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Calculating the True Value of a WMS: Top Cost Savings for Manufacturing Companies

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Calculating the True Value of a WMS: Top Cost Savings for Manufacturing Companies

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When manufacturing companies consider the digitization of their supply chain, many opt to delay their project because of the investments required to acquire and implement new technology solutions. In so doing, however, they deprive themselves of their operational and financial benefits.   

SaaS solutions like the SOLOCHAIN WMS have made efficient technology solutions far more affordable than ever before. Nevertheless, a WMS still remains a significant investment to smaller manufacturing companies. However, it’s important to keep in mind that a WMS or ERP’s TOC is not indicative of the system’s actual value – at least, not in and of itself.

Any investment in supply chain infrastructure must be evaluated by relating the TOC to the ROI an operator stands to achieve. It is therefore essential that operators rigorously understand the kinds of savings and gains a given technology solution can yield to make an informed decision regarding its value.

In this paper, we look at five ways manufacturing companies achieve tangible and intangible savings and gains thanks to the SOLOCHAIN WMS.

1. Roasting Coffee to Customers Satisfaction, for Less

A coffee roasting, packaging, and distribution company is putting out a great product and garnering the attention of major players the likes of Walmart, Target, and Menards. To benefit from these new revenue streams, the manufacturer must comply with distinct customer requirements, from packaging to labeling to shipping.

With the SOLOCHAIN WMS integrated with its ERP system, the manufacturer can rely on automated compliance processes and ensure that all shipments meet their customers’ requirements. At all stages of the production and distribution cycle, employees are informed of the customer’s requirements through intuitive interfaces on handheld devices or computer stations.

Thanks to these efficiency gains, the manufacturer is able to achieve a throughput that meets the increased demand instead of having to invest in new real estate, new material handling equipment, and a larger labor force.

2. Manufacturing Cosmetics in an Attractive Work Environment

Some savings generated by the SOLOCHAIN WMS are easily quantified. Others are more intangible, but nevertheless very real.

Most manufacturers these days have trouble attracting and retaining qualified warehouse workers. For a cosmetics manufacturer, this was true before the pandemic hit and it has become a real thorn in their foot today. Labor shortages are now affecting manufacturing and distribution activities to the point where they cannot meet productivity targets. Delays in shipments are having an impact on service levels. Meanwhile, a high turnover rate leads to significant training fees and further operational penalties.

The SOLOCHAIN WMS supports workflows from production processes all the way to shipping. Thanks to clear instructions on intuitive interfaces, activities in the warehouse are more efficient and the cosmetics maker can meet its productivity targets with fewer employees.

Implementing the WMS on handheld devices similar to iPhones and Android platforms, the younger generation of workers find their work environment much more pleasant. This helps the cosmetic maker achieve a higher retention rate, which in turn reduces the training budgets.

By relying on a smaller workforce and retaining more of its employees thanks to an improved work environment, the company can meet its productivity targets and ensure customer satisfaction while saving on labor costs.

3. A Production Flow That Never Drops the Ball

The benefits of traceability might be more obvious in the Food & Beverage industry, but the truth is that all manufacturers stand to make important savings by keeping track of the items that go into making what they produce.

Through SOLOCHAIN’s traceability and automated order cycles capabilities, a baseball equipment manufacturer can keep an eye on quantities produced as well as every item consumed in the process. Management can configure the WMS so that it automatically generates POs to procure items once a certain quantity threshold is reached. In that way, SOLOCHAIN ensures that production is never halted because items are missing on the shelves.

With management in charge of determining thresholds, the system also bypasses the risk of human errors, avoiding that too many, or to few items are ordered. This leads to an optimal use of the warehouse’s storage capacity, which saves the baseball equipment manufacturer from having to make unnecessary investments in their physical infrastructure.

4. Your Counts

Weekly inventory cycle counts force a manufacturer of audio-visual equipment to close areas in the warehouse. This slows down productivity and cuts into the manufacturer’s margins. Thanks to SOLOCHAIN’s inventory management capabilities, the company can save on the costs of long weekly cycle counts.

Once implemented on handheld scanning devices, SOLOCHAIN enables the manufacturer to keep track, in real time, of the quantity and location of every item in the warehouse. While they perform cycle counts, employees are continuously supported in their activities with clear instructions, which drastically cuts down on the time required to complete their tasks.

Today, the manufacturer is attaining inventory accuracy levels of 99.6% and working on eliminating weekly shutdown periods altogether. Thanks to SOLOCHAIN’s support, annual counts can be performed in a single weekend, ensuring that their production of a5. Thinking Ahead: Intelligent Manufacturing  audio-visual equipment never misses a beat.

A food processing facility specialises in the production of organic packaged meals that are delivered daily to various organic grocers in the region. Their products are gaining in popularity and demand is on the rise. The number and complexity of customer orders are quickly overwhelming their pen & paper fulfilment processes. The resulting production and shipping errors are now eating at the manufacturer’s profits and affecting customer satisfaction levels.

The SOLOCHAIN WMS facilitates Just-In-Time Delivery through automated full cycle order management. Thanks to the system’s support, order fulfillment at the food service manufacturer is now virtually errorless. Clients are satisfied and demand is on the rise again. Meanwhile, lesser returns lead to lesser losses, which in turn saves the organic meal maker from welting margins.

About Generix Group

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more. 

