What started with magnets on a board in the production hall grew into a fully digital planning process. More overview, less stress, and a schedule that moves with the rhythm of their seasons.
Libeert is a Belgian family-owned chocolate producer from Comines, active since 1923 and now in its fourth generation. The company makes seasonal chocolate figures and tablets — with well-known peaks around Easter and Saint Nicholas. During those busy periods, headcount doubles in a short time: alongside ±40 white-collar and ±50 permanent blue-collar workers, around sixty seasonal workers and 60 to 70 temp workers join the team. A planning challenge you can't leave to a whiteboard and good luck.
Before bookU, everything revolved around a physical board in the production hall. Employees were tracked with magnets, shift leaders rearranged daily, and HR spent lunchtimes calling around to fill gaps. If someone didn't pick up, it was already a problem.
“There was always stress around that moment. If someone didn’t answer the phone, we were immediately at risk of a staffing shortage.”
The switch to bookU happened step by step — with input from shift leaders and support in both Dutch and French. Not turning everything upside down at once, but gradually fixing what wasn't working.
| Area | Before bookU | With bookU |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | Fragmented via magnetic boards | Centralised, digital, automatically communicated |
| Communication | High volume, chaotic | Streamlined and structured |
| Tools | Excel, email, phone, whiteboard | Everything centralised in one platform |
| Coordination | Heavy manual alignment between roles | Roles work via the same tool, directly connected |
| Response time | Slow, dependent on availability | Fast — information available instantly |
| Error rate | High | Low (through automation) |
| Flexibility | Difficult to adapt | Easy via automatic updates |
| Knowledge retention | Lost when staff turned over | Processes documented and transferable |
| HR role | HR as bottleneck | Strategic partner with full oversight |
“We’re not just saving time. We can plan smarter. Digital planning allows us to document processes and make them transferable.”
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