver in four hours in its trading area.

This implies:
✣ Stock management ensuring ‘zero stock-out’, a crucial requirement for our purchasing departments.
✣ Agreements with reliable transport companies.

Supply Chain management

Major technological advances in the supply chain and the context of recent years mean that monitoring is always at the heart of our concerns. That’s why, in 2023, we renewed our membership of the Agora du Supply Chain Management club and took part in a number of conferences. This gives us a permanent and regular link with multiple companies of all sizes, enabling us to exchange and share our experiences and thus enrich our own approach.

2023 was also a year of projects:

✣ ThermAppro - This decision-aid tool, which uses machine learning algorithms, was bespoke developed to enable our purchasing/supply teams to optimise their supplies. In 2023, as part of a progressive maintenance programme, we accelerated calculation times, overhauled the application base and implemented a new high performance forecasting algorithm. 2023 also saw the introduction of a number of new functionalities at our subsidiary Odrea (3 sites).

✣ Launch of the Sferaco platform optimisation project - In June 2023, an internal project team was set up and supported by an intralogistics consultancy. We started by modelling our current platform (flows, processes, space, people, labour, productivity, equipment) and then dimensioned the future platform for the next 5-10 years, while identifying the applicable technologies. This optimisation should enable us to support Sferaco’s growth and deliver better and better service to our customers, while respecting environmental and social parameters. In 2024, we will launch a call to tender for integrators, and select and plan the most appropriate scenario with all stakeholders.

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Sales activity

54,303 visits to 32,332 customers,

255 customers have visited our group, 5 of whom have visited our industrial partners’ facilities

546,371 calls are received per year: Advice, prices, availability, after-sales service

CEOs, sales managers, itinerant and office-based technical sales personnel have permanent contact with our customers, both in the field and on the phone. Some of our wholesaler customers can receive representatives from several of the Group’s subsidiaries on the same day, without ever complaining that they are wasting their
time.

Each week, training actions are led in the field or in our offices with our customers’ staff members.

Our office-based technical sales teams are also contributing by telephone to process all types of requests very quickly: price, availability, after-sales, technical information, etc.

Some of our wholesale customers have developed web-based activities. At the same time, e-commerce-only players and marketplaces have emerged on our fields. We welcome this new distribution channel as an opportunity and are investing so that our technical resources and our teams’ know-how are up to the task: modern websites, enrichment and dissemination of product data, referencing of our brands, adjustment of our pricing policies, digital marketing, online video, social networks, influencers, etc.

 

Virtual reality

Begun in 2021, the virtual buildings and industries projects led by Opaline’s 3D studio, continue their deployment. In 2023, at the Artibat trade fair in Rennes for construction professionals, visitors had the opportunity to try out virtual reality on the stands of our six building wholesale subsidiaries. With a simple headset in place, they experienced a completely immersive tour of our private home solutions. This original experience was also available on the Thermador Groupe stand at the Investir Day show, a meeting for investors in Paris held on November 28, 2023.

The ‘virtual house’ interactive tours are available on the Thermador Groupe website. Four subsidiaries specialising in industry are exhibiting virtual showrooms of their products online.

In 2024, further immersive projects are on the agenda....

Distribution circuit

Specialised distribution: central heating and domestic hot water accessories, pumps for heating, plumbing equipment, taps, valves for building, ventilation, industrial valves and fittings, cold water pumps, swimming pool equipment and accessories, air compressors, generators and welding stations.