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Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Warehousing

3 Insightful Decisions That SOLOCHAIN WMS Can Assist Manufacturers With

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The digitization of supply chains is well underway. SaaS solutions, such as the SOLOCHAIN WMS, have made it easier for manufacturing companies to reap the operational benefits of new technology solutions, rapidly obtain ROI, and stimulate growth. 

In this blog, we take a quick look at the three scenarios that illustrate how the SOLOCHAIN WMS not only improves daily operations on the floor, but also provides management crucial information to help leaders make better decisions. Find out how SOLOCHAIN concretely enables more efficient and cost-effective activities in the warehouse and paves the way to better client experience, sustained growth, and higher margins.

Planning Production in a Time of Supply Chain Disruptions

Many pieces and parts go into making a forklift that usually must be acquired from various vendors. When supply chain disruptions leave items blocked in container yards here and there across the coast, it quickly becomes difficult to determine when the needed pieces will be delivered. This severely limits a manufacturer’s ability to plan production and, consequently, to adequately manage clients’ expectations.

SOLOCHAIN gives a forklift manufacturer the ability to manage orders and locate incoming items across all channels from one easy to read interface. Once SOLOCHAIN is integrated with their ERP and their vendors’ systems, the manufacturer can the leverage the WMS to identify every container, every truck, and every facility where ordered items are located, as well as any changes to delivery dates. Thanks to that data, the manufacturer can precisely determine production calendars, find alternative solutions when need be, and keep their customers apprised.

Maintaining high service levels in a time of disruptions gives the forklift manufacturer a competitive advantage that opens new possibilities for growth.

Making Candy Bars that Make Everyone Smile

Manufacturing in the food & beverage industry requires that operators pay attention to a variety of details: FIFO across different temp zones, items consumed in a batch, customer shelf-life requirements, etc. To ensure its commercial success, a candy bar processing facility must be able to rely on the right data so that items are consumed at the right time and processed products are efficiently picked and shipped that meet the client’s standards.

SOLOCHAIN supports all activities in the processing facility, from the reception of ingredients to the production of processed goods to shipping the candy. At every step, adaptable mobile workflow and graphical tools are accessible to employees on intuitive, easy to read interfaces. Dashboards provide them the right information to ensure that items are handled properly and efficiently. SOLOCHAIN will, for example, communicate FIFO data to employees picking ingredients, guaranteeing that stocks are efficiently consumed and losses are avoided. It will also inform employees of a client’s shelf-life requirements, making sure that picked items meet their standards and are not returned, which avoids costly penalties.

Meanwhile, SOLOCHAIN affords management granular visibility on crucial information: who is performing what task, details regarding production progress, all inventory modifications in real time, and the status of orders fulfilment. Thanks to intuitive dashboards and detailed reporting capabilities, the SOLOCHAIN WMS enables faster order fulfillment, improved customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, higher margins.

Download WMS SOLOCHAIN Product Sheet Here

Efficient Recalls at the Ice Cream Factory

While all manufacturers do their best to steer clear of having to perform recalls, they remain a part of the game. The real differentiator between competing companies is how well recalls are managed. The key, of course, is to achieve recalls that are precise and expedient. By doing so, operators avoid crippling financial penalties and maintain the high service levels that have allowed them to build strong customer confidence over time.

Thanks to its powerful traceability capabilities, SOLOCHAIN informs a manufacturer such as an ice cream maker of all the items that were consumed in a batch. Moreover, it allows the ice cream maker to rigorously trace each and every one of these items, from vendor to customer. And if that wasn’t enough, the WMS also contains a visual tool that makes it easy for employees on the floor to verify, understand, and comply with FDA regulations.

SOLOCHAIN therefore makes it easy for the ice cream maker to precisely identify which lot of cream was problematic, which batches of ice cream consumed that cream, and which must consequently be recalled. SOLOCHAIN let management know of the exact location of every unit from these batches, enabling them to make precise and efficient recalls. Thanks to SOLOCHAIN, no good ice cream goes wasted!

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

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Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Warehousing

5 Insightful Use Cases for Food & Beverage Companies – SOLOCHAIN WMS

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The digitization of supply chains is well underway. SaaS solutions, such as the SOLOCHAIN WMS, have made it easier for Food & Beverage companies to reap the operational benefits of new technology solutions, rapidly obtain ROI, and stimulate growth.  

In this blog, we take a quick look at five scenarios that illustrate how the SOLOCHAIN WMS not only improves daily operations on the floor, but also provides management crucial information to help leaders make better decisions. Find out how SOLOCHAIN concretely enables more efficient and cost-effective activities in the warehouse and paves the way to better client experience, sustained growth, and higher margins.

Real Time Visibility on Inventory for an Agile eCommerce Grocery

Supply chain operators know the impacts of inventory inaccuracies on profitability. Short of accurate information to manage their stocks and stay ahead of the demand signal, companies are doomed to make poor use of their capacity, suffer from losses, and lose the ability to fulfill orders on time.

A grocer operates a multichannel operation from his distribution center. Employees must deal with replenishment orders for a dozen brick-and-mortar groceries, manage cross-dock transfers, and fulfill and ship customer orders made through the grocer’s eCommerce platform (D2C).

With real time updates that give precise information on every item’s location, and rates of inventory accuracy above 99%, SOLOCHAIN ensures that inventory is easily located and properly handled by employees.

Thanks to automated data exchanges between their ERP system and SOLOCHAIN, handheld scanners that are integrated with the WMS, and a 2D digitized map of their distribution center, the grocer’s employees can rely on accurate inventory data across their entire network and intelligent replenishment suggestions that anticipate on the demand signal.

