Reyher GmbH & Co
Reliable trading from Reyher
Based in Germany, Reyher is a world-leading wholesaler of fasteners and fasteners technology with a wide range of activities encompassing industry, machine and apparatus engineering, plant maintenance, supplying companies and retail trading.
The company’s flexible delivery capabilities provide customers with a reliable supply of screws and other C-parts, offering optimal procurement possibilities through a broad selection of suitable manufacturers.
The company’s operations are centralised in a large warehouse in Hamburg, which has a daily turnover of several hundred tonnes of material and is highly automated using robot technology. It has over 78,000 pallet and 72,000 bin locations, and supplies both standard and special components in all materials. Chief operating officer Peter Bielert says: “We deliver to several areas including the windmill industry, the standard manufacturing machinery sector, construction and the automotive industry, where we mainly deal with first tier suppliers. Supported by more than 100 years of experience, we’re a leading company in the European fasteners trade. Our customer focus on the industry generates about 60 per cent of our turnover and 40 per cent comes from the smaller trading companies segment. Last year we had a turnover of approximately 165 million euros. We don’t need any manufacturing sites because we are a wholesale company supplying products around the world. In Germany we’re working directly with sales people whilst on a European level we’re working with well-known trading companies.”
Reyher has been able to achieve very high levels of customer satisfaction due to continuously monitoring manufactured goods availability: “One of our key success factors is consistent product availability combined with an extensive product range. We have over 100,000 standard products in our warehouse and of this range we can deliver more than 99 per cent of our line items within 24 hours, which is an outstanding number,” comments Peter. “Efficiency is imperative. Most of our products are C-parts meaning that, from the customer’s view, it’s a very small part but sometimes just a small screw can be an integral part to total production. Customers’ purchasing departments focus more on A-parts and the Cparts just have to work well to get the job done – that’s our business.”
Events and exhibitions provide opportunities for Reyher to gain new business and publicise its activities, and the company will exhibit at the Husum Wind Fair this year as well as at other key events. “Events are significant as they allow us to establish new contacts,” explains Peter. “We’ve presented at the Hanover Industry Fair, the Practical World Fair in Cologne, and this September we will be at the European Fastener Fair in Stuttgart.”
Reyher is anticipating huge growth generated by its e-commerce ordering system, Reyher Internet Order (RIO), which is expected to double turnover in 12 months. The product of decades of experience combined with the development of economically efficient supply solutions, RIO offers substantial potential for customers in the complex field of Citem procurement. It simplifies and automates complex procurement processes and offers extensive search possibilities allowing customers to access prices and availability online. “With regards to our industrial customers, the e-business provides process automation, reduces process cost, and directly connects IT systems in the industrial client area,” says Peter. “With our smaller and European trading companies, it’s very important to offer a shop solution and our e-business shop gives international clients the opportunity to see our entire assortment, check availability and place orders round-the-clock. We have to keep moving forwards and remain innovative to offset the strong price pressure we feel due to growing steel prices.”
In order to enhance its operation, Peter outlines plans to improve Reyher’s site and expand into new markets: “Regarding our trading customers, I see opportunities in Eastern Europe whereas our industrial companies’ opportunities are in Asia, particularly China, as many of our them have founded sites there. We’re in a leading position in Europe with regards to our logistics service and we feel there is concentration in the market because many of our customers try to concentrate their supplier numbers and want us to be more than a total C-part supplier, which gives us the opportunity to grow through offering additional types of C-part products. Our main aim is obviously to increase turnover but the current goal is to complete our warehouse reconstruction as planned. We’re considering additional reconstruction over the next two years in special parts of our warehouse, which would lead to increased automation and capacity.“
With regards to procurement, Reyher’s chief purchasing officer Hergen Oetjen adds: “We see a major opportunity to enlarge our global supplier base, establish quality management and quality systems throughout the supply chain, and stabilise continuous global delivery. Within the last two years global purchasing has increased by 50 per cent and markets are still changing – the South East Asia market has become more important to us, which is why we established a procurement office in Shanghai. We aim to be active in our markets, to respond rapidly, and to minimise the risks involved in international procurements.”
Reyher GmbH & Co
Products: Wholesaler of fastenings and attachment assembling technology
Sites: Germany
Employees: 400
www.reyher.de