WMS7 increases Av-Cables order capacity by over 40 percent at very low cost
Strong growth in online trade requires webshops to improve efficiency to ensure high quality logistics and short delivery times
What can management do when the number of orders keeps rising. If you employ more people in the warehouse, they will end up getting in each other's way. The answer is not work harder, but work smarter. That's exactly what the webshop Av-Cables chose.
Av-Cables specialises in cables, connectors and electronic products, which Danes buy online in large numbers. Sales have risen sharply year on year.
"The web shop had grown into a place where something had to happen, but I never dreamed that we could increase our capacity so easily, so quickly and so cheaply," says Christian Damgaard, owner and CEO of Av-Cables. He continues, "The WMS is a really good business for us. Service delivery quality is better, with far fewer complaints, and our capacity has increased over 40 percent with a relatively small investment. Workflows are more rational. The ROI is very good."
Dashboard provides real-time overview
By optimising the picking method, the WMS has increased order capacity by at least 40 percent with the same number of employees and in the same warehouse as before. The only difference is a WMS solution that uses smart algorithms to organise workflows and ensure employees can work more efficiently.
Before, warehouse workers worked with paper picking lists. It was a lot of steps, over 20,000 steps for some in a working day back and forth between the warehouse shelves and packing tables. The early manual processes are now controlled by WMS7 and employees therefore take the shortest possible route.
“At the same time, management has an extremely good overview in real time of the order flow and production on a Dashboard. How many orders are coming in? How many are picked etc. We can continuously focus work efforts where needed. This is very positive.” explains Christian Damgaard, “It is also flexible. We can expand as we grow.”
Implementation in a week
Av-Cables spent over a year deciding on the new WMS. The Tecsys pre-project showed significant potential for optimising workflows and order management. Then there was a dialogue about adapting Tecsys’ standard solution to Av-Cables’ business, and Av-Cables needed to get some internal things in place.
The implementation itself took a week, including a day’s training for staff. The interface on the handheld terminal is intuitive and the employees were familiar with the new solution in a very short time. It also means that Av-Cables can bring in substitutes who are picking after 15 minutes of training.
“We took the time we needed and Tecsys was always available. It has been safe and quite painless,” says Christian Damgaard.
Standard solution with rich configuration possibilities
The solution consists of Tecsys WMS7 configured to Av-Cables' wishes and needs and integrated to Av-Cables' existing webshop solution. Employees use the MC3300 handheld terminal from Zebra.
The many small orders, for example a single cable, are collected and organised by the WMS7, so that in a single walk between the warehouse shelves, the employee can pick 50 orders of goods that are close together in the warehouse. Using the hand terminal, barcodes are recorded to ensure the right goods are picked for the right customers. The software organises the workflow and picking route in the warehouse so that the employee has to walk as few steps as possible and spend as little time as possible picking the goods.
The solution is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, allowing Av-Cables to expand capacity on an ongoing basis.
"It has been great to help optimise Av-Cables' inventory management", says Peter Siggaard-Andersen, WMS consultant at Tecsys. He adds, "It's a great example of the potential to manage and optimise warehousing operations with huge benefits for the customer. We started by talking about how Tecsys could solve Av-Cable's warehousing challenges. It was a good dialogue and the management could see that the solution could be implemented and produce the desired results."