Manage the Heat Efficiently in a Multi-Temp Facility

Businesses in the Food & Beverage industry have to deal with expiration dates, customer specific shelf-life requirements, and traditionally thin margins. Failure to manage fresh and frozen inventory properly can rapidly melt a grocer’s profits.

Take our grocer from the previous scenario: their distribution center has three different temp zones, one of which is a cold storage area. Employees at the dock affected to receiving and transfer tasks must therefore contend with items that must be handled efficiently and expediently to avoid losses.

SOLOCHAIN supports employees receiving frozen goods of the environmental conditions that must prevail in every section of a truck before they accept the delivery. Thanks to that information, they can rapidly make sure that all items meet quality standards, which enables them to come to quick and efficient decisions regarding their reception.

In the eventuality that items do not meet the standards, SOLOCHAIN also tells them what steps must be taken to refuse a shipment and inform the system of any and all changes to inventory. Thanks to the WMS, frozen goods are properly handled on the dock and congestions are avoided, preventing operational penalties and costly losses.

Making Candy Bars that Make Everyone Smile

Food processing requires that operators pay attention to a variety of details: FIFO across different temp zones, items consumed in a batch, customer shelf-life requirements, etc. To ensure its commercial success, a candy bar processing facility must be able to rely on the right data so that items are consumed at the right time and processed products are efficiently picked and shipped that meet the client’s standards.

SOLOCHAIN supports all activities in the processing facility, from the reception of ingredients to the production of processed goods to shipping the candy. At every step, adaptable mobile workflow and graphical tools are accessible to employees on intuitive, easy to read interfaces. Dashboards provide them the right information to ensure that items are handled properly and efficiently. SOLOCHAIN will, for example, communicate FIFO data to employees picking ingredients, guaranteeing that stocks are efficiently consumed and losses are avoided. It will also inform employees of a client’s shelf-life requirements, making sure that picked items meet their standards and are not returned, which avoids costly penalties.

Meanwhile, SOLOCHAIN affords management granular visibility on crucial information: who is performing what task, details regarding production progress, all inventory modifications in real time, and the status of orders fulfilment. Thanks to intuitive dashboards and detailed reporting capabilities, the SOLOCHAIN WMS enables faster order fulfillment, improved customer satisfaction, and, ultimately, higher margins.

Download WMS SOLOCHAIN Product Sheet Here

Efficient Recalls at the Ice Cream Factory

While all food manufacturers do their best to steer clear of having to perform recalls, they remain a part of the game. The real differentiator between competing companies is how well recalls are managed. The key, of course, is to achieve recalls that are precise and expedient. By doing so, operators avoid crippling financial penalties and maintain the high service levels that have allowed them to build strong customer confidence over time.

Thanks to its powerful traceability capabilities, SOLOCHAIN informs an ice cream maker of all the items that were consumed in a batch. Moreover, it allows the ice cream maker to rigorously trace each and every one of these items, from vendor to customer. And if that wasn’t enough, the WMS also contains a visual tool that makes it easy for employees on the floor to verify, understand, and comply with FDA regulations.

SOLOCHAIN therefore makes it easy for the ice cream maker to precisely identify which lot of cream was problematic, which batches of ice cream consumed that cream, and which must consequently be recalled. SOLOCHAIN let management know of the exact location of every unit from these batches, enabling them to make precise and efficient recalls. Thanks to SOLOCHAIN, no good ice cream goes wasted!

Brewing and Delivering Efficiently Thanks to Facilitated Compliance

A brewer delivers its beers across the United States and Canada. From state to state, province to province, the rules relevant to what information must appear on labels are different. Employees must therefore ensure that every shipped case of beer complies with regulations and requirements in the client’s location. When a brewing operation endeavours to deliver efficiently on such a large territory, clerical operations are no longer an option.

SOLOCHAIN is easily integrated with the brewer’s ERP system and labeling software & equipment to support labeling and shipping activities in the warehouse. The WMS acts as hub that automatically relays information to the brewer’s systems and employees regarding a client’s requirements and the laws prevalent in their state or province. The data is thus fed to the labeling software and available on easy-to-read interfaces, which expedites the work of employees fulfilling orders on the floor.

Thanks to significant efficiency gains and a drastically reduced error ratio in their shipments, the brewer achieves higher service levels, which attracts more clients and enables growth.

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

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Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Warehousing

Hold Tight to Food & Beverage Knowledge: Retain and Empower Your Workforce

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The manufacturing industry is “eyeing growth despite turbulence,” according to Deloitte’s 2022 Manufacturing Industry Outlook analysis. What will be critical for future growth in manufacturing is business agility in the face of labor and supply chain challenges. 

The Great Resignation became a topic of conversation as 4 million Americans quit their jobs by September 2021. While often discussed from the viewpoint of office workers, the quit rate in lower-paying jobs was overlooked. Bloomberg noted that the manufacturing industry was second from the top (below leisure and hospitality) for the largest quit rate. What’s more, the quit rate was more significant in lower-paying nondurable goods – in particular in food manufacturing – compared to higher-paying durable goods.

With record workforce shortages and existing pressure of an aging workforce and talent gaps, future-of-work strategies are close to the top of the list for food and beverage manufacturers that want to excel in the face of disruption. In Deloitte’s survey, manufacturing executives want to focus on:

-38% attracting new talent

-31% retention

-13% reskilling

Attracting, retaining, and empowering workers can be supported through technology investments. As workers look for purpose in their roles, Food & Beverage manufacturers have the opportunity to recruit and retain a generation of workers that want high-value work in a cutting-edge, digitized environment to engage and connect with.

