Subscribe

Tag: Synergy Logistics

Synergy Logistics’ new Commercial Leadership

Posted on by David Priestman

Warehouse technology innovator, Synergy Logistics, has promoted Brian Kirst (pictured) to Chief Commercial Officer as business continues to ramp up and new commercial leadership was required.

Kirst previously looked after all customer facing elements of the business in North America, but now oversees all aspects of Sales, Marketing, Support and After Sales globally.

He brings 30 years of experience in supply chain, logistics and digital technology. Prior to joining Synergy in early 2022, Kirst co-founded and launched two high growth 3PL order fulfilment companies –Total Reliance in 2014 and Resurge in 2019. Both scaled successfully with Synergy’s highly flexible SnapFulfil warehouse management system (WMS) as their differentiator.

The restructure also sees Chief Product & Delivery Officer, Smitha Raphael, take on a more global role with the development services and implementation teams. Both report directly into Synergy Logistics Chairman, Hugh Stevens.

Stevens said: “Brian is the ideal fit for this crucial role. As a fellow owner, operator, and entrepreneur; our strategic views align. I also like his leadership and decision-making approach. He recognises opportunities quickly and looks to make an immediate impact.”

Commercial Leadership

Kirst has been using his applied knowledge, gained across multiple industries and sectors, to help customers identify their value drivers and further tap into the potential of Synergy’s technologically advanced software to drive revenue and profitability.

He added: “My focus will be growing and evolving with our existing customers, but also developing further enterprise-level business, as our highly configurable WMS and multi-agent orchestration solutions become increasingly relevant in today’s automation-driven supply chains. This includes executing on our ambitions of having a fully global and consistent product offering, with recent implementations in Asia and South America, complementing our long-standing and proven track record in the EMEA and North America regions.”

read more

Synergy makes significant UK appointment

 

WMS Partners with Supply Chain Advisor

Posted on by Keith McKinley

US and UK-based Synergy Logistics has partnered with leading industry solutions adviser, Supply Chain BEST, to expand their warehouse management system (WMS) implementation capabilities.

Working together as preferred channel partners, rapidly expanding Synergy will leverage access to Florida-based Supply Chain BEST’s end-to-end system implementation and project management expertise. This partnership is the latest in a fast-growing ecosystem of partners, vendors, and integrations for SnapFulfil, and builds upon Supply Chain BEST resources in the US, Canada, UK, and Hong Kong.

Supply Chain BEST President, Joe Huss, said: “I am delighted to be partnering with Synergy and am excited by the prospect of working together as we share a mission to deliver the very best in customer supply chain solutions.

“Having worked with various WMS solutions over the years, SnapFulfil stands out in terms of its technologically advanced rules engine, flexibility, and configurability. The build process is configured as part of the solution, so there is minimal additional development and coding for each deployment, which historically adds to complexity and cost.

“SnapFulfil is so customizable we can also instruct our customers to self configure the WMS and help them understand how the system can get them to the next operational level, which is a real point of difference for those needing to flex and adapt to ever changing market demands.”
At 40+ companies strong, Synergy’s partnership network covers a broad spectrum of integration categories, such as ERP, iPaaS, Marketplace, Robotics, Shipping, and other channel partners.

Synergy Logistics Chief Commercial Officer, Brian Kirst, added: “It’s a mutually beneficial partnership, with the Supply Chain BEST team a great fit to match our domain expertise. They share the same comprehensive yet flexible approach to implementation, as well as an ethos that integrated software solutions should be about rapid time-to-value and strong return on investment.

“As business opportunities increase for both companies, we can scale and grow together and secure and develop more of the right kind of business.”

read more

Synergy makes significant UK appointment

 

Optimizing the Expansion of Automation

Posted on by David Priestman

As warehouse logistics become increasingly automated with a mixed portfolio of devices, robots and systems, the need to connect and orchestrate the various solutions is ever more urgent.
Consequently, the very latest multi-agent orchestration (MAO) technology, SnapControl, will be one of the main features at this year’s MODEX 2024 – at booth #A12509.

Developed by warehouse management technology innovator, Synergy Logistics, SnapControl offers a device-agnostic and unified approach to automation, seamlessly connecting all warehouse devices and robots in real time. It is suitable for both new (greenfield) and existing (brownfield) automated portfolios.

