Unibox Case Study
Stock Management & Year-End Stock Take Optimisation (2025)
About Unibox
Unibox is a UK-based manufacturer specialising in modular aluminium profile systems, LED lighting, visual communications and bespoke display solutions. With over 30 years’ experience, Unibox designs, manufactures and assembles products used across retail, hospitality, events and commercial environments.
Lumenal Stores operates as a key storage and distribution environment supporting Unibox’s product ranges. Fast, accurate access to stock information is critical to both operational efficiency and customer fulfilment across the business.
The Challenge
In early 2025, Unibox was preparing for its end-of-year stock take and identified an opportunity to significantly improve both the efficiency of the process and the reliability of the results.
Stock records, valuations and pricing were maintained across spreadsheets and manual systems. This made the stock take time-consuming, placed a heavy administrative burden on teams, and reduced confidence in the final stock figures.
At the same time, Lumenal Stores required faster and more intuitive access to stock information at the point of use, reducing reliance on manual checks and system searches.
Rather than treating the stock take as a standalone annual exercise, Unibox chose to use it as the driver to fully implement a structured, business-wide stock management system.
The Simportal Approach
Simportal worked closely with Unibox throughout 2025 to implement a stock management solution aligned with existing workflows and driven by a clear year-end objective.
A key requirement was to allow individual departments to take ownership of their own stock counts while maintaining central oversight, control and data quality. This principle directly shaped both the system design and the stock take process.
The Solution
Simportal delivered a single stock management platform covering stock quantities, locations and pricing across both Unibox and Lumenal Stores.
For day-to-day operations at Lumenal Stores, QR codes were introduced to provide instant access to stock records. By scanning a QR code on a stock item or location, staff could immediately view accurate, up-to-date stock information without searching the system. The same QR codes also allow users to easily adjust stock levels when retrieving or replenishing items, improving speed and accuracy at the point of use.
For the end-of-year stock take, each department outside of Lumenal Stores received an Excel export showing the stock items and quantities they were expected to hold. Teams could complete their counts offline, update actual quantities, and record any new or previously unlisted items.
For the Lumenal Stores environment, Simportal implemented an online stock take portal. This allowed users to view assigned stock locations, search for products and areas, and directly update stock take quantities within the system. Users could save progress and return later, supporting a flexible and efficient counting process.
Completed Excel spreadsheets were uploaded back into Simportal using a controlled import process. An interim confirmation stage allowed discrepancies, new items and unexpected changes to be reviewed and approved before being applied, ensuring incorrect or unintended data could not enter the live system.
This approach combined the familiarity and flexibility of Excel with the control, auditability and accuracy of a central stock management platform.
End-of-Year Stock Take 2025
When Unibox reached its end-of-year stock take, the process was structured, efficient and significantly less disruptive than in previous years.
Departments worked independently using their Excel sheets, while management retained clear oversight through the confirmation and approval stage. Discrepancies were easy to identify and resolve, and the final stock position could be agreed with confidence.
The resulting stock valuation was reliable and suitable for financial reporting without the need for extensive rework or post-stock-take corrections.
The Outcome
By using the end-of-year stock take as the driver for full implementation, Unibox and Lumenal Stores achieved improved stock accuracy, fully up-to-date pricing, faster access to stock information at the point of use, and a repeatable, high-quality stock take process.
The combination of QR-code-enabled daily access and Excel-driven counting with controlled data uploads reduced effort for teams while protecting data integrity.
Stock management became a controlled, everyday process rather than a once-a-year exercise.
Looking Ahead
With a fully implemented stock management solution in place, Unibox and Lumenal Stores now have a strong foundation for improved planning, better cost control and continued operational improvement, all supported by accurate, trusted stock and pricing data.
Building on the success of the Lumenal Stores implementation, Unibox plans to extend the online stock take approach to additional locations. While a manual, Excel-based method will remain available for teams who prefer it, the online portal will become the standard approach going forward. This will further streamline the stock take process, improve consistency across locations and drive even higher levels of stock accuracy.
In addition, Simportal has developed a dedicated portal for managing stock held at an offsite supplier. This portal will provide clear visibility of externally held stock, controlled stock movements, and alignment with internal stock records. The offsite supplier portal is scheduled for implementation in the next quarter and will further strengthen end-to-end stock control across the supply chain.