Where does WMS fit into a Food & Beverage workforce strategies?

Modern WMS for Workforce Retention

Knowledge loss is a hidden cost of turnover and poor retention. Keeping manufacturing knowledge tight is critical to maximizing operations and growth. To do so, Food & Beverage manufacturers need to give warehouse workers the tools and technology they need to be more productive and make their jobs easier. For the newer generation of workers who aren’t enticed by warehouse jobs, implementing a digitized warehouse can help shift perceptions of the warehouse work from laborious and manual to high-tech and meaningful.

There are key capabilities of a modern WMS that support employee retention but also mitigate people and skill shortages.

Automation

WMS automation can provide benefits that support streamlined work and maximize operational capacity:

1. Automation can fill significant workforce gaps that can’t be replaced to maximize capacity.

2. Automation of manual processes and monotonous tasks help workers focus on higher-value activities and improve productivity and accuracy of their work while reducing operational inefficiencies.

3. Automated processes can lessen reliance on specialized knowledge from employees and streamline the training of new workers with a centralized view of the warehouse processes.

Integrated Mobile Hardware

Mobility is central to efficient and productive workers on the warehouse floor. Integrated mobile devices – such as iPads, touch screens, etc. – make workers more effective by putting the tools they want in their hands to complete a task in less time. The more physical and mental strain on workers can be reduced, the more an organization can improve the work experience for employees.

User-Friendly Interfaces

A WMS that puts end users first in its design, implementation, and experience will get better adoption and faster ROI. WMS should be functional, intuitive, easy-to-use, reliable, and enjoyable for the end-users.

Workforce Empowerment in Action

In the Food & Beverage industry, Cameron’s Coffee is an excellent example of how a highly automated warehouse enables and empowers a workforce. Before implementing Solochain WMS and MES, Cameron’s Coffee relied heavily on paper-based processes. Workers would manually check and encode items and carry pens, notepads, and clipboards while running production lines or operating equipment.

Digitizing their warehouse with Solochain WMS and MES led to 50% sales growth, 200% eCommerce growth, and a 25% expansion of their warehouse.

On top of growth and operational efficiencies, the day-to-day dramatically transform for Cameron’s Coffee workforce:

-New software and iPads reduced the time required to complete a task

-User-friendly and intuitive interfaces made adoption easy

-Automated processes reduced human error across the warehouse

-Workers had more independence with a centralized system for warehouse activities

-New employee onboarding was simplified through transparent processes in the WMS display

-The Finance team would easily understand warehouse workflows and processes and close month-end sooner with integration into the ERP

-Workers were happier and more confident in the jobs

“The WMS and MES systems through Solochain are user-friendly and very customizable. In a dynamically changing company, the system has been able to change and grow with our needs. We have found efficiencies that have allowed us to grow with minimal additional head count. And when we do have new hires, the system is easy to train and empowers employees to confidently complete their jobs.”  Amy Fitzgerald
System Administrator Cameron’s Specialty Coffee

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you tocontact us to learn more.

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Growing Manufacturing Companies Through System Integration

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Each function in a supply chain must work together like a well-oiled machine. Not only does this require systems and technology to work together, but also the processes built around it and the people managing it. Integrating diverse solutions deployed within a supply chain network can maximize data sharing to improve visibility, processes, and overall operational excellence.

Successful supply chain management relies on information and communication in order to track the movement of goods, spot issues, and make effective day-to-day decisions to, ultimately, deliver the right items, to the right customers, on time.

Integration across this ecosystem can yield:

1. Greater efficiency through streamlined and optimized operations.

2. Time and cost savings through productivity improvements, waste reduction, and efficiency increases.

3. Accelerated time-to-market with automated processes, optimized workflows, and the ability to make decisions faster.

4. More flexibility to adapt and change strategies to meet demands or shifts in consumer behavior.

5. Added insights by using advanced analytics on centralized, accessible data.

Often, the types of systems in this ecosystem include:

-Order management systems (OMS)

-Warehouse management systems (WMS)

-Manufacturing execution systems (MES)

-Transportation management systems (TMS)

-Warehouse control systems

-Yard management systems (YMS)

-Enterprise asset management systems (EAM)

-Enterprise resource planning systems (ERP)

 

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A Digital Supply Chain Hub with SOLOCHAIN WMS Integrations

Companies that focus on creating Digital Supply Chain Hub can break down silos of legacy systems and bring processes and data into an integrated and connected ecosystem. SOLOCHAIN WMS transforms warehouse operations to scale for growth with the integration capabilities to support manufacturers digitizing the supply chain processes.

Importance to Manufacturers

Digitization of supply chain processes is critical to future growth. The SOLOCHAIN WMS ecosystem provides the specific processes and capabilities manufacturers require:

-Advanced warehouse functions and manufacturing execution

-Optimized production floor execution and lean manufacturing

-Work-in-process management and tracking

-License plate and container management

-Recipe management and consumption module

-Quality assurance with electronic checklists

-Track and trace capabilities

-Electronic recall capabilities

Built-in MES

As the command center of manufacturing operations, MES enables manufacturers to attain high inventory accuracy, productivity, and waste elimination throughout the manufacturing process. SOLOCHAIN WMS has built-in MES functionality to give businesses visibility and traceability within their supply chain. This integration is ideal for manufacturers and industries with multi-stage manufacturing processes and traceability regulations that need to connect the warehouse to the production floor and trace raw materials and finished goods forwards and backward.

