Illums Bolighus wanted to introduce a Warehouse Management System to improve the customer experience in their webshop, by providing a better overview of the inventory in the stores. At the same time, picking and packing have been optimised so that online trading can be scaled for the high season and future growth in e-commerce.
In Illums Bolighus you will find quality brands from over 500
suppliers. Today Illums Bolighus has 15 stores in 4 countries.
Consignment stock
One of the challenges for Illums Bolighus was to manage the inventories of the many consignment suppliers. Some of the suppliers filled goods directly on the shelves themselves, others delivered without purchase orders. In general, data were not recorded in the ERP system.
All goods are now registered in the Warehouse Management System (WMS), which can also send detailed reports to individual consignment suppliers on stock levels and transactions. At the same time, stock for all items is now available on-line for the webshop.
Goods reception and cash registers
WMS keeps track of inventory in all stores. When goods are received and stored, the WMS database is updated directly from
barcode scanners.
To keep the store’s inventory in line, the transactions from the cash registers are integrated with the WMS so that inventory is continuously adjusted as goods are sold.
Webshop orders are picked in the shop
When an item is ordered on the webshop, it is picked up in the same shops that customers enter from the street. The customer can have the goods delivered, or as ‘Click-and-Collect’ as a large proportion of customers choose, where the goods are picked and ready for collection in the store.
“In a normal warehouse, the WMS system will be sure the item is available on the shelf, but in a store a customer may have taken the item and be on his way to the checkout. The system must respect this, as physical customers have priority. Therefore, Tecsys has built-in features to help the picker find an alternative location to pick the item from.” says Anton Danielsen, E-commerce Manager.
Order splitting and multipluk
An order with multiple product lines may have products located over multiple floors or departments in the warehouse. WMS divides these orders into several picking jobs, which can be executed in the individual departments.
“A customer orders a lamp and a plate to be picked in the lamp department and in the kitchen department. The WMS system splits this order into two picking jobs. In the lamp department the lamp is picked alone, as we typically deal with larger and heavier items, while in the kitchen department the plate is picked together with other customers’ orders, as the employee here can easily handle several orders at the same time.” says Anton Danielsen.
By picking several orders at the same time, called multipluk, experience shows that you can pick up to 30% faster. When an employee starts a picking task, they are assigned a number of picking jobs, which are picked in the most optimal order.
Facts
Software solution:
Illums Bolighus uses Tecsys WMS-7, which is also hosted by Tecsys. Integration to NAV via XML files and to Webshop via WMS API.
Tecsys ReportByEmail is used to send automated emails to suppliers, customers and department managers.
Equipment:
In stores and warehouses, Zebra MC3300 and TC51 handheld terminals and Zebra ZD410/ZD420 label printers are used.
Illums Bolighus was founded in 1925, and is today known for Danish and international design and interior decoration. It’s the place to find home inspiration and beautiful classic gifts.
Illums Bolighus makes a virtue of renewing the range with modern interpretations of old favourites and offers product innovations that will in time become the classics of the future.
Consolidation and packing
“After picking, the goods are brought down to the cellar, where packing and shipping takes place. If the order is complete, it is taken directly to packing, or alternatively to consolidation, where the goods await the rest of the order to be picked.”
Gift wrapping and tags
Orders are packed for customers on the parcel tables. If a customer has ordered gift wrapping, the goods are wrapped very nicely, just as you would expect as a customer at Illums Bolighus. The goods are provided with exchange tags so that the gifts can be exchanged in the warehouse in the normal way.
Same platform in several countries
Illums Bolighus has rolled out the installations in 14 stores in 3 countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Germany will follow, with the Hamburg store also joining soon.
“It has been easy and intuitive to use and we have installed 9 stores during September 2018 alone. We have managed the task ourselves with minimal need for support from Tecsys” says Kristian Friis-Hansen, IT Manager at Illums Bolighus.