Subscribe

Tag: wms

Exchange 2020

Posted on by David Priestman

Manhattan Associates’ annual EMEA get-together for customers and partners – staged online instead of Berlin, as planned – offered plenty of useful insights into industry trends. Here are some highlights.

Supply chain, inventory and omnichannnel software specialist Manhattan Associates has come a long way since its June 1990 founding (at Manhattan Beach, California) and can celebrate its 30th birthday with a huge roster of some of retail’s biggest global names on its client list. Its Active WMS Solution is marketed as “the last WMS you’ll ever buy” (see interview in Logistics Business,
September 2020) and with nearly $600M in R&D spend over the past decade, it has the heft to back up the claims.

Unsurprisingly given the fast change in retail buying habits, Europe has been richly fertile for Manhattan Associates over the past five years. This year EMEA SVP Henri Seroux hosted the
company’s annual Exchange event for EMEA partners and customers (previous venues have included Barcelona, Amsterdam and Paris, with Berlin originally planned for this year) via a slick studio presentation, complete with live feeds to Singapore and Australia.

Seroux believes the pandemic has proven that cloud solutions are the right ones. He advises companies to rely on the cloud and invest in it. “The latest generation of cloud solutions delivers
exactly what companies need in a crisis such as this: unlimited elasticity, agility and speed. Companies don’t have to buy extra hardware when volumes double, it’s already there. If you want to benefit from innovation, you don’t need to upgrade the system first. New functionality is (almost) immediately available.” He recounts a customer story: “What happens if your central distribution centre has to shut down for quarantine reasons? Because that is exactly what happened to the American jewellery retailer Kendra Scott. The team at Kendra Scott were already running their unified commercial processes on Manhattan Active Omni, so they were able in just nine days to mobilise the inventory of their closed stores to fulfil and ship the online orders.”

Another key theme for logistics in the post-pandemic world is the potential for localisation of supply chains and manufacture. Seroux is not convinced. “Globalisation has given consumers in Europe and elsewhere a lot of purchasing power. The costs of buying a sweater, sofa or TV set are comparatively much lower than about 30 years ago. It’s an illusion to think that we can reclaim production on a large scale in order to start production here at much higher costs, just to minimise the risks and guarantee the supply.

“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take measures to reduce our dependency on, say, one country, for example. We will have to diversify our supply chains and this diversification will in turn increase resilience. But fear not, this isn’t something that will just happen overnight, we’re talking about gradual, longer-term changes.” Every retailer or brand has to make its own trade-offs. “They will have to ask themselves how they should solve dilemmas: shorter and faster supply chains offer the benefits of quicker cycles to adjust to demand, but could also come with higher economic and environmental prices. Everything will have to be more flexible including inventory deployment. We will have to integrate our transportation, warehousing and unified commerce systems to be more agile and efficient.”

Read the whole article here.

Agility and efficiency were words that cropped up several times in a later Exchange presentation given by Clint Reiser, Director of Supply Chain Research at ARC Advisory Group. Revealing the results of an industry survey carried out just before the pandemic, he painted a picture of a sector on the cusp of a technological transformation, driven by the march to digital shopping. Survey respondents were divided roughly equally between 3PLs, retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers. Asked to assess which order fulfilment channels they expected to grow either ‘moderately’
or ‘extensively’ in the next three years, 51% of all respondents expect Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) to increase extensively, with DropShipping second on the ‘Extensive’ list at 24%. Significantly, in both cases 3PLs and retailers had higher expectations of growth than manufacturers and wholesalers. Unsurprisingly, all expected much greater piece picking in the 1-3 years ahead, with only 8%
of respondents suggesting that pallet picking will grow extensively. Reiser pointed out that the obvious result of this huge increase in piece picking will be more complexity in the warehouse and, almost certainly, greater cost.

With regard to adoption of technology and automation, 60% of respondents said that they were “very likely” to invest in such technology in the next three years. Crucially though, a whopping 96% said that they also expected the value proposition of such technology to become more applicable (ie more cost-effective) in the next three years. The drivers for their pursuit of automation technology were given as labour shortages (57%), an increase in throughput requirements at the warehouse or DC (48%) and labour costs (46%). One could speculate that pandemic-driven unemployment in other sectors, such as hospitality and travel, may put a cap on labour costs because warehouses may have a larger pool to fish in, certainly in the near term. This could be countered by acknowledging that the long-term trend towards expectation of labour shortage is clearly established. Meanwhile, automation options offering flexibility and scalability are increasingly
available to supply chain managers.