Warehouse Control System Integration

Warehouse control systems are important to a warehouse’s automation capabilities as it controls and monitors equipment performance. SOLOCHAIN WMS integrates with various warehouse control system components, such as conveyor belts, sorters, scales, pick-to-light systems, carousels, and print and apply stations.

Mobile Hardware Integrations

Mobility is central to efficient warehouse operations. Handheld and mobile devices make it possible for a worker to be mobile within the warehouse, but it also can boost employee morale. By giving and utilizing devices that workers are comfortable with – iPads, touch screens, etc. – work is more enjoyable, and it takes less time to complete tasks. SOLOCHAIN WMS is platform-agnostic and compatible with Apple iOS, Android OS, and Microsoft Windows mobile.

For Cameron’s coffee, using iPads and tablets for production combined with other handheld devices enabled workers to run more production lines, be more mobile, and reduce the need for computers at every station.

ERP Integration

ERP systems support supply chain planning and manage day-to-day business activities, such as procurement, purchasing, risk management, accounting, and more. It is critical for a company’s warehouse management system to share information with its ERP seamlessly. SOLOCHAIN WMS provides out-of-the-box integration with third-party ERP systems to synchronize data and monitor inbound and outbound transactions in real-time.
This integration allows companies to report faster, close month-end sooner, and manage all business processes better.

ERP integrations include:

-SAP

-Oracle Peoplesoft

-Oracle JD Edwards Enterprise One

-Microsoft Dynamic AX

-Microsoft Dynamics Nav

-Microsoft Dynamics GP

-Syspro

-Epicor

-And others as we are ERP agnostic!

TMS Integration

TMS systems can vary. And how companies ship their products is shifting with changing consumer behaviors. Traditionally, large companies would send products LTL using freight brokers. With eCommerce and omni-channel distribution taking priority, there is a movement toward using small package courier systems. SOLOCHAIN WMS integrates with a variety of TMS systems.

SOLOCHAIN can further optimize warehouse processes, such as picking strategies, based on information exchange with the TMS through this integration.

Manufacturer Blue Streak Electronics doubled output capacity and expanded to eCommerce channels using SOLOCHAIN WMS and a TMS, ProShip, for small parcel shipping.

Read more about how four companies used SOLOCHAIN WMS and integrations to digitize their supply chain processes, transform operations, and facilitate growth.

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world, and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared here. Republished with permission. 

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How WMS Allows Yakima Chief Hops to Increase Customer Satisfaction

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As a 100% grower-owned network of family hop farms, Yakima Chief Hops is uniquely positioned to establish strong relationships between the growers who supply their super-premium hops and the innovative brewing customers who utilize their products in their beer. YCH are also committed to being an environmentally and socially responsible company as well as a responsible neighbor and asset to their communities.

 


YCH’s Supply Chain Needs

 

YCH comprises 59 users located in 3 campuses, which in turn are located in Sunnyside and Yakima in California, as well as a new one Belgium. Each of these facilities has its own warehouse. These facilities function with multi-channel distribution to supply a variety of clients, from private to commercial brewers, using eCommerce.

YCH’s commitment to safety and complete traceability of their ingredients requires precise inventory visibility,  control, and tracking elements from the field all the way to the transformation process. Inventory accuracy is the key for success and for YCH to reach their data visibility goals.

Generix Group’s WMS as a Solution

YCH decided to implement Solochain WMS to gain the inventory accuracy they needed. With the warehouse management system, YCH collected constant data on the movement of their products in their facilities. Thanks to this visibility, they cut losses from inventory mistakes that the system enabled them to avoid.

The Solochain WMS also integrated with the Sage X3 ERP and Magento eCommerce due to the flexibility of the WMS.

Goals Achieved

Automating: Opting for automation and switching to the WMS allowed YCH to reduce paper usage by shifting from a pen and paper process to scan guns, which also allowed them to store more data while being more efficient. In addition, automation enabled them to trace the hops to their original growers. This also makes recall management easier and the products safer.

Cost Reduction: The new system increased YCH’s precision and decreased losses related to inefficiency. Inventory visibility assured that YCH stopped experiencing the lost inventory cases they had prior to implementation.  Once the Solochain WMS was implemented, the company realized a net gain of 83,861 Cartons that did not have to be transferred prior to shipping out to the customers.

Increase in Customer Satisfaction:  YCH has been able to cut multiple days from their shipping time which has improved the satisfaction of their customers who received their orders much faster. They also achieved a 24-hour turnaround for eCommerce leading to satisfied customers.

Better Environment for Employees: Employees experienced a smooth change from the old system to the new one. The user-friendly Solochain interface helped the adaptation and provided a process that employees could use more comfortably and that allowed them to work more efficiently.

Solochain WMS helped Yakima Chief Hops in their strive for increased visibility, safety, and quality of service. The gained inventory visibility facilitated recalls when necessary, while the increase in warehouse management efficiency allowed YCH to offer a faster and more precise service to their customers.

As a 100% grower-owned network of family hop farms, Yakima Chief Hops is uniquely positioned to establish strong relationships between the growers who supply our quality hops and the brewing customers who utilize our products in their beers.

