About Van Raak Staal
Van Raak Group is a family-owned steel trading company with seven locations, including Janssen Staal, Van Raak Stainless, and five Van Raak Staal locations. The organization makes a conscious effort to work closely with its customers, with local inventory, fast delivery, and a high level of service as its clear commitment.
Behind this local agility lies centralized support for areas such as procurement, IT, operations, and logistics. In total, the group employs 95 people: 80 spread across the seven organizations and 15 in the central organization.
It was precisely this combination of local flexibility and centralized management that made the search for a new ERP platform urgent.
“We see iFacto as a partner that truly works with us to implement the necessary improvements. They’re easy to reach, open, have short lines of communication, and are very solution-oriented.”
The challenge
The search for a new ERP system was about more than just technology. Van Raak Group needed a solution that could bring together sales, purchasing, inventory management, logistics, certificate management, transport, and digital customer service within a single integrated platform.
iFacto as strategic partner
Three key factors ultimately made the difference for Van Raak Group:
- Single Logistics Multi Finance (SLMF): Centralised logistics while maintaining decentralised financial structures.
- Advanced scanning and logistics automation: Enabling more efficient operations.
- An ERP solution specifically designed for the steel industry: Supporting industry-specific processes out of the box.
In addition, iFacto’s industry expertise played an important role. Van Raak was looking for a partner that understands the day-to-day realities of the steel trade, speaks the same language, and immediately recognizes the challenges faced by a steel company. Reference visits, relatable demos, and Steel365’s steel-specific functionality gave them the confidence that the solution would align with their day-to-day operations.
Implementation Steel 365 - more efficiency, less manual work
Built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Steel365 extends the platform with functionality specifically developed for steel companies. As a result, many processes that are critical within the industry were already available as standard.
Today, Van Raak Group is reaping the benefits of its investment in Steel365. The advantages can be seen across multiple areas of the organisation:
- Internal transfers between locations are now fully automated, replacing what was previously a time-consuming manual task.
- More output with fewer people: the same workload, and even more, can be handled with less capacity.
- Increased productivity, particularly in logistics and scanning processes.
- Fewer errors in deliveries and operational processes.
- Faster and more accurate certificate processing.
- Improved access to data and management information.
- Clarity in the workplace thanks to better-supported and automated processes.
These improvements have led to lower costs, higher efficiency, and enhanced customer service.
Conclusion
With Steel365, Van Raak Group now has a future-ready platform that strengthens collaboration between locations, automates processes, and provides greater insight into daily operations.
Beyond the measurable efficiency gains, Van Raak Group has also noticed a clear positive change on the work floor. With processes better supported and less dependent on manual interventions, employees experience greater clarity and peace of mind in their daily work.
At the same time, the Microsoft platform offers enhanced reporting and analytical capabilities, enabling faster performance monitoring and more informed decision-making.