Synergy Logistics’ Chief Product & Delivery Officer, Smitha Raphael, said: “We are excited to have the opportunity to highlight SnapControl to visitors at this year’s MODEX event. By uniquely interpreting bi-directional communication between machines and advanced WMS, SnapControl facilitates efficient and accurate decision-making, which are critical components of the second wave of automation recognized by leading industry analysts.”

Multi-agent orchestration

The virtues of SnapControl have already been tested rigorously by a rapidly expanding US online retailer, resulting in a sixfold increase in productivity over the first few months of implementation. Having invested in a new 300,000 sq. ft warehouse, featuring automated mobile robots (AMRs), carton right-sizing equipment, and automated packaging systems, the retailer required a MAO that could generate real-time data and make smart decisions from those integrations, with little or no human involvement.

For this e-tailer, the return on investment (ROI) in automated resources has amounted to labour savings of over half a million dollars. On average, the company now saves over $40,000 per week, with an impressive investment payback period of just 23 weeks.

Raphael added: “Not all MAOs are the same, because while most providers can integrate with a host of software and robotics vendors, a simple connection is as far as it goes. A true MAO platform, such as SnapControl, is the conductor of the orchestra. It provides the why and where, while connecting and controlling all devices at once, for a complete 360-degree picture of your operation.”

Raphael and her colleagues are also offering practical 30-minute demonstrations at Booth #A12509 of the highly flexible and award-winning SnapFulfil WMS – showcasing how it can be changed or modified in minutes without custom code for quick and easy implementation and a rapid response to evolving fulfillment demands.

Read more

SnapControl – Warehouse Automation Connectivity

 

Dynamic New Tech Integration Partnership

Posted on by David Priestman

Warehouse technology innovator Synergy Logistics has partnered with leading connected fulfilment solutions specialist Techdinamics, to provide customers with integrated rate shopping and transportation management capabilities.

The alliance with Ontario-based Techdinamics is around their techSHIP solution, which dovetails seamlessly with Synergy’s advanced warehouse management system (WMS) SnapFulfil. Together, they create a fully connected workflow – order, WMS, pick, pack, ship – to get orders out the door faster and correctly, but with no additional labour and lower operating costs.

TechSHIP is a powerful cloud-based application that quickly and easily integrates with multiple small parcel, Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) and Full Truckload Freight (FTL) carriers to generate shipping labels and custom documentation. It also provides lower cost or most appropriate services for customer product lines, depending on selection, ship to addresses and other preferences.

The generated label and tracking information seamlessly populate SnapFulfil, providing users with a smooth end-to-end experience. This integrated process, known as the blackbox API, grants SnapFulfil operators access to comprehensive shipping software without the need to navigate between multiple screens. With connections to over 150+ carriers, techSHIP enhances order accuracy, accelerates order processing, ensures on-time delivery, and offers competitive shipping rates.

Smitha Raphael, Chief Product & Delivery Officer for Synergy Logistics, says: “The techSHIP solution offers depth of integration, but also speed, as you can write your own, multiple management rules. It’s a quick and agile system like ours and customers can be configured and up-to-speed within 20-30 minutes for rapid efficiencies and return on investment.”

The partnership is already working well for Utah-based online beauty retailer, Younique, as the integration with techSHIP has enabled them to not only onboard previously unavailable carriers like Purolator, but via SnapFulfil’s batch functionality print labels far more efficiently and quickly for high volume orders – decreasing the cost levels on their shipping for the first time.

Reg Adams, President at Techdinamics, adds: “The partnership is a natural fit as SnapFulfil seamlessly integrates with techSHIP’s API, enabling users to stay within the WMS for order processing and label generation. Users can handle their orders in the WMS as usual and the system automatically communicates with techSHIP. This allows the full and dynamic utilisation of techSHIP’s order management rules and rate shopping capabilities.”

This strategic alignment with Techdinamics is the latest in Synergy’s rapidly expanding native integration and partnership network, which via real-time peer-to-peer transactions seeks to provide transparency across all critical business systems and sales routes – and is already 40+ companies strong across sectors like ERP, iPaaS, Marketplace, Robotics & MHE, Shipping, plus other channel partners.

Synergy Logistics’ new Head of EMEA Sales

Posted on by David Priestman

Warehouse technology innovator Synergy Logistics has appointed a highly experienced business performance lead as it looks to scale up on expansion, growth and drive change. Chris White joins as Head of Sales for Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) with a dual remit of further improving client engagement and advancing the commercial arm of the business.

