manufacturing and logistics it - march 2012

The European magazine promoting the effective use of IT in supply chain applications

www.logisticsit.comFor the latest news and to subscribe to theManufacturing and Logistics IT weekly newsletter visit

MAR

CH 2

012

The European magazine promoting the effective use of IT in supply chain applications

15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION:Remembering how things were

Special Report:PRINTING & LABELLING

Automotive/Logistics special feature:AUTOGLASS

Also in this issue:Streamlining the multi-channel business

At the heart of improved productivity

Supporting 3PL growth

The effective way to strip costs out of your supply chain

FROM VISION TO DECISION

Warehouse managers want real time information. But what about empowering them to make real time decisions?

Presenting VoxPilot: a new type of dashboard that spans the gap between information and action. Through a ‘one-click bridge,’ users can proceed from real time analytics to options for acting on what they see.

VoxPilot’s gadget-powered display is fully configurable, allowing users to tailor the dashboard to their specific job role – so all managers and executives have what they need to run a top-level voice operation in the warehouse.

Perceive, Diagnose, Act. All in real time.

March 2012 3ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

For the team at Manufacturing & Logistics IT it seems hard to believe that a whole

decade and a half has passed since this journal first came off the presses in 1997.

And one thing is for certain; during the intervening years the technology we regularly

report on has done everything but stand still. Indeed the rate of change has been truly

breath-taking in the way it has enhanced all our day-to-day business lives – and in

many cases our social lives to boot. The backbone to many of these developments

has to be the World Wide Web, which was only in its relative infancy when we first

nurtured the idea of this magazine. One of the key current focuses of interest in the

Web in a business sense can be seen in Cloud computing and Software as a Service

(SaaS); where your chosen software functionality (and the data that is stored therein)

can be accessed through a pay-as-you-go model via your computer – as opposed to

the software being installed on your own company server.

If we look back a mere 10 years or so ago, before the Cloud and SaaS models had

even been fully conceptualised, we will remember when software was often built

around rigid protocols, requiring much middleware interfacing in order to get two

vendors’ pieces of kit to bolt together and ‘talk’ to one another. Then we became

familiar with the phrase interoperability and the idea of making system interfacing a

more seamless exercise. I’m sure many of you also remember the year or two leading

up to the Year 2000, with all the concern about ‘Y2K’ being a regular read in the

business press – even the ‘nationals’. The fear wasn’t just about critical-business data

supposedly being at risk, I remember even reading that there was a danger of aircraft

falling out of the sky when the witching hour finally arrived. And with ‘Y2K-proof’

systems being heavily promoted at the time, this milieu of concern served some IT

solutions firms and consultants very well. Nevertheless, much to the relief of

businesses around the globe, very little negative fallout actually occurred after the

fireworks and all-night parties had come to pass.

In terms of business software itself, many vendors have extended the scope of their

systems’ functionality. For example, a number of the big industry names from the

world of warehouse management systems now offer considerably more than a ‘within

the four walls’ solutions set – everything from supply chain management, forecasting &

planning, S&OP, yard management and even people management, and all wrapped

up with added business intelligence in many cases. Also, let’s not ignore mobile

computers, which were less of a ubiquitous presence in the business world a decade

or so ago. There is much to consider here: increased form-factor ruggedness better

levels of ingress protection, increased battery life, richer software functionality, built-in

high-resolution cameras – and the list of developments over the past few years so

goes on. On the consumer front, we were introduced to the iPad in 2010; something

that has inadvertently had a major effect on the business world’s growing awareness

of the B2B tablet PC marketplace. And, of course, Voice-directed picking systems

have become increasingly popular in recent times, offering compelling benefits in the

warehouse and distribution centre such as increased picking accuracy and speed –

not to mention an often impressively fast ROI into the bargain. Then there is the

market geography factor to consider. The Chinese and Indian marketplaces for B2B

hardware, software and related services, for example, were quite different propositions

15 years ago. Of course, the above observations barely begin to scratch the surface

of what has really taken place since we first took receipt of our first edition of

Manufacturing & Logistics IT all those years ago. So the question remains, what will

the solutions landscape look like in another decade and a half? One thing’s for sure;

vision and innovation will undoubtedly continue to re-shape our world.

Blink and you’ll miss something

Ed HoldenEditor

March 2012 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS


Manufacturing and Logistics IT March 2012The European magazine promoting the effectiveuse of IT in supply chain applications

Editor:

Ed Holden

Contributors:

Plamen Petkov, Datamax-O’Neil Richard Adams, Vocollect Mark Garritt, ByBox

Publisher:

Dean Taylor

Advertising:

Alex Prodromou

Designer:

Ian Curtis, First Sight Graphics

Production:

Carole Chiesa

Circulation:

Sarah Schofield

IT Manager:

Peter West

Accounts:

Carolyn Pither

Published by:

B2B Publishing LtdLatimer House189 High Street, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 5DA, UKTel: +44 (0) 1707 664200Fax: +44 (0) 1707 664800

Email (publishing):[email protected] (editorial): [email protected] by: The Magazine PrintingCompany plc, www.magprint.co.uk

No part of this publication may be reproduced in anyform without written permission from the publishers.No liability is accepted for any action arising fromthe contents of this publication; readers are advisedto check any manufacturerʼs or supplierʼs claim forproducts. The publishers do not endorse opinionsexpressed in any article by an outside contributor.While every care is taken over photographs andillustrations, which are returned when requested,no liability can be assumed by the publishers forthe loss of such materials.

ISSN:1463-1172

March 2012ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

CONTENTSAutomotive/Logistics Focus

6 Autoglass

Special Technology Report10 Printing & Labelling

Manufacturing16 Exel Computer Systems: Newall takes its EFACS ERP system to the next level

Sparrows Group soars ahead with EpicorPortsmouth Aviation first in UK to improve business agility with IFS Applications 8Romag gains more business visibility with Columbus

Planning 22 Lakeland chooses Maple Lake merchandise planning software to streamline multi-

channel businessWoolworths South Africa selects JDA to optimise its retail supply chainOrtec Transport and Distribution: Continuous product development for optimal performanceGerdau Açominas selects Broner scheduling solution for new steckel and plate mill complex

Printing & Labelling 26 Epson makes additions to WorkForce Pro range

Zebra Technologies labelling tracks semi-finished industrial steel products at Duferdofin-NucorDatamax-OʼNeil: Safe and secure – todayʼs business motto Citizen printer helps wine manufacturer produce customised labels on demand

Automatic Data Capture 31 Psion Omnii XT15 enables major savings in total cost of ownership

Motion tablet computer device is at the heart of improved productivity and accuracy at PoundlandDAP Technologies previews two new rugged products at ModexCognex expands logistics barcode scanning capabilities

Voice 36 Voxware Q&A

Vocollect: Supporting growth in manufacturing logistics

WMS 40 Ahlsell benefits from new central warehouse in Norway with the help of Vanderlande

Community Foods hits target with ERP-integrated warehouse system from Balloon One Vernon Land Transport installs Delta system to support 3PL growth

Transportation Management 44 Bettavend improves productivity and cuts costs with FleetMatics solution

Linde extends Paragon transport planning software across 50 countries CargoWise to provide technology platform for Tigers

Supply Chain47 Ted Baker rolls out Cegid software to support expansion in US and Asia