About Yakima Chief Hops:

“Operating for more than 30 years, we have become more than a hop supplier. We are a resource for brewers, providing solutions-based products and industry-leading research. We are advocates of sustainability and meaningful social causes, working to support the environment and communities around us. Through our commitment to continuous improvement, we aim to be leaders of innovation, quality and customer service.”

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. From Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Transportation Management Systems (TMS) to Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and more, software platforms can deliver a wide range of benefits that ultimately flow to the warehouse operator’s bottom line. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared here. Republished with permission. 

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Solving Manufacturers’ Pain Points with a WMS

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Generix Group is a global leader in warehouse and logistics solutions and based on internal research of customers around the globe, the 7 most common pain points that affect the manufacturing industry are:

-Inventory Visibility
-Quality Assurance (QA)
-Risks of miscommunication and disruptions often from incorrect and incomplete data
-Recalls
-Omnichannel Distribution
-Relying on predictive data
-Just-in-time-delivery

When choosing the right WMS for your business you should consider how a WMS will resolve your particle pain point and improve the rest of your warehouse. The right WMS should be both customizable and flexible enough to resolve any pain point in your operation now or in the future. It should also provide your business with the tools and resources to increase efficiency and expand.

Visibility within the warehouse

 

An essential tool of any WMS is traceability. For inventory, QA, and recalls the ability to locate the item in real-time anywhere within the warehouse whether it is in a location or with a worker is imperative. It’s also important to trace the history of your items. If an item is recalled or on QA hold the complete history of the item should be readily available, so that you can find a solution with as little interruption to the warehouse as possible.

Traceability is also the solution to minimizing incorrect and incomplete data. By tracing inventory through the warehouse in real-time the WMS has many data points that the user can quickly and easily view. This provides a roadmap to quickly locate and fix any error.

Using Predictive analytics

 

The right WMS should be capable of expanding with your warehouse and growing into new areas. For example, if you are adding a new sales channel such as ecommerce, you will need a WMS capable of managing different vendors and workflows. In addition, a WMS capable of collecting and analyzing predictive data is important for any business relying on consumer demand. In turn, consumer demand drives the industry, any warehouse that can predict the consumer has an advantage over the competition.

Businesses utilizing just-in-time delivery should look for a WMS that has automated full cycle order management, along with the features listed above. Automated order management can greatly reduce any error in order fulfillment by quickly and automatically order items necessary to fulfill any order. Combine this feature with predictive analytics and your WMS can expand your business tremendously.

Natesan Andiyappillai published an article in the International Journal of Computer Applications. According to his research data analytics play a key role in optimizing logistics. He concluded that “Logistics business becomes complex due to globalization and ever-changing market and consumer behavior. And it is critical for the business not only to use the sophisticated IT WMS systems to capture the right data as much as possible but also to analyze the data extensively and optimize the logistics channel accordingly to be competitive in the market.”

As omni-channel driven demands become the norm, with resulting customer satisfaction harder to achieve, supply chain professionals need to leverage advanced WMS technology to keep their operations nimble, efficient, and scaling – especially in these volatile times.

Given Generix Group’s completeness of vision and ability to execute, as recognized once again by the Gartner analyst community, our Solochain WMS is well positioned to help companies needing a modern, flexible, and agile solution that can easily adapt to their changing needs.

We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared here. Republished with permission. 

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3pls, Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Warehousing

Top 5 Ways to Crisis-Proof Your Supply Chain in 2021

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Here’s how manufacturers, distributors, and retailers can shore up their supply chains with an eye on making them more resilient and crisis-proof in 2021 (and beyond). 

If there’s one thing the world’s manufacturers, distributors, and retailers learned in 2020, it’s that there’s no such thing as being too prepared to tackle a supply chain crisis. With companies across many sectors still grappling with COVID-related material shortages and the world’s transportation networks struggling to keep up with the demand, there’s no time like the present to make your own supply chain more resilient, agile, and crisis-proof.

“The COVID pandemic caused significant disruption to 80% of supply chains around the world, with the result that nearly half (47%) of supply chain operations will be overhauled,” Kearney reports. “But as dramatic as these figures are, they still understate the size and scope of supply chain challenges.”

Offsetting Severe Disruptions

It didn’t take long for the global pandemic to throw companies around the world into crisis mode. In March of 2020, more than 80% of companies already believed that their organizations would experience some impact due to COVID-19 disruptions; by late-March, that number had grown to 95%, according to Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

“Severe supply chain disruptions were experienced in multiple regions to varying degrees,” ISM reported a few months later, noting that in early-March, 6% of firms reported “severe disruptions” across their supply chains. By the end of March, severe disruptions were being reported in North America (9% for U.S. supply chains, 6% for supply chains elsewhere in North America), Japan and Korea (by 17% of respondents for each), Europe (by 24% of respondents), and particularly China (by 38% of respondents).

5 Steps to Take now

By June 2020, Accenture was reporting that 94% of Fortune 1000 companies were experiencing supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic. “Disruptions to supply chain caused by COVID-19 were unpredictable and devastating, drawing attention to how critical supply chains are to sustaining business success and daily operations,” Supply & Demand Chain Executive (SDC) reports. “Unfortunately, the pandemic has also underscored how vulnerable supply chains are to sudden adversity.”

To help your supply chain better withstand the shocks of a future crisis, consider implementing some or all of these strategies for bolstering resilience:

1. Fully leverage connectivity and digitization. “Advancing connectivity with supply chain partners and digitizing information to generate a single version of the truth guarantees that enterprises can inform and cooperate with their entire supply chains to respond in unison,” SDC explains. “Organizations that connect their supply chain partners into a multi-enterprise business network can have access to real-time information, rapid access to capital, and enhanced shipment visibility.”

