Nutrend has increased overall warehouse efficiency by 15% by deploying WMS
NUTREND was founded in 1993. It specializes in the development and production of nutrition and food supplements for athletes. Currently, it employs over 200 employees of various professions and specializations.
The manufacturer's portfolio includes liquid and bulk products, gels, capsules and protein, nut or oat bars. More than 70 basic products thanks to a large number of volume, flavour and language versions give a total of an impressive 470 variants.
THE SITUATION BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CONTROLLED WAREHOUSE
The average daily picking of 100 commercial packs reached up to 4,000 cartons at the end of the month - the base pack for the WMS. Until 2015, the company made do with an ERP - economic information system - for warehouse management. Its use was hitting its limits and the current system was becoming inadequate for the planned expansion of the production and logistics facilities.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- To lighten the economic information system
- To optimise the distribution of goods in the warehouse
- To increase the speed of picking
- Prevent human errors
- To prepare processes for further warehouse expansion
SOLUTION
- Implement a standalone warehouse management system, K.Motion Warehouse Edge (formerly HighJump Warehouse Edge).
- Thorough analysis of warehouse processes.
- Design and implementation of a wireless network for the warehouse.
- Supply of hardware equipment in the form of mobile terminals and thermal barcode printers incl. printer consumables.
- Complete marking of warehouse locations in accordance with the analysis.
Implementation of the system took 3 months. The managed warehouse system covered all the key processes from receiving through loading goods into the picking locations to replenishment of goods into the picking locations and the actual picking of goods. The system works on identification through barcodes in GS1 standard, which is a major advantage and facilitates the handling of goods. When goods are received into the warehouse, this also ensures a very reliable control of the incoming goods. If not only the GTIN of the product, but also, for example, the batch of the product itself, does not match against the receiving document, the operator is immediately alerted to this. The implementation of this operation in one step and the tight binding of the product data significantly reduces the potential error rate in all processes. When loading goods into locations, the system recommends the location to which the goods should be placed with respect to the set warehouse layout. In all these processes, the warehouse handler works with a mobile terminal that is equipped with a barcode scanner and is connected online to the managed warehouse system. This eliminates the need for any transcription or checking against printed documents. By scanning a single barcode from the product packaging, not only the product type itself, but also its batch, expiry date and language are immediately identified.
RESULT
- A 15% increase in warehouse efficiency.
- Almost zero error rate.
- Possibility to expand the warehouse from 1800 pallet places to 5000.
- Easy system configuration as the warehouse grows and processes change.
- Enabling zoning of the warehouse area.
- Return on investment of 18 months.