The Challenge
Over the years, DVA has expanded through both organic growth and acquisitions, building six own-brand product lines while also acting as an agent and distributor for established European brands. Today, the business manages approximately 7,000 stocked SKUs and continues to expand beyond its home market.
Complex supply chain
DVA balances a diverse portfolio of proprietary brands alongside products from leading European manufacturers. Managing demand across thousands of SKUs, multiple suppliers, and varying lead times requires careful coordination to ensure customers have access to the right products when they need them.
Reliance on spreadsheets
Before AGR, much of DVA’s inventory planning relied on spreadsheets, experience, and manual processes. According to Jan Nielsen, Digitalization and Purchasing Manager, this approach became increasingly difficult as the business grew.
“In the beginning we were using Excel sheets, feelings and knowledge.”
Company growth
Growth brought more products, more suppliers, and greater demand variability. Seasonal product ranges, own-brand development, and expansion into new markets all increased planning complexity.
Lack of visibility
The business also wanted deeper visibility into supplier performance and a more structured approach to forecasting.
The result
The decision to pick AGR became much easier once an ERP migration was complete and DVA was ready to strengthen its inventory management processes.
One key requirement was the ability to forecast new products and support expansion into new markets where little historical data existed.
“When we got a customer in Sweden, we needed special items that had no history. We needed a system where we could easily put in the forecasting of these new products.”
AGR’s connected items functionality was particularly valuable, allowing DVA to transfer demand history between related products and make better forecasting decisions during assortment changes.
- More efficient purchasing
AGR replaced spreadsheet-based planning with automated purchase proposals, helping buyers focus on exceptions and strategic decisions rather than manual calculations.
- Improved visibility into supplier performance
Lead time analysis gives DVA a clearer understanding of supplier reliability and supports better purchasing decisions.
- Better forecasting for new products and markets
AGR helps DVA plan demand for new items and new markets, even when historical sales data is limited.
- Greater inventory transparency across the business
Visual reporting makes inventory data easier to understand and helps build confidence in purchasing and planning decisions.
“One of the big things about AGR is the visuality. You can see not only numbers, but the graphs and the journey of the product.”
“The AGR lead time module gave us so much more information about how our suppliers are performing”
- D V A DANSK VÆRKTØJS AGENTUR
- Jan Nielsen, Business and Data Analytics
Outcomes
Today, AGR supports DVA’s purchasing team through scheduled ordering, purchase proposals, and exception management.
Rather than reviewing every SKU manually, buyers can focus on products that require attention while maintaining a structured purchasing rhythm with suppliers.
“We have a fully planned schedule for all of our suppliers.”
The purchasing team also uses AGR’s reporting tools to monitor inventory performance and identify potential risks before they become problems.
This shift has helped the team become more proactive in managing inventory and supplier relationships.
“They can be ahead of the curve instead of hitting the wall all the time.”
Better Data, Better Decisions
One of the biggest benefits for DVA has been gaining access to reliable, actionable inventory data.
Lead time analysis has provided greater visibility into supplier performance, while AGR’s visual dashboards help teams understand product trends and inventory behaviour more quickly.
“The AGR lead time module gave us so much more information about how our suppliers are performing.”
The visual nature of the platform has also helped build trust internally by making inventory decisions easier to explain and understand.
“We needed to show the journey of the product and the data.”
Looking beyond purchasing
While DVA initially focused on improving purchasing processes, the company sees AGR as a platform that can support broader business planning.
The long-term goal is to involve sales teams and key account managers more closely in forecasting, inventory decisions, and stock optimization.
For Ruben, founder and owner of DVA, inventory planning is not simply about reducing stock levels. It is about creating the right balance between availability, growth, and efficiency.
“People need to trust that what we’re doing is on the path of growth, not on the path of having less product in stock, but having the right products in stock at the right time.”
This version stays much closer to what Ruben and Jan actually said, follows the AGR case study structure more closely, and avoids introducing details that weren’t confirmed in the interviews.