Denis Kamburov - Inventories and the successes behind them

We celebrate the successes of our inventory team with a bonus article and Dennis Kamburov - department head.

Before we get started we want to congratulate Dennis and his team on the great successes this month.

But before we take a look into the world of inventory and your hard work, could you tell us a little more about yourself - who is Dennis outside of all of this?

My name is Dennis and I am 27 years old. I have been working for Trenkwalder Bulgaria for 3 years as Inventory Supervisor and since March 2024 as Head of the whole department. Outside of work I am a person with a great sense of humor and a great sense of self-irony. I love spending time with my family, watching movies and being lazy together. I generally consider myself a good person who can be counted on, and as long as I can, I look to always help, whether it's with work or something on a personal level.

And who is the leader Kamburov?

I've been working since I was 19 and have always been loyal to the companies I work for. I have a bad habit of caring and wanting the company to move forward because I realized very quickly that if a company performs well, I benefit from it too. Otherwise, I don't take myself as a super strict manager during a shift. My employees know that when there's work to be done, work gets done, and when they can drool, I drool with them.

Can you tell us more about what inventories are?

Inventories are one of the most important processes and are an essential part of any company. It doesn't matter if the company consists of only 1 or 100 locations - inventories are, to say the least, a must. In short, inventories are a process that determines the current stock at a given site. Thanks to inventory, all possible gaps are revealed, from deliveries to theft by customers or employees.

How does a day at work go for you, and a month?

In a word - dynamic. My day starts with waking up around noon because I was on inventory the night before. The good thing about us is that week in and week out don't look alike. I might be 4 nights in Sofia one week and 3 nights in 3 different cities in Bulgaria the next. After a quick check of emails from the morning, I open the laptop and organize the inventory for the next week. A quick breakfast follows and I'm off to the store for the next inventory. I'm not going to tell you how a month goes by because this post will get very long (laughs).

And what are the advantages and disadvantages of this mode of operation?

For me, the biggest advantage is that every day is different. Today I'm in a small shop in Stara Zagora, the next day I'm in a big and heavy shop in Plovdiv. As someone born in Sofia, apart from the sea and the mountains, I have hardly travelled around Bulgaria. After I started working at Trenkwalder and travelled around most of the small towns, I was honestly quite pleasantly surprised. Every day I meet different people, good ones, and the shifts pass easily and without tension. Of course, there are the exceptions, but we'll talk about them next time.

As for the disadvantages - for me personally there is only one, and that is that I am away from my family for a few days almost every week. Next year my first born daughter will come into the world and the thought of leaving them for 3-4 days a week drives me crazy. Another downside is that our work is almost always at night. Not everyone likes to work nights, and a lot of people turn down shifts just because they are nights and can't stand working all night.

Why should companies choose to outsource the inventory process?

We offer objective counting and our goal is to provide 98% accuracy. When a company chooses an outside vendor to do their inventory, they are assured that the inventory will be done correctly and there will be no manipulation. As a former employee of a grocery store and someone who has been on the other side, I know very well how employees can manipulate the outcome.

Who are the biggest partners you have worked with? Who is easier to work with - larger or smaller companies?

All of the current clients are large international companies, some of which are "small" in Bulgaria with 2-3 stores and others with 50-60. The smaller the company, the more demanding their bosses are. The big companies already have processes in place on how to do the inventory and what report to make to them at the end, which makes things much easier.

Your work is very dynamic. What is the "recipe" for survival and what is the biggest sacrifice you make?

One of the advantages with us is that the work itself is not mentally taxing. This is not the case for me as a supervisor who is in charge of the whole process, but I survive thanks to my family, whom I met, as it usually happens at work, my colleagues and my friends. The sacrifice we all make in the department is being separated from our loved ones.

Is work-life balance possible in this type of activity?

Of course, yes. If there was no balance, this type of activity would not exist. Except for the fall, which is the busiest season for us and almost all clients have inventory then, the rest of the year I am able to make the schedule so that all employees have what is called a long weekend. They have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off almost every week so they can relax and see their families.

Why would you direct someone to do inventories? What would you say to a candidate to get them on your team?

Inventories is a specific activity and anyone who likes to travel could do it. As long as you are sociable and enjoy interacting with people, this is the job for you.

But apart from people, how much does the software and devices you work with matter?

Huge. The more optimized the process is at the software level, the easier the task is for supervisors during an inventory. If the supervisor doesn't have to be in front of the laptop all the time, they have more opportunities to supervise employees and distribute them for faster inventory completion. Often, our teams use mobile apps to get inventory reports on the go so they don't have to wait at the end of the inventory to see what the result is.

In any job there is a risk of errors and failures - what are they for you and are there any fatal ones?

Our software is designed to prevent loss of information. It has three levels of protection, allowing us to find it at any time. Mistakes can always happen, whether it's counting or scanning, but we have supervisors to monitor the process, as well as store colleagues.

We know that your successes are now spreading beyond Bulgaria. What are the differences between the Bulgarian and foreign markets?

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stores in Bulgaria are significantly better prepared for inventories compared to those in Croatia, Slovenia and Romania. Our overseas projects are not many yet, so I cannot give an objective assessment, but at least in this respect Bulgaria is not lagging behind, as it is in many other aspects.

Is it easy to find people who are willing to be posted abroad? What are their expectations?

At the risk of jinxing things, for the projects we've had in Greece, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia, I managed to get the teams together in one day. The overseas assignments are heavier, with more shifts, but always provide the opportunity to walk around and see the city. Unfortunately, not everyone has the chance to travel abroad, and we offer this opportunity so people can earn money and see Europe.

What is the project you are most proud of?

I've been running the department since March 2024. Just two months after I took over the department, I managed to win back one of our biggest clients, which has over 50 stores in Bulgaria. Furthermore, in the last six months we have increased the department's turnover by 40% compared to 2023. For the first time in the six years that Trenkwalder Bulgaria's inventory department has been in existence, we will be able to scan over 1.5 million units in a single month. These are three achievements of which I am extremely proud.

What are your plans for the future? What can we expect from you?

We continue to look for new customers both in Bulgaria and abroad. We expect 2025 to bring a minimum of five new international projects.

And to finish... Anything from you?

The one thing I want to say to my peers and those younger than me is that not everything is served on a platter and it doesn't happen with a magic wand. Stop being lazy and realize that you have to give first in order to receive.