White has over 25 years of experience in large-scale operations, having worked with companies like Hewlett Packard, Pitney Bowes, and DHL Express. He has held senior positions in IT, supply chain, warehousing, and distribution. In his previous role as a Director for the SaaS Enterprise Division of Parcel2Go, a leading player in the fulfilment market, he achieved a growth of 300% in just seven years. As a result, the Enterprise Division now accounts for 60% of the Group’s overall business and their portfolio has expanded from three to thirty different organizations.

White, who began his career playing professional football for 14 years at Portsmouth FC, Peterborough United and Exeter City, stated: “I am thrilled to be a part of Synergy – a company that is as flexible, agile and adaptable as its software solutions. The products they offer make a real, tangible difference and I am excited to contribute to the positive trajectory of the business.

“I’ll also be working very closely with Synergy’s EMEA CEO, Tony Dobson, who has unrivalled contacts and experience within the industry and continued passion for technological advancement. I can contribute additional expertise in building strong partnerships and delivering enterprise level value.”

To bolster Synergy’s ambitious growth plans, he will be supported by Kirsten-Reece Tarpey, who has been promoted to Business Development Manager, and Dan Moss in his new role as Commercial & Operations Manager.

Synergy Logistics is a leading innovator in warehouse management technology, powering warehousing operations globally for over 50 years. Synergy’s cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS), SnapFulfil, delivers cutting edge technology and rapid return on investment using a proprietary and highly configurable workflow rules engine. With flexibility at its core, SnapFulfil is quick and easy to implement and can swiftly adapt to meet evolving fulfillment demands that ultimately improves warehouse efficiency. Synergy’s latest breakthrough technology, the award-winning SnapControl, is a multi-agent orchestration platform (MAO) that provides a device agnostic, unified approach to automation. SnapControl provides seamless and efficient orchestration of all warehouse devices and robots, with a low total cost of ownership and rapid time to value.

Multi-agent Orchestration Software is Game Changer

Posted on by David Priestman

Synergy Logistics, an innovator in warehouse technology, is reporting remarkable results with its ground-breaking multi-agent orchestration platform (MAO), SnapControl. This software solution empowers warehouses to achieve seamless and efficient control over all automation devices and robots within their distribution centres (DCs).

SnapControl stands out as a game changer because it enables comprehensive data capture, allowing businesses to assess the operational value generated by each device in real time. This data-driven approach empowers decision-making, ensuring optimum performance and efficiency. The software’s first deployment, in collaboration with a rapidly expanding U.S. online retailer, demonstrated the transformative capabilities of SnapControl.

By analysing data from this breakthrough installation, SnapControl was able to optimise the allocation of tasks between human and automated resources. It determined the quality of manual versus automated pick tasks and identified the manual picks required in areas serviced by Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). As a result, the operation achieved a sixfold increase in productivity.

This translated into a return on investment (ROI) in automated resources, amounting to labour savings of over half a million dollars. On average, the company now saves over $40,000 per week, with an impressive investment payback period of just 23 weeks. Out of over 40,000 stock picks, more than 24,000 were automated tasks — equivalent to 61% of the workload — seamlessly controlled by SnapControl. This automation has significantly alleviated the workload of the existing warehouse staff.

Smitha Raphael, Chief Product & Delivery Officer for Synergy Logistics, explained the software’s swift deployment: “We deployed both the SnapFulfil and SnapControl solutions in under 60 days to manage allocation of work to AMRs and routing of work to carton right-sizing equipment without major software upheavals.”

She added: “The real added value is the complete data picture it brings, which can facilitate tangible labour savings, accurate asset management decisions, and rapid time to value. With this customer, for example, if a robot battery is dead, SnapControl tells them instantly and automatically reassigns the task to a worker with an RF scanner, so there is no downtime.”

In addition to achieving full operational status for their new 300,000 sq. ft. warehouse within one week of going live, the company’s receiving, inventory, and shipping processes were also fully operational immediately. This allowed the operation to swiftly pivot and focus on new initiatives, maintaining agility in response to evolving market demands.

SnapControl seamlessly integrates with the warehouse management system (WMS) SnapFulfil and is compatible with any other incumbent WMS, Order Management System (OMS), or e-commerce front-end system, whether in the cloud or locally. This versatility allows SnapControl to orchestrate the prioritisation of work, automatically allocate tasks and workflows, and evaluate which devices are best suited for specific operations.