ByBox: The effective way to strip costs out of your supply chain

www.LogisticsIT.com

www.LogisticsHandling.com

www.TransportDistributionE urope.com

Autoglass Automotive/Logistics

6 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS www.logisticsit.com

Autoglass is the UK’s leading

vehicle glass repair and

replacement specialist, serving

around 1.5 million motorists in

the UK each year – 24 hours a

day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Autoglass is part of the Belron Group, the

world’s leading vehicle glass repair and

replacement company. The Belron Group

operates in 33 countries and has a team of

over 12,500 technicians serving more than 9

million customers a year – an average of one

customer every three seconds. In addition to

Autoglass, Belron is the home of many of the

world’s leading brand names in the vehicle

glass repair and replacement industry;

including Carglass across Europe, O’Brien in

Australia and Safelite in the US. As part of the

service, motorists can choose to have the

company help fix their problem in one of

Autoglass’s 81 branches located across the

UK, or, if preferred, one of the company’s

1200 mobile technicians can come directly to

the motorist’s home, place of work or any

other preferred location. Autoglass also has

strong relationships with most of the UK’s

major insurance companies, enabling it to

take care of customers’ insurance claims if

they are claiming for the work on their vehicle

insurance. Autoglass is also committed to

reducing the number of accidents on UK

roads by regularly launching campaigns to

raise motorist awareness about road safety

issues and the importance of driving safely.

Driving for greater efficiency

There is always a demand for cracks in

windscreens to be fixed, although, as

Autoglass’s finance director Neil Atherton

explains, there is evidence that some motorists

are now putting off the job until it has reached

a critical stage – typically when the car goes in

for an MOT. Additionally, the current general

market malaise is causing many people to

drive slower and drive less. “This is predicated

by the current price of fuel and by the fact that

many people have less money in their pocket,”

said Atherton. “Miles driven and speed of

travel are two key determinants of the market in

which we operate.”

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke with Neil Atherton, the finance director ofAutoglass, about the organisation’s IT estate and how this leverages major

advantages in terms of internal time and cost efficiencies, together with reliablelevels of customer service.

Clear vision

Neil Atherton: Lean and mean operation.

March 2012

Automotive/Logistics Autoglass

March 2012 7ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICSwww.logisticsit.com

The other factor that affects Autoglass’s

business is weather, and as Atherton

observes, the UK has not had a traditional

Winter this year. “So there haven’t been a lot

of motorists pouring hot water on a frozen

windscreen, turning a chip into a crack and

therefore in need of our service,” he

remarked. “Therefore, the effective use of IT,

which has always been important to us, has

now become even more critical in a less

buoyant economic climate in order to be as

time- and cost-efficient as possible.”

IT backbone

When Atherton joined Autoglass seven years

ago the company was in the process of

implementing an Oracle ERP solution. After

the system went live in the UK in 2005 it was

subsequently extended to the French

business unit within the Belron Group and

then to the Irish arm of the business a couple

of years later. There were then plans at group

level for this system to be rolled out as the

centralised IT hub for the Belron Group

worldwide, although, due to the size and

ethos of the group, a more localised IT culture

is now the main focus, as Atherton explains:

“A few years ago, part of the rationale behind

deploying Oracle was to have every country

on a single platform. However, due to the size

of the group, some challenges existed around

trying to implement a one-size-fits-all business

solution. A more centralised system can work

well when you have a very centrally focused

and quite autocratic organisation – for

instance, in the world of banking – but that's

not the case with the more autocratic culture

within our own group. So the decision was

taken quite recently to devolve much of the

non-core operations from the central business

unit. This has now gone the whole hog and

we're ensuring that all activity is devolved

back to local business units, and these

business units can then share their own IT

best-practice and knowledge among the

group as a whole. This rather less centralised

IT culture works well for us.” Atherton pointed

out that Autoglass continues to use Oracle as

its core IT system in the UK and Ireland. The

system is used primarily for all the company’s

finance and inventory management

requirements. It also provides data for

Autoglass’s data warehousing and sits behind

a Cognos Business Intelligence &

Performance Management software toolkit to

provide the company with all the data it

requires.

Service Management software

In terms of Capacity Planning at Autoglass,

Atherton pointed out that this is managed by

a front-office software package called

Remedy – a proprietary action-request

Service Management toolkit and Customer

Relationship Management (CRM) solution

that has been customised for Autoglass’s

specific customer management

requirements. Atherton explains that

Autoglass’s customisation of the Remedy

software was completed around a decade

ago, but because it has proved to be such a

good fit for the company’s daily customer

and technician liaison activity over this time

very few further modifications have had to be

made to the system. “When customers have

a crack on their windscreen they make a call

and are directed to our Contact Centre

based in Bedford. They can either use the

direct number we advertise or come via one

of our insurance partners’ glass lines, which

are also directly linked to our Contact Centre.

A call centre agent will then log all the

details on the CRM system, which has a

…the effective use of IT, which has always been important to us, has nowbecome even more critical in a less buoyant economic climate in order to be astime- and cost-efficient as possible.”“

March 20128 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS www.logisticsit.com

direct link to our windscreen services

division in Swansea and also to a number of

our insurers. Details will then populate the

screen with information about the customer;

his/her address and, in the majority of cases,

the insurance details so we know exactly

what the policy format is. This makes

everything, from customer service, to

technician deployment, through to final

invoicing a very smooth and accurate

process.”

Integration

Remedy is fully integrated with Autoglass’s

Oracle ERP solution in order for the whole

process of action request, job allocation and

stock availability to be as smooth as possible.

Atherton: “Customers inform us of where they

would like the job to be done – whether at

home, at their place of work, etc. We then

allocate that job to a particular branch, which

uses Oracle to interrogate availability of stock

at their particular locale. If there isn't the

required stock available further stock is

scheduled for delivery within a short timeline.

The Remedy system is used to scrutinise

technician availability. It features a colour-

coded Gantt chart which the Contact Centre

agents can quickly interrogate to determine

availability in a given area: for example,

‘green’ indicates plenty of availability, and

amber indicates that only one technician is

available for that time slot.” Other integrated

software included within the Autoglass suite

includes Smart Time & Attendance, used to

reduce attendance management

administration, lower operating costs, deliver

an accurate payroll and provide proof of

adherence to working time regulations.

Voice-directed picking

Around 18 months ago, the main distribution

centre (DC) of Belron UK Ltd. (trading as

Laddaw) in Bardon, Leicestershire installed a

Voxware Voice-directed picking system. Prior

to Voxware, order selectors worked with RF

scanners, which had to be repeatedly

holstered in order to handle the windscreens

shipped from the Laddaw facility. And

because windscreens have varying

curvatures, they must be picked in the correct

order for packing into specialised containers,

called Supplainers. The focus of the Voxware

3 Voice-directed picking system

implementation was therefore on speed and

quality of the order selection process. The

solution utilises the standard Voxware 3 Order

Picking software product, with configurable

extensions that translate order data from the

Belron Oracle system, based on business

rules supplied by Belron, into properly

sequenced pick tasks for selectors to

perform.

“This has gone on like a dream,” said

Atherton. “It works incredibly well; anything

that drives efficiency in the system and allows

our pickers to be more productive while

enjoying an all-round better working

experience is an absolute winner. We

currently have around 65 pickers using

Voxware Voice-directed picking with plans to

[Our Voxware Voice-directed picking system] works incredibly well;anything that drives efficiency in the system and allows our pickers to be moreproductive while enjoying an all-round better working experience is an absolutewinner.”

“

Autoglass Automotive/Logistics


increase this to around 150. Our pickers have

taken to it incredibly quickly. The training on

the system only took a day or two and it's

already saved us many thousands of pounds;

so we’ve more than recouped the ROI

already. Our previous rate was 31 picks per

hour; with the Voxware system this has

increased to 41 picks per hour. This in itself

has improved our productivity by a third. Not

only that but error reduction in the number of

times we pick one product we’ve probably

saved around £100,000 a year.”

Field service PDAs

Atherton points out that this year will see an

increasingly important role played by Motorola

MC65 handheld PDAs used by the company’s

engineers for improved communication and

data capture in the field. There are around

300 Autoglass technicians currently equipped

with the PDAs, with a greater number due to

be rolled out shortly, as Atherton explained:

“At Autoglass we have a number of different

technician skill levels, but primarily they

deliver two types of product – our

replacement technicians actually replace the

windscreen, side glass and back glass, and

our repair technicians fill in the chips on the

windscreen. Our repair technicians are

currently equipped with the PDAs, which are

used to provide them with updates on their

daily schedule on a regular basis. And if they

are working ahead of their daily schedule the

Contact Centre or the local repair hub can

schedule additional work to that technician to

optimise activity levels. The business case for

a rollout of the PDAs to repair technicians was

greater than equipping the replacement

technicians; where there is the complexity of

marrying up the technician with a piece of

glass too. However, we are now in the

process of also supplying our replacement

technicians with PDAs. We now have a

business case for this based on productivity

and also customer service, and there are

other ancillary benefits that have helped our

business case. Therefore, we plan to roll

Motorola MC65 PDAs out to all our

technicians over the next 4 to 5 months. By

the end of the third quarter of this year every

one of our technicians will have a handheld

PDA device.”

Mobile printers

Atherton added that, in addition to the many

communication and data benefits that the

PDAs afford, all Autoglass technicians will

also shortly be equipped with mobile printers

in order for them to print out receipts for the

customer once the job have been completed.

“Zebra thermal image printers are already

being used by our repair technicians, but over

the next few months every technician will have

one in the consul of their vehicle,” he said.

Further IT developments

As for the future, Atherton explains that further

Oracle upgrades are in the immediate

pipeline, along with the addition of

functionality within Oracle such as

procurement and collection. Autoglass is also

currently investigating third-party payment

service provision linked through telephony

and interactive voice response (IVR). This is

to secure further improvements in efficiency.

And, although the Oracle ERP system and the

Remedy Service Management system are fully

integrated and offering major benefits in terms

of reliable levels of customer service and

business efficiency Atherton points out that, in

order to facilitate smoother program changes

as required, Autoglass is currently seeking an

interlayer/middleware connector to get around

the obstacle of hard coding. “So things are

evolving in terms of our IT deployment and

development,” concluded Atherton. “This

ensures we are in the best position both to

serve our customers efficiently and also to

ensure we remain lean and mean as a

business going forward.” n

Automotive/Logistics Autoglass

The Laddaw DC in Bardon, Leicestershire.

Industrial printers have been a constant

presence in manufacturing and logistics

applications for many years. But where

are the current cutting-edge trends to be

found? To kick off the debate, Christian

Bischoff, regional general manager EMEA at

Datamax-O'Neil, considers that a compact

and, in particular, modular design that allows

a printer to be adapted to specific

requirements is now as vital as energy

efficiency or offering a wide range of

interfaces to simplify data communication. In

addition, Bischoff observes that the

importance of small, light and robust mobile

solutions is growing constantly. He adds that

some analysts expect one in three company

workers will be using mobile devices by 2013

– whether they work in field service,

warehousing or transport.

Jörk Schüßler, European marketing manager

for Citizen Systems Europe, makes the point

that mobile printing is a current big talking

point, while Cloud computing via mobile

devices is leading customers to request

facilities to print from mobile devices. This,

explains Schüßler, is why Citizen expanded its

capability to print from mobile devices earlier

this year. “The challenge is that systems such

as iOS (Apple's mobile operating system) are

not naturally suited

to this purpose and

Wi-Fi printing can be

complicated,” he

said. “The trend is

towards expanding

the capabilities of

printers and, driven

by customer

demand,

manufacturers are

providing more

market-specific

products than ever before. For example, the

Citizen CL-S400DT, a new cost-effective

development of the CL-S521, is ideal for

ticketing and handling the fanfold media often

used for that purpose.”

Matt Parker, head of market development

EMEA at Zebra points out that over the past


Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke with key spokespeople within thePrinting & Labelling systems space about many of the main current developmentsand talking points that permeate this fast-developing technology vertical.

Special technology report Printing & Labelling

Leaving animpression

Christian Bischoff,regional general

manager EMEA atDatamax-O'Neil.

No company today restricts itself to products from a single manufacturer;all that counts is finding the best performance.”

– Christian Bischoff, Datamax-O'Neil. “

www.logisticsit.com



12 months Zebra has

seen significant

uptake in two core

areas: Linerless

printing and RFID.

“Linerless is an

interesting

development in

terms of the notable

uptake in demand

over the past year as

the concept of

removing backing

liner from a traditional label is not a new one,”

he said. “Environmental and sustainability

pressures are perhaps one of the reasons

behind this trend, not least as the silicon

backing material is now formally classed as

‘packaging waste’ in the UK, and as such

carries a disposal cost burden.” Parker added

that Zebra has engaged with many clients in

recent months who express a real interest in

eliminating backing liner from labels. This, he

says, is not just because of the environmental

and cost benefits, but also from a health &

safety perspective – silicon liner is notoriously

slippery, and long coils of it around print

stations can present a genuine trip hazard.

False startsFrom an RFID perspective, after years of false

starts Parker points out that Zebra is finally

witnessing the take up of this technology in

volume within specific manufacturing sectors

and the onward supply chain. “Anti-counterfeit

efforts and demands from retail outlets seem

be driving some of this

demand,” he said, “in line

with a number of

technology improvements

such as on-pitch encoding,

which significantly reduce

the size of passive RFID

tags/labels while improving

the accuracy and reliability

of encoding – and, as such,

cost benefits to the user.”

Tom Roth, senior director,

printer products

management at Intermec,

points out that printer users

have always needed

products that integrate

easily into manufacturing

environments and adapt to

changing applications. And

with fast print speeds and

particularly high print

quality, he explains that

Intermec’s own PX Series of

printers are highly suitable

for high-volume, on-

demand and compliance

labelling applications. With

regard to developments within the world of

smart printing – with the ‘brainpower’ of

personal computers built in – Roth considers

that these types of printer have started to

enable businesses to change the way their

printing operations are structured; simplifying

processes and slashing costs. However, he

reflects that the technology is by no means

widespread and Intermec is expecting a lot of

new applications to appear, such as

programmable smart printers able to host

applications that are simple and intuitive for

users; reducing training needs and improving

worker productivity. Roth adds that Intermec

customers have been asking for printers to be

a lot more user-friendly, requiring less IT

intervention. Therefore user interfaces are

changing and becoming a lot more consumer-

like. Nevertheless, Roth emphasis that this

must not redirect attention from the two most

important drivers: improving accuracy and

productivity.

Phil Jones, sales and marketing director at

Brother UK, has witnessed that workforces are

going mobile, and the manufacturing and

logistics industry are no different. “Logistics

and field service companies in particular are

beginning to place greater importance on the

ability of mobile workers to print on site,” he

said. In this regard, Brother’s RJ series of

‘rugged’ mobile printers allow users to print

on site, so field-based workers can print

important information instantly while on

Jörk Schüßler,European marketingmanager for Citizen

Systems Europe.

The trend is towards expanding the capabilities of printers and, driven bycustomer demand, manufacturers are providing more market-specific productsthan ever before.”

– Jörk Schüßler, Citizen Systems Europe.

“

Special technology report


Printing & Labelling

customer premises;

improving the

experience for the

customer by instantly

providing professional

looking documents,

such as sales orders

and confirmations,

invoices and receipts.

According to Jones,

demand for mobile

print technology is also high in the

manufacturing sector. He explains that using

wireless technology Brother’s RJ mobile

printers can be used by warehouse workers

to increase productivity by enabling them to

print barcode labels almost anywhere in the

building. This, he says, removes the need for

the worker to use a centralised printer, and

thus reduces the chance of mislabelling

errors. “Employees in the manufacturing and

logistics industry need technology which is

incredibly durable to enable them to print in

warehouses or on the move in bad weather

conditions,” said Jones. “The RJ mobile

printers have been designed to meet the IP54

standard, which means it’s suitable for out-

door use. In addition, it has been built to

withstand being dropped from 1.8 meters.

This, along with the portability of the machines

(which weigh only 850g), make them ideal for

mobile printing in difficult conditions.”

Drivers for change What have been the key drivers for the above

developments? With regard to smart phone

technology, Schüßler considers that

customers are always seeking out and

embracing new ways to use these devices.

“Cloud computing is fuelling that need and

manufacturers are now looking to see how

they can bring further services and benefits to

these customers,” he said. Bischoff comments

that Datamax-O'Neil sees the challenges as

being driven primarily by end users.

“Companies from a huge range of sectors

have very high printer technology

requirements,” he remarked. “They want

individual solutions that increase their

efficiency and productivity and allow them to

compete effectively in the market. Mobile

printers offer enormous potential in this area

as they increase employee productivity by up

to 20 per cent.” Acquisition and operating

costs continue to be another important

criteria, says Bischoff. “Requirements such as

high printing speed and reliability are driving

the development of ever more rugged devices

with ever higher performance,” he said,

adding: “Companies also plan for the future

and demand flexible devices that can be

adapted quickly and cheaply if application

requirements change.”

We have seen many customers adopt defined lean manufacturingprinciples. And, of course, in a bid to become increasingly competitive andprofitable they are looking at means to become even leaner.”

– Matt Parker, Zebra.

“

www.logisticsit.com

Matt Parker, head ofmarket development

EMEA at Zebra.



Among Zebra’s core

customer base,

Parker believes

changes are

undoubtedly driven

by a desire for

continuous

improvement and

efficiency generation.

“We have seen many

customers adopt

defined lean

manufacturing principles,” he said. “And, of

course, in a bid to become increasingly

competitive and profitable they are looking at

means to become even leaner. It is a never-

ending goal, and while eliminating backing

liner from a label may sound like an action

that would yield little of meaningful value,

when you consider the scalable reduction in

waste inside the operating environment and

the complete elimination of onward waste

management, disposal costs and overhead, it

very quickly stacks up.”

Parker adds that, from an RFID perspective,

the connections the marketplace can now

make between passive technologies

(including barcode) through to active ‘Real

Time Location Solutions’ (RTLS) technologies

enable much greater visibility of assets; be

they plant, machinery, finished goods or even

people. “The data this increased visibility

provides allows for much improved decision

making and business improvement,” said

Parker. “It is this constant drive for operational

and process improvement by our customers

that is pushing us as an organisation to

develop new products and enhancements to

help companies achieve more.”

For Roth, end user requirement has driven

printer innovations in recent years. For

example, he makes the point that they have

demanded to be able to move the printer from

one department to another and plug & play

seamlessly. “From the technical perspective,

this means solutions such as wifi connectivity

are becoming essential,” he commented. “The

recent simplification of programming

languages is also the result of end users

wishing to interact easier with the printers,

and to use different applications without major

operational changes.”

According to Roth, the other direction of

innovation was that parts need to be changed

in-field as simply and as easily as possible.

“This reduces downtime,” he pointed out.

“Engineers don’t need to be called so

maintenance costs are also under better

control. But let’s not forget that improving

accuracy and productivity are the constant

driving factors for every manufacturer. In a

very similar way to Distribution Centre

deployment environments, the primary target

areas for manufacturing executive technology

investments are: increased accuracy and

productivity, reduced operating costs and

revenue growth.” Roth added that Intermec’s

portfolio of AIDC products (printers,

computers, scanners and RFID) is ideally

positioned to address these areas.

The back-office dynamic In terms of the relationship between current

cutting-edge printing and labelling

systems and back-office solutions, what have

been some of the key recent changes and

subsequent benefit improvements for the

user? Bischoff maintains that flexible

integration into existing ERP, CRM or Supply

Chain Management systems is increasingly

gaining in importance. “No company today

restricts itself to products from a single

manufacturer; all that counts is finding the best

performance,” he said. “Stationary and mobile

printer solutions must therefore be easy to

integrate and communicate perfectly with

connected machines.” According to Bischoff,

it must also be possible to evaluate and

transmit data reliably and seamlessly beyond

the borders of the system. “End users profit in

this area from the ever growing number of

emulations available with printer languages

from the greatest possible number of

manufacturers,” he commented, adding that

users also benefit from a wide range of

communication interfaces such as WLAN or

Bluetooth. “WPA2 security protocols are now

used virtually as standard to ensure secure

wireless data exchange,” Bischoff pointed out.

As global corporations’ IT departments are becoming more powerful thetopic of data security and integrity becomes more important especially inmission critical applications in manufacturing and logistics deploymentenvironments.”

– Tom Roth, Intermec.

“

Tom Roth, seniordirector, printer

products managementat Intermec.

Jones believes that greater flexibility is being

demanded from IT systems in general. “The

rise of ‘Bring your own device’ (BYOD) is

increasing the variety of devices being used

in the workplace,” he said. “The latest

developments in printing and labelling revolve

around this increase in diversity within IT

provision in companies, and the demand for

workers to be mobile. There is a range of

apps that enable employees to print

documents wirelessly from their mobile

devices; such as Brother’s iPrint&Scan as well

as Airprint, Google Cloud printing and

Cortado. Documents can be printed directly

from smartphone and tablets, allowing

employees to print from their own devices on

the go.” Parker reflects that the ease of

platform/software development is perhaps the

most vital change. “Certainly this has allowed

for much greater penetration of mobile

printing devices outside of the four walls,” he

said, “whether that be with a rugged

handheld or computer, or a more consumer

style smartphone device.”

Roth makes the point that remote device

management and health monitoring are not

new in concept. Nevertheless the recent

technological advances in remote battery

management, remote firmware updates and

the improved two-way communication with the

printers have made it a lot more widespread

and enabled the management of large printer

estates. “Some of the key changes have

happened in the ability to expand our printing

applications into mobile environment and still

satisfy essential manufacturing need for

reliability and ruggedness,” he said, adding

that Intermec mobile label printers that

operate on the same firmware platform as the

company’s rugged industrial printer products

provide a number of pronounced benefits,

including:

• Super-fast printing solution for WMS and

manufacturing.

• Increase productivity: Exceptional ‘time to

first label’ speed and ample battery life.

• Versatile: Single device that addresses

multiple applications in fixed and mobile

printing.

• Part of a complete mobile AIDC solution:

printer, scanner, mobile computer,

software, media, and service.

• Stand-alone ‘smart printing’ – the only

‘smart’ mobile printers on the market.

Schüßler has heard from distributors and

resellers that there is a growing need for a

high level of reliability in barcode printing

throughout the supply chain. This, he says,

is because significant costs can be incurred

when receivers of goods decline to accept

deliveries because the barcode

reproduction is poor. “When you consider

the transport and administration costs this is

clearly a problem,” said Schüßler, “and

when you add the costs of, for example, a

fresh food delivery being rejected and

potentially destroyed then it’s easy to see

why there is such a pressing need for high-

quality barcode reproduction.” This, says

Schüßler, is why Citizen has provided

barcode printers with active ribbon control

to ensure that ribbon wrinkle and media

slippage are eliminated.

Security And are there any remaining concerns

regarding the use of Printing & Labelling

systems? According to Parker, security

protocols with wireless devices are tried and

tested so he sees very little concerns regards

data security in the field in relation to printing

and labelling. However, he adds that security

gaps in the supply chain from a counterfeit

perspective are the biggest security issue. “It

is interesting to observe the methods being

put in place using 2D barcode and RFID to

limit this,” said Parker. “Auto-ID technology

can do an awful lot more in terms of

verification.”

Continuing the security theme, Roth considers

that data security, data integrity and future-

proof connectivity remain concerns in large

global manufacturing companies. “As global

corporations’ IT departments are becoming

more powerful the topic of data security and

integrity becomes more important especially

in mission critical applications in

manufacturing and

logistics deployment

environments,” he

said, pointing out

that Intermec’s

industrial barcode

printers meet the

need of those

mission-critical

applications. The

company’s multiple

interfaces, secure

wireless connectivity

Special technology report


Printing & Labelling

www.logisticsit.com

The rise of ‘Bring your own device’ (BYOD) is increasing the variety ofdevices being used in the workplace.”

– Phil Jones, Brother. “

Phil Jones, sales andmarketing director at

Brother UK.

(WPA2), CCX and WiFi certifications, and

standard support for upcoming IPv6

connectivity facilitate easy integration and

long-term scalability.

Future imprint What might be the next most impactful

developments to look out for over the next

year or two within the Printing & Labelling

solutions space? Parker has witnessed that

data volumes are increasing massively. “We

see auto-ID technologies being vital to the

management of this data,” he said, “be that

passive in the form of a barcode or HF/UHF

RFID tag or active with Ultra Wide Band RFID

technology. Ultimately barcode labels and

intelligent tags are the gateway to the

increased information and data that business

is striving for so as to become more efficient,

productive and flexible. So we foresee

increased reliance on 2D barcode and RFID

in a passive and active sense depending on

the environment or application.”

Schüßler foresees more and more

contributions to ‘green IT’. “This is certainly a

priority for Citizen,” he said. “Our last six

printers were all fuelled by Energy Star power

supplies.” Bischoff has observed that over

recent years, the significance of RFID labels

has grown in many sectors. He reminds us

that Datamax-O'Neil already offers its

customers a wide selection of RFID solutions

such as RFID-compatible printers. “Installing

these devices ensures that companies are

already equipped to meet the challenges of

the future today,” he said. “By using faster

processors and more rugged materials, the

development of even more efficient and

robust devices is sure to continue over the

coming years.”

Roth’s view is that convergence of commercial

and industrial products are increasingly

driving changes in terms of the user interface

and ease of use. He explains that Intermec

printer products – manageable from multi

lingual web pages loaded on every printer –

ensure ability to configure, manage and

monitor the device from rugged handhelds, or

even commercial products like smart phones

and tablet computers. “In more complex and

larger installations, device management

capabilities through Intermec solutions like

Smart Systems or partners solutions like

Wavelink Avelanche (both supported on

Intermec industrial printer products)

guarantee the visibility and manageability of

number of installed products and significantly

lower total cost of ownership for our

customers.”

Jones makes the point that during a

recession businesses will always look to cut

overheads. “And I think we will continue to

see companies demanding Printing &

Labelling solutions which are as efficient

and cost-effective as possible,” he said.

Jones added that a recent Quocirca report

highlighted the benefits for medium-sized

businesses in using Managed Print Services

(MPS) to improve workplace efficiency. MPS

means that a business is buying ‘printing’

rather than ‘printers’, and Jones comments

that this can be a lower cost option for

medium and large organisations. “Brother’s

MPS are tailored so that organisations can

have the best printing solutions for their

specific requirements,” he said. n



16 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

\\\ Manufacturing \\\ Success story

www.logisticsit.com

When it came to updating its long-serving EFACS Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) system from Exel Computer Systems, high-tech company, Newall, chose toinvest in the latest version of EFACS – but not for the reasons you might expect.

Established in 1968, Newall has

earned a worldwide reputation for

providing reliable, accurate and

dependable digital readout

systems (DROs) and linear

feedback encoders. A brand of Custom

Sensors and Technologies (CST), Newall

exports 85 per cent of its products and has

distribution and service outlets in 63 countries.

With a sister subsidiary in the US and a state-

of-the-art manufacturing facility in Leicester, UK,

the company employs 60 personnel and is ISO

9001 accredited. Newall has always been a

Make-To-Order (MTO) company but has seen

the nature and extent of its business change

over the years, especially in terms of the

growing number of export markets the

company supplies its products to. Order sizes

can range from repeat individual items for

individual customers through to sizeable

batches of mixed product lines from

distributors. The company’s lean philosophy

means it needs to keep stocks to a minimum

while also ensuring that its On-Time and In-Full

(OTIF) levels remain consistently high. For

Newall today, this means an OTIF level of

between 99 and 100 per cent – in the past it

wasn’t even measured.

Best product for the task

Newall had long since recognised the value of

working with a business management

information system and had been successfully

using its EFACS Enterprise Resource Planning

(ERP) system from Exel Computer Systems since

1998. However, for a number of reasons,

Malcolm Garbett, Newall’s IT manager for 12

years, began alerting the management that the

company could be doing even better if it

implemented a more modern, state-of-the-art

ERP system and is candid about his starting

point. “While being very happy with EFACS, I

recommended to the company that we look at

ERP systems as a whole as opposed to simply

upgrading EFACS. That way we would be sure

we were getting the very best product for

Newall.” The company agreed and after a visit to

an IT Showcase event, Garbett arrived at the

following conclusion. “After hearing lots of sales

and marketing about why each system was best,

it was clear that for a company like ours, any of

these systems could theoretically do the job.”

For Newall therefore, the selection criteria

wouldn’t be the system, it would have to be

something else – something Garbett maintains

can be even more important. “When the

systems are essentially the same, what

matters most is the relationship you have with

the vendor, and of course price. Support

levels are important to us and I was already

on first name terms with the excellent support

team at Exel. It was the same with the sales

consultants, implementation team, and the

trainers.” He continued: “For a company like

ours which has no spare internal resource,

any implementation just has to work right first

time. We had a decade of proven experience

working with Exel at every level and knew we

could trust them 100 per cent to deliver. The

fact that as an existing user the price was

extremely competitive was an added bonus.”

Newall decided to treat the EFACS upgrade as a

completely new implementation and to break this

down into 3 phases. Phase 1 was to completely

replicate on the new EFACS system the exact

functionality from the old system to minimise any

possible disruption to ongoing business. Garbett

again, “To reduce any possible disruption we

aimed to keep each area of the company

running EFACS as vanilla as possible and to

follow Exel’s lead in achieving this.” This resulted

in a successful go-live, on time in February 2011

with Newall noticing a number of immediate

benefits, especially in the area of reporting. “The

fact we could now generate a range of standard

and custom reports, export these to Excel

spreadsheets and manipulate them for our wider

business purposes provided an immediate

benefit to the entire business,” said Garbett.

Honesty

So successful was phase 1 and so minimal

March 2012

Newall takes its EFACS ERP systemto the next level

Newall has always been a Make-To-Order (MTO) company but has seen the natureand extent of its business change over the years, especially in terms of the growingnumber of export markets the company supplies its products to.

17ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

Success story \\\ Manufacturing \\\

www.logisticsit.com

any disruption that Newall commenced Phase

2 less than a month later. This was to

implement EFACS into its US subsidiary,

replacing its aging Accpac system that

incorporated a number of standalone

databases & spreadsheets. This was done

remotely, still following the Exel methodology

except this time led by Garbett. “A key

element of the success of phase 2 was the

willingness of all those concerned to be

completely honest throughout the training and

implementation so that there were no

unexpected problems when you go live.” This

was very pertinent for Newall as a number of

US accounting and documentation issues

were discovered and addressed during the

implementation phase.

The approach clearly worked because Phase

2 went live in September 2011, again without

problems. While both the US and UK

operations were still only essentially

replicating their previous way of working with

the latest version of EFACS E8, the fact that

this was the same fully-integrated system

across both sites delivered a number of

significant benefits. For example, the marked

increase in reporting flexibility could now not

only be enjoyed in the US as well as the UK, it

was also possible across both companies as

a whole which even at an accounts level, has

proved to be very helpful in terms of making

wider business decisions.”

Phase 3, where the deeper and more

powerful elements of EFACS E8 will be

explored and implemented, is already

underway. In addition to adhering to the rule

of trying ‘not to run before you can walk’,

Garbett cites the relationship and

collaboration with Exel as central to Newall’s

success. “It’s more than the fact that everyone

we’ve ever dealt with at Exel has been

knowledgeable and professional and always

delivered. It’s the fact that they treat us as a

unique customer, offer advice and

recommendations specifically focussed on

our business. Even to the extent that if they

thought we were going to get anything wrong

during the implementation, they would tell us

and then recommend something better.” n

March 2012


Since 2000, Sparrows has grown

from a £50 million (GBP) turnover

company with operations in three

countries to one of over £160

million, operating in 12 countries.

The new Epicor implementation will replace

three existing systems used across Sparrows’

global operation, giving the company a single

unified view of the business. Sparrows had

been impressed with the functionality of

Epicor Vantage, which it used in its US

operation, but it was clear that by upgrading

to the next-generation ERP solution, the whole

group could benefit. The new solution will

make extensive use of Epicor Human Capital

Management and Field Service Management

modules, as well as its advanced Customer

Relationship Management features.

Increasing scale andcomplexity “The rapidly increasing scale and complexity

of our business calls for greater sophistication

in the management information systems

supporting it,” said Martin Brayshaw, finance

and business improvement executive at

Sparrows Group. “Epicor ERP significantly

adds to the earlier Vantage package we

operated at our US locations; while retaining

its strength in manufacturing support, it will

allow us to manage much more closely the

engineering and field service time/resource

planning elements of our business. It also

gives us the facility to deliver our offshore

crane service more efficiently to clients

worldwide, further enhancing our renowned

service in this area.”

Sparrows Group reviewed a number of

solutions before selecting Epicor. The project

team felt that Epicor provided an excellent

balance between features and ease of use, as

well as supporting the company’s future

needs in terms of scalability and flexibility, as

it evolves to take advantage of new

opportunities. “Epicor had that perfect

balance that we were looking for, without

compromising on the features and flexibility

we needed,” added Brayshaw.

Plugging the skills gaps

“Very often service organisations struggle to

manage and assess the utilisation of their

teams, or plan

effectively for

future needs,” said

Malcolm Fox, director,

product marketing for Epicor. “Epicor Human

Capital Management can be configured to

integrate with our field service and CRM

modules to allow the planning, forecasting

and allocation of resources, as well as identify

individuals with skills that might be required

for a given project. By understanding the

talent that exists in a business and how it is

being used, managers can see where skills

gaps might exist and ensure they are

recruiting employees with the right skills sets

to plug those gaps.” n


Sparrows Group soarsahead with Epicor

Very often service organisations struggle to manage and assess theutilisation of their teams, or plan effectively for future needs. Epicor HumanCapital Management can be configured to integrate with our field serviceand CRM modules to allow the planning, forecasting and allocation ofresources, as well as identify individuals with skills that might be required fora given project.”

– Malcolm Fox, Epicor.

“Epicor Software Corporationat a glance Epicor Software Corporation deliversbusiness software solutions to themanufacturing, distribution, retail andservices industries. With nearly 40 yearsof experience serving midmarketorganisations and divisions of Global1000 companies, Epicor has more than20,000 customers in over 150 countries.Epicor Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP), Point of Sale (POS), Supply ChainManagement (SCM), and Human CapitalManagement (HCM) enable companiesto drive increased efficiency andimprove profitability.

Sparrows Group, a provider of offshore lifting equipment, craneengineering, operations and maintenance services, has selectedthe Epicor next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP)solution to support the group’s further international growth.

Epicor ERP significantly adds to the earlier Vantage package weoperated at our US locations. While retaining its strength in manufacturingsupport, it will allow us to manage much more closely the engineering andfield service time/resource planning elements of our business.”

– Martin Brayshaw, Sparrows Group.

“


Success story \\\ Manufacturing \\\

www.logisticsit.com

Portsmouth Aviation, a current IFS

customer, is one of the first

companies in the world to

participate in the IFS Applications

8 Early Adopter programme, and

to benefit from the enhanced features of the

new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

application. IFS Applications 8, the latest

version of IFS’ ERP application, includes a

number of functional improvements and is

developed in close cooperation between IFS

and its customers. Portsmouth Aviation is one

of a handful of IFS early adopters around the

world working closely with IFS research and

development teams to ensure that the release

will meet the demanding standards of IFS

customers.

Key enabler

Founded 80 years ago as a flying service,

Portsmouth Aviation has evolved several times

since then, and in recent years has

successfully diversified into a business that

conducts mass manufacturing and bespoke

manufacturing projects. The company has

been an IFS customer since 2005, and cites

IFS Applications as a key enabler of both its

recent transformation and its continuing

growth. At present, the company uses IFS

Applications for document management,

human resources, finance and e-invoicing,

maintenance, customer management and

product data management.

Portsmouth Aviation has chosen to implement

IFS Applications 8 in order to access the user-

friendly and flexible IFS Enterprise Explorer

(IEE) user interface as a standard part of the

solution. The interface is based on the latest

usability research and offers many intuitive

features for filtering, searching and navigating

data in order to suit each individual role and

competency within a company.

Easy-to-use interface

James Greaves, systems manager at

Portsmouth Aviation, commented: “Everyone

at the company logs into IFS Applications first

thing in the morning, and uses it throughout

the day, so a clear and easy-to-use interface

is vital. We’ve always found IFS Applications

very usable, but improvements in IFS

Applications 8, such as the new customisable

data fields, will no doubt enhance our

productivity further – among other benefits.

The application’s component-based

architecture has allowed us to tailor the

system to suit our needs as we have evolved

and grown. It’s clear that we’ll be able to

continue doing this with IFS Applications 8,

and keep streamlining our business

processes, reducing operational costs, and

improving profitability.”

