Bolt Bike: Introduction

"…​ and we just can’t please both!"

As you enter the conference room, the man speaking cuts off and turns towards you.

"Ah, good, good. There you are. Come on in, come in. We were just talking about a bit of a predicament with inventory. Welcome to Bolt Bike!"

In the conversation that follows, Bike Bolt’s owner Mark Aalderink tells you about Bolt Bike and the reason you were asked to join.

Bolt Bike is a Dutch company that designs, develops and produces bicycles. Their current owner, Mark, inherited the family bicycle repair business in Enschede a couple of years ago and has shifted into the next gear by rebranding, innovating and modernising the organisation.

With a strong tradition in bicycling, the Dutch market was ideally suited for Bolt’s offerings, especially as they now uniquely position themselves as the first brand to offer bike models tailored to the buyer’s individual preferences. Mark’s background in mechanical engineering and his years of experience working in the family business before taking over the reins, has proven to be a golden combination. Teaming up with his high school friend, Loes ter Steege, who takes care of all the IT at Bolt Bike, has allowed Mark to "automate the <expletive> out of operations" and even move many services online without developing a reselling network.

You’ve been contracted for an initial consulting assignment at Bolt Bike. The intake meeting with Loes was exciting, because not only are Bolt looking into leveraging process automation, but their investigation into tooling for that purpose also lead them to the field of Decision Management, which they are keen to learn more about.

You decide to go straight into the details by picking up on the earlier subject.

"You mentioned an issue with inventory. So, tell me. How can I help?"