2. Strive for end-to-end visibility. The goal should be to gain insights into every aspect impacting inventory in the supply chain. This includes enterprise-level demand forecasts and purchase orders, cooperation with suppliers to ensure that availability and capacity needs are met and connected or “single-instance” applications of enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs), SDC advises. “This visibility also covers warehouse management across your distribution network, transportation tracking and visibility, in-house and outsourced production and final delivery and settlement.”

3. Improve partner collaboration. The lack of communication between trading partners led to a lot of late orders, missed shipments, and understock situations in 2020. It also forced more companies to examine the role that basic exercises like data sharing across supply chain networks can play in the overall health of those networks. “Effective collaboration with partners is critical to supply chain resiliency,” SDC says, noting that early sharing of forecasts and orders is a best practice, whether volatility exists or not.

4. Diversify your supply sources. Don’t let your single-source approach become a point of failure in a crisis. Instead, consider alternate supply sources and begin weaving them into your overall procurement plan before disaster strikes. One way to do this is by near-shoring the manufacture of certain components, or you might want to adopt a China plus one policy, whereby most of your production takes place in China while some of it happens in another country. These and other diversification strategies help lessen risk and ensure that you don’t have all of your “eggs in one basket” when the next disruption emerges.

5. Build more trust into supply chain processes. There was a time when keeping things “close to the vest” and blocking organizations from obtaining internal data, forecasts, and other information was just a part of doing business. Fast-forward to 2021 and the business landscape basically demands higher levels of trust and transparency across trading partners. This, in turn, helps those partners shield their respective supply chains—and, the ecosystem as a whole—from shocks and disruptions. “Supply chain transparency is one way to enable communication among suppliers,” Symbia Logistics points out. “With open discussions, all parties can tackle issues that impact pricing, quality, and competitiveness. If a supplier is unwilling to share data, a company has to wonder why. What is the supplier trying to hide?”

By implementing some or all of the above points, companies can shore up their domestic and global supply chains and prepare them for the impacts of the next disruption—no matter how big or small that event may be. After all, it doesn’t take a global pandemic to bring a supply chain to its knees and the next interruption could be waiting right around the next corner.

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This post originally appeared here. Republished with permission.

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Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, International Trade

Using Technology to Improve Food Supply Chain Visibility

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As they address the issues of 2020 and try to avoid repeating the same mistakes, food and beverage companies embrace more technology to help them gain higher levels of supply chain visibility. Here is how.

 

Supply chain visibility has become a hot button for corporate leaders as a result of the pandemic, which left many companies reassessing how they obtain, share, and disseminate data with their trading partners. According to PwC, visibility enables companies to know at any given time where a product is in the supply chain.

 

“This enhances decision making agility for production and distribution decisions,” PwC points out. “Food supply chain visibility is increasingly a standard expectation for consumers, especially with an emerging middle class.”

 

A Bigger Spotlight on Visibility

 

Where stockouts of critical supplies early in the pandemic—plus ongoing supply shortages—forced companies to pay more attention to this aspect of their operations in 2020, the food supply chain has always been held to a higher level of scrutiny. Pre-COVID, for example, food and beverage companies were already strengthening efforts around “farm to fork” traceability while complying with new government regulations in this area.

 

This was partly driven by the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which in 2011 shifted the focus from “responding” to foodborne illness to “preventing” it. When it became a law, FSMA expanded the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the food supply to many different points in the global supply chain (for both human and animal food). Last year, pandemic-related challenges pushed the food industry even further down the road to securing high levels of supply chain visibility across manufacturers, farmers, distributors, restaurants, and grocers.

 

These new obstacles pushed companies to rethink their approaches to supply chain visibility, traceability, and transparency. Where in the past the most popular reaction was to increase inventory levels, this approach consumes working capital, requires extra physical space, and often leaves food companies “holding the bag” on inventory that’s perishable or in danger of expiring. Instead, companies are choosing to implement supply chain solutions such a WMS, MES and TMS that ensure a real time visibility on all inventory and advanced traceability capabilities to pinpoint the origins of a given ingredient quickly and efficiently.

 

Supply Chain, Disrupted

 

In Food Processing, Robert Swientek explains how the COVID-19 pandemic triggered panic buying and food hoarding that subsequently disrupted the world’s food supply chains. This exposed defects in the industry, leaving some store shelves empty right at a time when an oversupply of food animals crowded farms. Concurrently, goods that would normally be distributed to restaurants had no place to go due to mandatory shutdowns.

 

“The food supply chain is one of the most critical supply chains in any economy,” Adroit North America’s Richard Sides told Food Processing. “Other events have shaken the food supply chain, like tariffs and foodborne outbreaks, but COVID-19 had a greater impact because it affected the entire process—from the field to the consumer.”

 

According to Swientek, the nuts and bolts of productive supply chains can be found at the organizational level and in manufacturing plants. “Gaining a better understanding and grasp of your production capabilities, processes and data platforms, demand forecasting, procurement and sourcing and inventory management,” he writes, “can help you optimize your upstream supply chains.”

 

Now, more companies are turning to supply chain software and platforms that enable end-to-end visibility. “The pandemic has brought a renewed focus for manufacturers in making sure they are becoming more transparent and agile within their supply chain processes,” Niels Anderson writes in Food Safety Tech.

 

“They are realizing thanks to this disruption that suppliers can’t always deliver and a backup plan is crucial to keep things moving,” Anderson continues. “One option is to implement technology that helps track visibility and transparency to better assess what is needed and to offer alternative suppliers. Having supply chain transparency requires companies to know what is happening upstream in the supply chain and communicate this knowledge both internally and externally.”

 

Managing Costs and Identifying New Solutions

 

Supply chain visibility is about more than just understanding where raw materials and finished goods are at any point in the global supply chain. It’s also about becoming more efficient and profitable. In How Supply Chain Visibility Helps Restaurants Improve Their Business, CH Robinson points to supply chain visibility as being key to managing costs and identifying solutions in the food sector.

 

“While it has always been important, visibility is now an essential element of successful supply chains,” the transportation provider writes. “Insight to shipment status is only one aspect of true supply chain visibility. Complex supply chains often combine costs, which can impede clear understanding when changes to costs do occur.”

 

The transportation provider also says that the foodservice industry needs “connected” supply chains. “Simply managing the supply chain isn’t enough in today’s market,” CH Robinson adds. “As the foodservice industry continues to evolve for the future, it’s critical that the supply chain is viewed as a roadmap. Continuous improvement and ongoing supply chain optimization strategies will continue to differentiate acceptable foodservice companies from superior ones.”

 

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

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Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Warehousing

How Cameron’s Coffee Tracks Their Products from Bean to Carton with a WMS

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Cameron’s Specialty Coffee and their Mission:

A smooth cup: Part of Cameron’s mission is to provide a smooth cup of coffee by handpicking the best beans in the world. However, their mission goes beyond that.

All around the world: Cameron’s Specialty Coffee is directly involved with the farmers supplying them with their coffee beans. Members of their team go around the world to meet farmers and their families to build a relationship based on social responsibility. Cameron’s is therefore dedicated to help their farmers grow in a healthy environment.

A Green Company: Cameron’s feels responsible not only for its partners but for the environment. Therefore, they strive for eco-friendly processes. They are dedicated to minimizing their footprint through big and small actions such as minimizing water consumption and using recyclable materials.

 

Cameron’s Specialty Coffee’s Supply Chain Needs

 

To accomplish their goals, Cameron’s Coffee had to overcome three challenges, all of which required a change to their inventory management.

-Responding to growing eCommerce demand

-Responding to growing expectations for traceability in the Food and Beverage industry

-Replacing their paper-based processes

By first replacing their paper-based process to an electronic one, we can simultaneously resolve their other challenges.  Adapting inventory processes enables employees to be more efficient, and the reduction in error would equip Cameron’s Specialty Coffee with the right strategy to satisfy their online customers. The same goes for satisfying visibility standards by tracing all ingredients, where use of real-time data instead of paper processes would yield greater inventory visibility and traceability.

Sustaining growth: Cameron’s saw much growth in the last few years. eCommerce grew particularly fast during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, Cameron’s was purchased by a larger Colombian company, which also increased the scale of their operations.

 

Using a WMS

 

Cameron’s Coffee turned to Generix to automate their processes and implemented WMS Solochain.

Managing growth: As a result of a 50% growth in demand, they had to enlarge their warehouse space by more than 25% between 2018 and 2020. Switching from paper-based processes to a WMS and automation made sure that Cameron’s could absorb all this growth without being overwhelmed by it. The implementation of the WMS also enabled them to do more with less: they did not have to increase the headcount of their finance department. They simply made it more efficient.

 

Attracting the New Generation of Warehouse Employees

 

Opting for the WMS solution also allowed smooth integration of the new processes with the warehouse employees as well as with those from finance. Employees prefer using tablets and computers to stacks of paper because they are polyvalent and interactive. It also relieves them from having to carry around a lot of material such as pens, notepads, and clipboards and all while operating warehouse equipment such as forklifts. The tablet replaces all those objects and are easy to carry.

To maximize efficiency, the system also needs to be user-friendly. The employees from Cameron’s Specialty Coffee reported that they adjusted quickly and easily to their new tool. Learning the ways of the warehouse was also made easier on new employees since processes are clearer in the WMS display than learning every corner of the warehouse by heart.

Warehouse automation also made work easier for people in the finance team since they could easily understand all the warehouse workflows and processes. Gone are the times of having to read people’s handwriting on sheets of paper.

In the end, automating the processes by making everyone’s job easier, eliminated most errors, whether they be found in the production chain, inventory count, or in shipping.

 

Optimized Processes

 

Thanks to the visibility offered by the WMS, Cameron’s Coffee is now able to reduce waste in its production chain by repurposing coffee beans. For example, if by mistake a batch is over-roasted, it can be easily re-routed to be utilized in the production of a darker roast. The WMS helps ensure that the correct type of bean and roasting degree is respected.

Amy Fitzgerald spoke to us about the implementation process and how enthusiastic the end-users were about switching to a more automated process: “Everyone likes to use electronics, it’s just exciting”, she said. The switch to high tech was also welcomed by end-users since it provided more accuracy for their tasks, leading them directly to locations and preventing errors. This made everyone’s day brighter.

Cameron’s Specialty Coffee had goal-specific challenges which were solved by streamlining processes and optimizing their warehousing operations and production by implementing the WMS and MES.

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. From Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Transportation Management Systems (TMS) to Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), such platforms can deliver a wide range of benefits that ultimately flow to the warehouse operator’s bottom line. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.