Asked what specific technology they expected to employ, 65% selected conveying and automatic sortation, followed by small shuttle systems (56%). Of the emerging technologies, there was a clear move towards robotic case picking, seen as supporting broad omnichannel needs including pallet picking. Collaborative robot systems and zonal solutions scored broadly the same at around 40% expecting implementation in the next three years. Single-vendor solutions were not strongly favoured – Reiser suggested that perhaps respondents see it as a “nice to have, not a need to have”. There was no question – and this shouldn’t be a surprise at a Manhattan Associates event – that in the software sector, WMS is seen as mission-critical, with 80% expecting to invest in such
technology in the next three years. Again, agility and responsiveness are the keys.

Tips to Choose the right WMS

Posted on by David Priestman

The current situation is accelerating the speed of enterprises modernization and change. The digitalization of all processes and the introduction of innovative and powerful WMS (Warehouse Management Software) is crucial. It is no longer a chimera of the future, but a specific need, leading to competitiveness, say Stamh.

But before the implementation, a company must prepare for the selection. Businesses need to understand the important features of the WMS software, select the most appropriate partner and elaborate a clear implementation plan. To implement WMS in a good, successful way, Stamh provides 4 important tips to chose the right software and implementation partner. Check them out:

Tip 1: Internal preparation for selection

One of the most important initial steps is to form a project team. To select the right WMS solution, you need to create a Cross Functional Team. It should include professionals with digital thinking from the finance, sales, production, IT and warehouse departments. A common mistake is to proceed with WMS automation of poorly organized processes. Therefore, one of the tasks of the project team is to analyse all the processes in the warehouse.

Based on this analysis, the team needs to prioritize the key functions of the software. The project team must be aware of which functionalities are mandatory, which are highly desirable and which are just ‘good to have’. Since the choice of the warehouse software is a step that directly affects the development of the business, it is advisable to make a forecast for the development of the company. What if the selected software can’t meet the future growth? Some operations require less human resources but more hardware and software solutions – automation and robotics, directly affect all other processes in the company.

And the last, but not least step is the preparation of a feasibility study. If it’s incomplete, convincing management to proceed with the project can be a failure. For this purpose, it’s crucial to make a qualitative and quantitative comparative analysis, without missing significant direct or indirect consequences. For example – what is the importance of the human element in the current pandemic situation?

Tip 2: Choose only the WMS software features that are important to your business

Once the management is convinced for the project implementation, the team must select the main WMS characteristics. First of all, WMS software needs to be accessible. Exporting data should be easy and convenient for its users. It is recommended to have a really user-friendly HMI with real time information. In addition, the program must be compatible with generally accepted standards – regulatory or related to the nature of the business.

Depending on the activity of the company, various specific functionalities of the software can be added. They can be related to the requirements for certain types of goods – for example, functionalities related to the work with excise goods, dangerous goods, serial numbers, etc. Modern WMS software must allow simultaneous pallets placement and picking. This way there will be no lifting equipment idling.

It is recommended to opt for a modular WMS solution and have the possibility for additional expansion. The time and cost can be significantly lower during implementation. This way, the software runs faster when operating with standard processes. Over time, new features can be integrated into the software. It is almost mandatory to integrate the software with other systems – ERP, CRM, TMS, BI and others. The integration possibility with automated and robotics systems, picking technologies (voice systems, RFID, pick to light, put to light, etc.) is aslo essential.

Tip 3: Don’t underestimate important aspects when choosing a partner to implement the solution

Once we have specified the software functionalities, we can proceed to the selection of a partner for the implementation. First of all, the required integrator company must have significant professional experience. Having experienced professionals in the construction and management of warehousing processes is a major advantage. Before setting up a WMS, you should asnwere questions like ‘how it should be’ and not ‘how it is now’.

It is very important whether the product has a strong market presence. Software products appear all the time, but it often happens that they also disapear. The lifespan of the product on the market is an important indicator of the level and product relevance to customer needs. The integrator shouldn’t be just a trader, but your partner. Trust between partners is a very relevant factor in every business. Therefore, in the initial conversations, try to look beyond the presentations and demonstrations. Do you feel that you are treated as a partner and not just like a good number in the annual results?

It is recommend to chose a company with real research and development team. It is important to know what investments are made in this activity to keep the software up to date. It is necessary to inform the team about additional costs for activating new functionalities in the future. Of course, special attention should be paid to the available resources for the project implementation. However, each company sets certain limits on the amount it can spend on software.

Like any product that will be used in the long run, the software needs technical support. Therefore, you should pay attention to the technical support provided by the integrator. It is necessary to ensure a minimum of debugging in the standard version. Your new partner should to be able to provide hardware solutions through reliable subcontractors.

Tip 4: Build a detailed implementation plan

The first step when developing an implementation plan is to choose the right time. It is desirable that this is a period of the year with lower business activity. You should set realistic deadlines and should outline clear tasks. Key players are selected. These are proactive people with digital thinking who will be constantly available to the integrator company and will help them.

It is a good idea to develop an employee training program from the beginning. It is not recommended to make modifications before the base model is completed. It is better to postpone the extras and concentrate on basic processes in the beginning. Of course, you should constantly monitor the implementation process.

WMS Investment due to Demand during Covid-19

Posted on by David Priestman

An order fulfilment start up has grown its customer base from zero to 25,000 orders per month, in under 10 weeks and during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Resurge specialises in firms and start-ups positioned for significant growth and during the pandemic has helped rescue small to medium sized providers affected by labour shortages and health issues, plus those left homeless by Amazon’s move to shipping essential items only.

The secret behind Resurge’s success has been its ability to seamlessly and remotely onboard an innovative, cloud-based WMS solution, SnapFulfil. Resurge’s co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Brian Kirst, says: “The demand for our more progressive 3PL services has exceeded our expectations during these challenging times. However, we were able to respond really quickly by bringing forward our investment in a technologically advanced WMS that has the flexibility and scalability to adapt and grow with us as a business and our customers’ strategic expansions.

“We have worked with SnapFulfil previously and we completely trusted them to get our remote implementation right the first time and in just a matter of weeks, which they did without any issue. Plus, they bring a level of support which, in my experience, goes way above and beyond the industry standard.”

The New Jersey based company’s investment and progress (they have now added a new West Coast D2C centre in Nevada, also via remote implementation) means it is now well placed to rapidly scale up from 80,000 orders per month in September to 125,000+ for December holiday season time.

“We attribute our success to having the right WMS in place and SnapFulfil has bespoke functionality totally relevant to our business as a progressive type of 3PL. What’s more, it gives us confidence and credibility to pursue prospects that might not otherwise select such a new style third-party logistics and D2C fulfilment associate,” Kirst added.

Even with most of the US under a stay at home advisory when Resurge was due to go live, SnapFulfil was able to offer remote support including regular online training meetings to ensure the team could access and test the solution.

SnapFulfil CEO, Tony Dobson, adds: “The worldwide travel restrictions mean that we now have a tried and tested remote training and go-live support package. Our DNA is ‘in the cloud,’ and so our geographically dispersed project teams have really mastered remote implementation.”

Resurge is also an early advocate of SnapFulfil’s new and fully integrated digital adoption platform SnapBuddy, which as an AI-style training tool offers proactive, step-by-step guidance on how to perform key processes within the SnapFulfil WMS. Kirst concludes: “It’s a game changer and being able to self configure and implement certain improvements and amendments ourselves brings even greater responsiveness, control and savings.”

Flexible Fulfilment Functionality to Survive and Thrive

Posted on by David Priestman

The impact of COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the need for agile solutions, such as warehouse software, to meet sudden changes to business operations says SnapFulfil CEO Tony Dobson.

Traditional business models are being turned upside down and facility rentals are soaring as brands try to capitalise on the e-commerce trend with a direct to consumer (D2C) offering, so it’s more critical than ever to consider the warehousing and logistics part of the supply chain. The solution sits with advanced, digital technology, which is central to tackling new challenges and optimising premium fulfilment centre space. It’s also key to satisfying more demand, staying competitive, plus managing labour efficiency and productivity.

The required change – particularly the shift from wholesale to individual order dispatch –isn’t an easy move. The days of distribution centres designed for bulk ‘pallet in, pallet out’ operations are numbered – and when space comes with a premium price tag, it’s essential that the WMS has the capabilities to effectively support smaller, incremental orders in the thousands.

It should also be specifically engineered to meet the needs of an ever-evolving market place without being expensive or time consuming to set in motion and reconfigure – even remotely.

Consequently, digital transformation of business will continue apace, with more automation to control stocks, fulfilment and delivery. A tier 1 WMS will integrate with other solutions, creating a valuable ‘blockchain’ network of peer-to-peer transactions. This lets firms share information about a container just once, but everyone up and down the chain can see that data in an instant.

Bosses can also access a real-time view of their business allowing them to make better, more efficient decisions based on solid data – essential in disruptive markets and with margins tighter.

Through blockchain technology, companies are also waking up to the value of the customer data trail and the loyalty they can harness through having a single customer view. This can only be achieved through integration and mapping each customer’s buying journey from start to end and beyond. And fulfilment is part and parcel of that.

Data analysis increasingly drives much of the decision making in business, which is why it is so important for companies to understand their past and current performance and challenges in order to succeed in the future.

D2C operations are in stark contrast to bulk or retail-based shipping, so a technology advanced WMS can really help keep goods and processes flowing, while managing staff and resource allocation, through the targeted data it collects and delivers. Savvy businesses are using data to identify trends and make important operational and fulfilment decisions based on a strategic version of their truth.

For example, when labour is at a premium and self-isolation is a reality, coupled with a rapid change in orders, then having data to boost the effectiveness of the available workforce, their picking and packing performance, plus available space– underpinned by highly efficient receiving and putaway activity – is crucial.

Data driven WMS also allows you to take a fresh look at shipping visibility and accuracy. There is an ever-growing expectation from consumers for fast and accurate order fulfilment and during a recession, business can be hard to win but easy to lose due to disgruntled purchasers. Incremental improvements in visibility and error reduction, however, will yield proportionately greater benefits to sales growth and customer retention.

3PLs: Don’t get Behind in e-fulfillment Race

Posted on by David Priestman

If 3PLs want to win online fulfillment business they must be able to demonstrate that they have the IT infrastructure in place to respond to the demands of e-commerce retailers – and their customers, says Utordo director, Richard Davies.

The spectacular growth of internet shopping coupled with a sharp dip in demand for deliveries of replenishment stock to high street stores during the Covid crisis, has prompted many traditional logistics and transport companies to adapt their business models to allow them to compete in the increasingly crowded online fulfillment space.

However, if third party logistics (3PL) service operators whose focus has always been on the storage and delivery of palletised loads from the warehouse to the high street store, want to be in the running to win fulfillment business they must be able to demonstrate that they are set up to respond to the demands of e-commerce retailers – and their customers.

This might, for instance, require some remodeling of existing storage systems to accommodate more SKUs and pick faces or investment in staff training to ensure workers have the skills they will need to undertake the kind of specialist picking, packing, kitting and re-working tasks that e-fulfillment entails.

But, perhaps most importantly, for an e-fulfillment operation to perform efficiently a logistics company’s warehouse management system (WMS) will have to be adapted to make it capable of integrating with an online retailer client’s webstore as well as any other internet marketplaces through which the retailer trades, such as ebay and Amazon.

Synchronising the 3PL’s WMS with a client’s e-commerce platform makes things easier for the seller and the logistics services supplier by allowing a host of data, such as order status and inventory levels, to be automatically exchanged in real time.

But by no means every e-commerce fulfillment service can offer this level of software sophistication.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the costs involved in upgrading WMS software and concerns over the disruption to operations that ‘re-setting the system’ may bring are the most quoted reasons why 3PLs fail to make their software ‘fulfilment-ready’.

In other words, logistics companies are reluctant to make a high Capital Expenditure commitment to change a working WMS – particularly one that they have already made a significant financial contribution to and have confidence in.

This is probably understandable: after all, a 3PL that has invested a sizable chunk of time and money on the development of a warehouse management system that it believes is the perfect tool for controlling client stock, replenishment orders, staff tasks and materials handling equipment will want to avoid the cost and potential disturbance to the smooth running of day-to-day operations that reconfiguring a WMS can involve.

But now a cloud-based middleware solution has been developed and launched that allows logistics companies to link their WMS to a client’s web-store and any other online marketplaces where they are visible, simply and cost effectively.

The new system is called Utordo. Sitting between the retailer’s website and any other marketplaces and a 3PL’s WMS, Utordo converts and standardises order information and exports data relating to each order to the WMS using secure flat file, XMS or API formats.

This process allows a 3PL’s retailer client’s orders to appear on the host warehouse management system the instant an order is received and, in doing so, effectively upgrades an existing WMS to deliver the functionality needed to provide reliable and efficient order fulfillment capability.

Compatible with all well-known WMS brands, Utordo also handles order communications with the online seller’s customers and updates the retailer’s web-store and other marketplaces with tracking and order details in real time.

Utordo technology is offered as a SaaS (Software as a Service) package with a minimum 12-month contract agreement. This means that the full Utordo package is, in effect, ‘hired’ for a pre-agreed monthly fee.

With Utordo 3PLs can dramatically improve the levels of service that they offer to their existing internet retail clients, while logistics operators that are new to online order fulfillment can tender for internet retail accounts knowing that they have a system in place that delivers all the data they need to be able to offer a reliable, first-class e-fulfillment service.

In June of this year the British Retail Consortium announced that internet sales accounted for 50 per cent of the UK retail market and the online retail market will only continue to grow. Those logistics companies that are not equipped with the skills and technology required to provide the services needed by today’s retailers risk being left behind.

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

 

Customers Invest in SaaS Transitions

Posted on by David Priestman

Iptor, the Swedish based leader in enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, planning and logistics software and services has achieved exceptional success in Norway, Sweden and Finland in the first half of 2020. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic the business has secured four major ‘wins’ with both new customers and significant increases in investment from existing customers. The company, which was acquired by Bregal Unternehmerkapital alongside investment from CEO Jayne Archbold and Chief Marketing and Product Officer Christopher Catterfeld, in January, has announced the following new contracts:

Swedish lubricating grease manufacturer Axel Christiernsson has increased its investment in Iptor by adopting its Iptor DC1 SaaS solution to improve efficiency and simplify processes. The company, which has production plants in Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the U.S.A and operates globally, needed to future-proof its technology. Adopting Iptor DC1 will help it reduce time consuming processes, become more streamlined and ensure capacity flexibility without additional cost – and always with high application availability.

Finnish high-performance luxury sailing yacht manufacturer Nautor has invested in Iptor SaaS to drive efficiency and expansion by upgrading to Iptor DC1 v11 and Project Chain Management. Moving from its previous on-premise software to SaaS means Iptor now takes care of Nautor’s entire ERP platform and infrastructure enabling the company to focus on its core business – producing the famous luxury Swan sailing yachts.

Norwegian headquartered Tess, which produces special hoses, hose fittings and other products related to hydraulics and subsea and is also the country’s largest distributor of welding and gas equipment, has selected Iptor as its provider of Cloud Managed Services, running Iptor DC1, its flagship cloud-based ERP solution. Iptor replaces Tess’ current hosting provider. With products distributed through more than 140 service centers across the country, all with locally adjusted products, services and inventory, the ability to be flexible and better manage capacity fluctuations without additional investment, was a key factor in the selection of Iptor.

Finnish heavy transport specialist VTA Tekniikka Oy has upgraded to Iptor DC1 v11. The company, which imports and sells lifting devices and cargo space temperature control equipment plus special technology for trucks, needed a technology solution that enables it to efficiently and simply manage its operations, allowing for capacity flexibility whilst maintaining quality standards. As well as the upgrade, VTA Tekniikka Oy are also implementing the Iptor Aperio open API platform. This allows VTA Tekniikka Oy to take advantage of the flexibility of advanced API based integrations and mobile solutions.

Jayne Archbold, Iptor CEO, said, “The challenges of the past six months have been unprecedented. However, it has also been a time where efficient operations, distribution and supply chains have never been more important, and technology plays a crucial role in this. Our customers have recognized the need to continue to invest in their IT and we are delighted they have shown trust in Iptor. We have made substantial investments in our technology over the past 18 months as well placing great emphasis on building long-term partnership with our customers. We look forward to continuing this for many years to come.” http://www.iptor.com

Inventory Allocation with Omnichannel-Centric Solution

Posted on by David Priestman

Manhattan Associates Inc., a leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce, today introduced Manhattan Active® Allocation, the first allocation solution specifically engineered for today’s omnichannel marketplace, with a fresh approach to managing short lifecycle inventory. A leader in inventory optimisation, Manhattan is the first to apply this expertise to softlines retail, with a new solution that also improves allocator agility and responsiveness.

Traditional allocation solutions lack the ability to sense and respond to today’s complex retail environment and evolving shopping habits. Manhattan Active Allocation offers a more nimble and modern approach to inventory allocation of short-lifecycle products for apparel, footwear and other fast-fashion retailers. It offers allocators a better understanding of real demand by giving them direct insight into today’s omni-fulfillment strategies, like BOPIS and curbside pickup. The solution also has the unique ability to shape allocation decisions based on the distinct types of fulfillment experiences offered for each product at both the store and distribution centre level.

“Manhattan has reimagined the entire allocation process with the notion that today’s retailers must better align inventory deployment decisions with how the brand intends to engage its customers,” said Scott Fenwick, senior director of product strategy, Manhattan Associates. “For the first time, allocators will have the ability to make allocation decisions pre-season, before inventory hits the stores, and in real time during the selling season, leveraging granular omni-fulfillment insights. This will give them the ability to align their short-lifecycle inventory plans with their omnichannel fulfillment strategies, resulting in fewer fulfillment redirects and end-of-season markdowns.”

Read more about WMS from Manhattan here https://flickread.com/edition/html/index.php?pdf=5f3d1fcf3160d#26

Built on industry-leading Manhattan Active application architecture, Manhattan Active Allocation is always current, continuously adapting and automatically scaling and flexing to accommodate changing needs as a business grows. The microservices-based, cloud native solution never needs to be upgraded, yet is still fully extensible. The new solution delivers real-time performance monitoring and updates to inventory and sales, network wide. Inventory performance is automatically captured by channel and fulfillment type, and configurable allocations help users define, preserve, learn and reuse high-performing fulfillment strategies year over year.

Manhattan Active Allocation’s embedded analytics and data visualisations give retailers the agility to instantly respond to changing business conditions and dynamically evolve their allocation strategies to maximise sales and margins. The solution gives allocators the agility to create adaptable allocation plans, which result in less stranded inventory and less financial risk for the business. http://www.manh.com

similar news

Fulfillment Experience Insights Dashboard

 

Software gives edge on Fulfilling Online Orders

Posted on by David Priestman

A new cloud-hosted, multi-channel order management solution has been developed that enables third party logistics (3PL) service companies to fulfill B-2-C orders on behalf of e-commerce retailers quickly, accurately and cost-effectively.

By adopting Utordo middleware, 3PLs can integrate their existing warehouse management system with any internet retailer’s website or other popular trading platforms – such as Amazon and Ebay. This enables the retailer’s stock levels and orders to be synchronised in real time and ensures that all relevant information relating to each online order that the retailer receives is instantly exported to the 3PL’s warehouse management system without the need for any manual input – or keying-in – by the logistics company’s administration staff.

“As everyone knows, the online retail sector is growing at a fantastic pace,” says Utordo director, Richard Davies. “In June of this year the British Retail Consortium announced that internet sales accounted for 50 per cent of the UK retail market. Clearly logistics companies need to have the necessary technology in place to be able to compete in this market, so the launch of Utordo couldn’t be more timely. Utordo brings a host of benefits to any 3PL/online retailer client relationship and we believe it will revolutionise the way that logistics companies will operate fulfillment contracts going forward. It is a game changer.”

In simple terms, Utordo (the name derives from Latin and means ‘to order’) seamlessly enables a logistics company’s warehouse management system to automatically interact and exchange data with an e-commerce trader’s multiple online sales platforms. Sitting between the retailer’s website and any other marketplaces from which it sells its products and a 3PL’s WMS, Utordo converts and standardises order information and exports data relating to each order to the WMS using secure flat file, XMS or API formats.

This process allows a 3PL’s retailer client’s orders to appear on the host warehouse management system the instant an order is received and, in doing so, effectively upgrades an existing WMS to deliver the functionality needed to provide reliable and efficient order fulfillment capability. Utordo also handles order communications with the online seller’s customers and updates the retailer’s web-store and other marketplaces with tracking and order details in real time. Compatible with all well-known WMS brands, Utordo is rapidly deployed thanks to its preconfigured connections and, furthermore, because it is cloud-hosted, all software installation procedures and regular updates are undertaken remotely.

Utordo offers a rapid return on investment and to minimise a 3PL’s up-front costs and total CapEx commitment, the technology is offered as a SaaS (Software as a Service) package with a minimum 12-month contract agreement. This means that the full Utordo package is, in effect, ‘hired’ for a pre-agreed monthly fee. Richard Davies comments: “The logistics space is going through a period of rapid change and internet traders want to work with fulfillment companies that have systems in place that are capable of linking to their web-stores and any other online marketplaces where they are visible.

“Utordo gives 3PLs this ability without impacting upon their WMS’s core functionality or, indeed, interfering with a 3PL’s day-to-day operational processes. Utordo is entirely independent of the WMS and works alongside it to deliver a raft of complementary benefits. This is a key product differentiator because, quite understandably, 3PLs want to avoid the cost and disruption to the business that reconfiguring a WMS involves. In short, Utordo is a highly advanced integration system that delivers an extremely low risk opportunity for 3PLs to dramatically improve the levels of service that they offer to their existing internet retail clients. In addition, by adopting Utordo, logistics operators that are new to online order fulfillment and have always focused on storing, picking and packing full pallet loads for B-2-B clients, can now tender for new online fulfillment accounts with full confidence that they have the systems in place to offer a reliable, first-class service.”
www.utordo.com

WMS for World’s Largest Bottling Plant

Posted on by David Priestman

Multinational franchise organization of PepsiCo, MenaBev has implemented Infor WMS warehouse management solution at its more than 300,000-square-meter bottling facility in Jeddah. Infor WMS will increase automation across the organization, optimizing business processes to boost capacity and support continued growth.

MenaBev’s facility is the largest operation of its kind in the world. The automation at the facility is state-of-the-art: LGVs (laser guided vehicles) manage raw materials putaway and replenishment to the lines while a High Bay AS/RS (automated storage and retrieval system) with capacity for more than 36,000 pallets. The solution receives finished goods from the production lines via elevators and monorails; automatic truck loading platform delivers the goods to outbound vehicles.

The warehouse management solution integrates with seven different systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP – including Infor LN), manufacturing execution system (MES), laboratory information management system (LIMS) and original equipment manufacturer  (OEM) systems, providing real-time integration and featuring monitoring screens to identify any integration issues. The full production module enables messages to be sent to LGVs to feed lines and notifies the high bay warehouse about finished goods pallets, and a customized yard management solution manages dock assignments and access to the facility.

“We can receive raw materials using supplier multi-field barcodes, trigger replenishment to production based on live consumption and load pallets onto trucks without a single paper printed,” comments Tamer Salem, MES and automation manager at MenaBev. “Thanks to the new system, we have visibility over all our warehouse processes. We’ve worked very closely with the SNS team to ensure we implement the best solution for our extensive operation. We pride ourselves on our commitment to using state-of-the-art technology in manufacturing and sales & distribution, and this implementation certainly fits that brief. We look forward to this next chapter in our business, readily embracing the benefits this new way of working will bring.”

“Facilities of this scale rely on the very best digital capabilities to optimize operations and maximize performance,” comments Wael Mabsout, senior manager at SNS. “Infor WMS will integrate with all of MenaBev’s key systems to facilitate end-to-end visibility, which is crucial in generating real-time insights, and enhancing decision-making to support future growth. Our team’s experience in setting up logistics processes of this scale was invaluable in making the right recommendations especially when it came to integrate with OEMs.”

Subscribe

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