SnapControl’s comprehensive capabilities position it as a pivotal tool in the realm of distribution centre automation. By interpreting bi-directional communication between machines and advanced WMS, SnapControl facilitates efficient, automated decision-making—a critical component of the second wave of automation recognized by leading industry analysts. This approach deviates from the mass adoption of robots and focuses on targeted automation, enabling productivity improvements as robot fleets expand from multiple vendors and diversified portfolios.

Warehouse Tech Driving Growth at Family Firm

Posted on by David Priestman

One of the UK’s top three automotive salvaging and recycling companies is powering forwards with its ambitious five-year growth plan thanks to timely investment in a digital warehouse management system (WMS).

In just 24 months, since first installing SnapFulfil WMS, Dorset-based Charles Trent Ltd has doubled its warehousing space, as well as its stock holding and orders going out – with over 3,000 ‘green’ parts being processed every week – without increasing head count. With operations much more streamlined, efficient, productive and profitable, the company is on track to achieve its predicted turnover of £250 million by 2026.

The family-owned business, which was founded in 1926, has continued to thrive thanks to its forward-thinking attitude to technology. Influenced by Amazon, the firm’s high-tech operation is the only one of its kind in the UK where you can source a particular part online and then have it delivered next day.

Architecturally robust and easily configurable, SnapFulfil was originally selected for Charles Trent’s Holten Heath distribution centre (DC) but has subsequently been onboarded at its new Poole DC, with a combined digitally-driven warehousing space of 75,000 sq.ft. This latest implementation demonstrates the flexibility and configurability of SnapFulfil and its reputation for delivering rapid ROI, industry-leading deployment speed and low total cost of ownership (TCO).

Charles Trent’s Distribution & Operations Manager, Matt Groves, said: “We used to have about 2-3 orders per day going astray within the old system, but full traceability via SnapFulfil is a huge advantage in a variable business such as ours. It’s also about tempo and efficiency, because in receiving goods staff can scan, process, and have them on the shelf in next-to-no-time – and handle 30 at a time without being label reliant. I also like how SnapFulfil, even from a long list of locations, identifies the part by the prefix of the vehicle class, as this means it can be used by staff in both our DCs simultaneously, and at any point in our operations.”

Plans are in place for both facilities to increase from 18 hours daily across two shifts to 24/5, which will massively increase the company’s order processing capacity, again demonstrating the efficiency gains of SnapFulfil.

Looking ahead, Charles Trent is on track to open another four new recycling/distribution centre sites by 2026, in major population centres across the UK. At the heart of its plans will be SnapFulfil which can support rapid scaling of fulfilment processes, as well as quick succession of multiple site facility rollouts.

WMS at Heart of Expanding Business

Posted on by David Priestman

Workplace solutions leader Resource Furniture Services (RFS) has signed a fully bundled, five year contract for SnapFulfil’s advanced cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS), as business stacks up.

The London-based company, which is one of the most established and experienced full service independent installation and relocation businesses in the UK and particularly excels in the financial, legal, government and education sectors, begins with 10 licensed users, but with the flexibility to scale up. With three new warehouse facilities recently added across the capital, RFS can now offer in excess of 50,000 sq.ft of storage and distribution capacity. As a result, they needed to rationalise their inventory management and tracking system and make the operational leap from a small to medium sized business.

Mark Cronk, Joint MD for RFS, explained: “It’s the right time to take the next step and prove to customers old and new that we have the foresight and aptitude to further improve our service capacity and quality procedures. RFS is big on accreditation too and the fact that SnapFulfil is Gartner-backed was an important consideration. We do have a bespoke scheduling system with a warehouse component, but it is paper based, manual and very labour intensive, with the potential for human error and misinterpretation especially as we expand. So, first and foremost, a user friendly and best-of-breed WMS will bring an automated and consistent approach and save us valuable time and money.

“Additionally, we like the fact that SnapFulfil is scalable and will grow with us as a business. Furthermore, with a reputation for multiple efficiency gains, it will quickly start to pay for itself; plus as a digital and system-driven initiative, it will really focus and sharpen the approach of both our warehouse operatives and us as a senior management team.” http://www.snapfulfil.com

similar news

Investing in WMS more than Window Shopping

 

Subscribe

Get notified about New Episodes of our Podcast, New Magazine Issues and stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter.