Aldi Case Study

Brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht founded Aldi in 1946 when they took over their mother’s food store in Essen, Germany. The Aldi chain has grown from one modest food shop to over 7000 discount supermarkets worldwide. Aldi are renowned for their simplistic approach to shopping, and as a result they offer great quality products at low prices.

The relationship between Cashmaster and Aldi began in Germany in 1997 when Fongern Automation – Cashmaster’s approved dealer in Germany, introduced them to our cash counting equipment. Fongern Automation approached Aldi to find out what they could do to improve cash counting for them. Aldi were looking for something that would save them time, allow them to count their takings easily and significantly reduce the amount of mistakes that can occur when counting by hand.

Hans Bercx – Fongern Automation’s Sales Manager comments “We knew that the Sigma 160 would be the ideal machine for them and we encouraged them to take advantage of the no-obligation free trial so they could try the machines on site and see for themselves whether Cashmaster’s cash counting solution was the best for them.”

Aldi trialled 5 machines in different stores over a period of 6 months in order to see the benefits Cashmaster’s machines had to offer. Aldi soon discovered that they could save approximately 15 minutes per day with the Sigma 160, compared to counting by hand 3 times per day. This gave each store time to carry out more important tasks.

With the Cashmaster machines in place in stores throughout Germany, Cashmaster and Aldi began to work on how they could increase efficiency throughout their stores. Hans Bercx explains: “Aldi were interested in the possibility of ‘connectivity’. They wanted their Sigma 160 integrated into their Epos system. We devised a program, which enabled the Sigma 160 to be connected to a PC through their Epos system.“ This program allowed Aldi to monitor the cash held in each till and compare it to the amount counted at the end of each day. It also allowed them to transfer all the data to a central location, such as Head Office. Hans Bercx continues, “We worked very closely with Aldi to give them exactly what they needed, and they were very happy with the results.”

Aldi currently have a number of Cashmaster machines throughout Germany and use them as a vital tool in the every-day running of their stores. Both Fongern Automation and Cashmaster are proud to work with a forward thinking company like Aldi as it allows Cashmaster to look at how to develop their products to suit the needs of each individual customer.

Both Cashmaster and Fongern Automation look forward to continuing their relationship with Aldi well into the future.