Paul Massey, managing director at IFS Europe

West said: “IFS Applications 8 contains a

number of innovations that benefit

engineering companies like Portsmouth

Aviation, including a more intuitive interface,

enabling better data quality, and user-defined

fields, making the interface customisable and

thereby a better fit for all users, regardless of

position or competency. By participating in

the Early Adopter programme, Portsmouth

Aviation will influence the development of the

application, and be one of the first companies

in the world to enjoy its enhanced

functionality.” n

March 2012

Portsmouth Aviation first in UK to improvebusiness agility with IFS Applications 8

Portsmouth Aviation, one of the UK’s leading mechanical and aeronauticalengineering companies, has chosen IFS Applications 8 to streamline operations andimprove business agility.

The application’s component-based architecture has allowed us to tailorthe system to suit our needs as we have evolved and grown. It’s clear thatwe’ll be able to continue doing this with IFS Applications 8, and keepstreamlining our business processes, reducing operational costs, andimproving profitability.”

– James Greaves, Portsmouth Aviation.

“

IFS at a glance IFS is a public company founded in 1983 that develops, supplies, and implements IFSApplications, a component-based extended ERP suite built on SOA technology. IFS focuseson agile businesses where any of four core processes are strategic: Service & AssetManagement, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Projects. The company has 2000 customersand is present in more than 50 countries with 2700 employees in total. Net revenue in 2010was SKr 2.6 billion.

Romag is a glass processor

specialist serving the solar PV

(photovoltaic), security glass,

architectural glass and transport

glass market sectors. The

company with its manufacturing plant is

based in Consett, County Durham. Romag,

which has been in operation since 1943, was

acquired by the Gentoo Group in 2011.

Wide range

Romag produces a range of laminates,

including laminated solar panels generating

renewable energy by combining float and

tempered glass, modern plastics technology

and specialist interlayers. Among other things,

the company also produces bullet and bomb

blast proof glass that is used as protection in

military vehicles, government buildings,

embassies and VIP residences in worldwide

locations.

“We work in a highly competitive global

market and recognise that to stay ahead our

business needs access to joined up, accurate

and timely information,” said Sean Brodie,

finance director at Romag. “The Microsoft-

based ERP system from Columbus enables us

to make better decisions, based on real-time

data that’s easier to access and action. The

Columbus solution also ensures that it

supports our need to be responsive to future

market and business demands.”

The Microsoft Dynamics AX solution with 52

enterprise users replaces two older systems,

GlassPro for specialist sales order processing

in the glass processing industry and a

Pegasus Opera accounts package that

previously managed financials, purchasing

and invoicing.

Simon Charlton, sales director at Columbus

UK, commented: “The solution we provide will

allow for much greater integration and

visibility. By using the same solution across

the business, Romag will be able to optimise

processes and streamline productivity.”

Strategic focus

Charlton concluded: “We have a clear

strategic focus in building targeted solutions

to the process and discrete manufacturing

sectors, and our ambition is to become the

leading solution provider in this area. This

agreement is a testament to our focus and

commitment on providing world leading

solutions to the manufacturing sector.” n



www.logisticsit.comMarch 2012

Romag gains more businessvisibility with Columbus

Columbus has entered an agreement with Romag Ltd to replace its current systemswith a fully integrated 52-user ERP system based on Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Columbus at a glance With solid industry know-how, Columbusis a preferred business partner forambitious companies within the food,retail and manufacturing sectors.Columbus’ key deliverables includeflexible and future-safe ERP, CRM, BI andrelated business applications that delivercompetitive advantage. We know how toadapt and implement our provenMicrosoft-based solution sets tomaximise efficiency and overall businessperformance – for immediate impact.Exceeding 20 years of experience and6000 successful business cases,Columbus currently employs over 1000dedicated staff working out of 38 officesin 18 countries.

We work in a highly competitive global market and recognise that tostay ahead our business needs access to joined up, accurate and timelyinformation. The Microsoft-based ERP system from Columbus enables us tomake better decisions, based on real-time data that’s easier to access andaction. The Columbus solution also ensures that it supports our need to beresponsive to future market and business demands.”

– Sean Brodie, Romag.

“


Planning Success story

Lakeland, the UK kitchenware

retailer with 57 stores and a fast-

growing multi-channel business,

has started to implement Maple

Lake’s merchandise planning

solution in a bid to ensure high levels of

availability for its customers. “Expansion and

the inherent complexity in managing multiple

channels has made us look harder at IT tools

that give us more control and visibility in

managing stock to sales,” said Matthew

Canwell, buying director at Lakeland.

The kitchenware retailer, which carries around

4000 product lines – everything from kitchen

appliances to cooking utensils and cleaning

products – has always prided itself on high

levels of product availability and customer

service. “We are a customer-centric retailer

and so ensuring we have the right stock

levels to meet customer demand is key to us,”

commented Canwell.

Improved visibility The Maple Lake software gives improved

visibility of how different departments are

performing and what sells when and where. It

can be very time consuming analysing stock

and sales on a daily or weekly basis, but the

technology helps by automatically identifying

any potential gaps on the shelves and

highlighting what customers are wanting and

highlighting what exactly to buy more of. The

Maple Lake QuickAssortment roll-out will be

completed by summer 2012.

“With our pedigree of so many successful

deliveries at retail fashion businesses, we’re

delighted to work with an outstanding

housewares brand like Lakeland,” said Bob

Jolley, group commercial director, Maple

Lake. n

Lakeland chooses Maple Lake merchandise

planning software to streamline multi-channel business

www.logisticsit.com

Lakeland’s flagship store in Windermere.

We are a customer-centricretailer and so ensuring we have theright stock levels to meet customerdemand is key to us.”

– Matthew Canwell, Lakeland.

“

Maple Lake at a glanceMaple Lake Ltd. is a software and services provider for specialty retailers worldwide.The company offers QuickAssortment, QuickAllocation and QuickAnalytics, a set ofapplications that refines assortment management, allocation planning and ‘Open To Buy’efforts for maximum sales and profitability. The company’s customers represent 10,000-plus retail locations, including adidas Group, Aeropostale, Arcadia Group, Barneys NewYork, Columbia, Levi Strauss & Co. and Steve Madden. Maple Lake, a privately-heldcompany formed in July 2000, is based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, with offices in theUK and Australia. Maple Lake is a certified Microsoft partner.



www.logisticsit.com

Woolworths, one of South

Africa’s leading retail

chains, selected a number

of JDA solutions in the

fourth quarter of 2011. The

solutions, including JDA Demand, JDA

Fulfilment, JDA Channel Clustering, JDA

Assortment Optimisation, JDA Planogram

Generator, JDA Shelf Price Optimisation, JDA

Promotion Optimisation, and Markdown

Optimisation, were chosen to help increase

demand visibility across the entire trading

network, identify consumer preferences, and

optimise assortment, merchandising and

pricing processes with the aim of improving

sales and customer satisfaction for its food

business.

Competitive pricing Woolworths’ core philosophy is underpinned

by quality, offering customers consistently

high quality merchandise at affordable prices

and incorporating developments across the

business. Building lifetime relationships with

customers remains critical to the business’

success, ensuring that they understand their

needs and meet these needs with ever

increasing consistency. Woolworths offers a

wide range of quality clothing, food, home

ware, beauty and financial services.

Woolworths intends to use the JDA solutions

across its food business to improve inventory

allocation and replenishment across its supply

chain, tailor merchandise assortments to meet

individual customer demand, monitor supply

chain performance across multiple channels

and networks, and achieve more competitive

pricing for its customers at its more than 400

stores across South Africa.

Journey towardssustainability

“We constantly work to make ‘the difference’

for our customers every day,” said Adrian

Gebers, head of IT business applications,

Woolworths South Africa. “By selecting JDA’s

proven retail solutions, we are investing in and

improving our information technology systems

and strategies. Implementing these additional

JDA applications over the next three years will

allow us to maintain our competitiveness,

improve our efficiency and thus our service to

our customers, and to focus on our journey

towards sustainability.”

Razat Gaurav, senior vice president, Europe,

Middle East, Africa, JDA Software, added:“We

are delighted to have South Africa’s leading

retailer continue their investment in JDA

solutions. Retailers like Woolworths

understand the customer-centric nature of

their business and the precision, speed and

coordination needed to address customer

needs all the way down to the store and shelf

level. Woolworths’ continued investment in

JDA solutions is proof that more and more

retailers recognise that leveraging our supply

chain solutions can be a competitive

differentiator in their business and positively

impact their customers, revenue and

profitability.” n

Woolworths South Africa sseelleeccttss JJDDAAttoo ooppttiimmiissee iittss rreettaaiill ssuuppppllyy cchhaaiinn

Razat Gaurav: “Retailers like Woolworthsunderstand the customer-centric nature of theirbusiness and the precision, speed andcoordination needed to address customer needsall the way down to the store and shelf level.”

We constantly work to make ‘the difference’ for our customers every day.By selecting JDA’s proven retail solutions, we are investing in and improving ourinformation technology systems and strategies. Implementing these additionalJDA applications over the next three years will allow us to maintain ourcompetitiveness, improve our efficiency and thus our service to our customers,and to focus on our journey towards sustainability.”

– Adrian Gebers, Woolworths South Africa.

“

JDA Software Group at aglanceJDA Software Group, Inc., The SupplyChain Company, is a provider of supplychain management, merchandising andpricing excellence solutions worldwide.JDA helps over 6000 companies of allsizes to make optimal decisions thatimprove profitability and achieve realresults in the discrete and processmanufacturing, wholesale distribution,transportation, retail and servicesindustries. With an integrated solutionsoffering that spans the entire supplychain – from materials to the consumer –JDA leverages the powerful heritage andknowledge capital of acquiredcompanies such as i2 Technologies,Manugistics, E3, Intactix and Arthur.JDA’s multiple service options, deliveredvia the JDA Private Cloud, providecustomers with flexible configurations,rapid time-to-value, lower total cost ofownership and 24/7 functional andtechnical support.


Planning Product news

www.logisticsit.com

Ortec Transport and Distribution: CCoonnttiinnuuoouuss pprroodduucctt ddeevveellooppmmeennttffoorr ooppttiimmaall ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee

Ortec's continuous product

improvement process is

evident with the latest

updates to its Advanced

Planning solution for vehicle

routing, dispatch and execution – Ortec

Transport and Distribution (Ortec TD).

Enhancement packages 1 and 2 extend the

Ortec TD 2010 major release with several

ease-of-use improvements and major new

functionality, particularly in the area of

reporting. Daniel Dam, product manager at

Ortec, commented: "Our product roadmap is

continually evolving to take into account

technological developments and specific

industry requirements, and we're really

pleased to be able to deliver to market this

latest release of enhancements."

Interactive reporting One of the most significant and more visual

developments is in the area of data sheet and

KPI reporting. The new Reporting and

Analytics module will provide users with a

number of real-time, interactive, operational

reports that will benefit planners and

management alike. KPIs and target variables

can be defined in the system in order to

compare plans against specific benchmarks

such as average load per trailer or average

transportation cost per unit loaded etc. A key

benefit of these new reports is the ability to

interact with the data. Records can be

expanded and closed, users can drill-down

via hyperlinks, and if required, the data can

be exported. Furthermore, as the module is

based on Microsoft SQL Server reporting

services, users will have the flexibility to

create their own business-specific reports.

These reports can even be viewed on the

Apple iPad without the user having to open

the Ortec TD application.

Analytics dashboardA new analytics dashboard is now available to

support planners and dispatchers in meeting

management performance goals, i.e. average

no. of stops, or revenue per route, etc. A

number of graphical display formats can be

set by the user at route level, ie. gauges,

histograms, etc. These can also indicate target

values, which provide the planner with real-

time feedback about whether the quality of the

plan is below or above target. Daniel Dam

added: "In the future, our product roadmap will

focus on Business Intelligence (BI) reporting,

offering a framework for true BI reports based

on history and trends."

Functionalityenhancements for optimalperformance

In addition to these enhanced reporting

features, Ortec TD also contains new

functionality to assist logistics businesses in

dealing with failed pickups and/or deliveries

during route execution. The system supports

both the manual and automatic input and

processing of failure notifications and the

consequences thereof. Planners are also set to

benefit from a new optimiser that integrates

with the existing Ortec TD optimisers in order

to smoothen depot departure times. This

enhancement is particularly useful for

preventing loading bottlenecks in distribution

environments, particularly early in the morning

when route starting times tend to be clustered.

Also noteworthy is the new functionality for

capturing environmental zone data. Users can

define zones or 'polygons' based on any truck

bans in force in a particular region or city and

these restrictions will be taken into account

during the route and resource assignment

calculations. This feature will increase

planning efficiency, save time and avoid

unnecessary penalties.

Focus on the environmentSustainability is at the forefront of Ortec's

product and service development. "We're

really pleased to offer a new CO2 emission

calculator that can assist companies in

determining the carbon footprint of their daily

transport routes,” said Dam. “Users can set

the emission rate for each vehicle in their

fleet, and when loads are assigned to a

vehicle the planner can assess the impact in

terms of carbon dioxide volumes. This will

inevitably support organisations to monitor

their carbon footprint and could even be used

to track against sustainability KPIs."

Technical improvementsOrtec comments that technology and

innovation are key ingredients for any of its

solutions, and with EP1 & 2, a number of

improvements have been made in this area.

For example, enhancements have been made

to the Ortec TD web client, which is a web-

based application that enables users to work

with the main components of the software via a

web client interface. Furthermore, with Ortec

TD EP2 users working in different time zones

will be able to use the system concurrently. n

Among other advantages, Ortec TD contains new functionalityto assist logistics businesses in dealing with failed pickupsand/or deliveries during route execution.



Broner Metals Solutions, the

specialist provider of integrated

MES, supply chain and

scheduling solutions for the

metals industries, has been

selected by Gerdau Açominas to implement a

new advanced planning & scheduling solution

for Gerdau’s new plate and steckel mills in

Minas Gerais, Brazil. The objective of the new

project is to provide the new production lines

with Advanced Planning Scheduling solutions

that will support Gerdau's production,

inventory and sales strategies and place

Gerdau Açominas among the most efficient

producers of plates and hot coils.

Plant-wide production &material plan

Broner’s Production Planner (PP) and Material

Planner (MP) modules will be implemented to

the new steckel and plate mill complex to

provide an integrated, plant-wide, production &

material plan from steel making, rolling finishing

and shipping. The Plate Combination module

(PC) module will be introduced to provide

functionality specific to the planning of plate

mills. This functionality provides the ability to

combine several orders for plate into one,

larger master plate; and child slabs into mother

slabs. PC groups orders by similar

characteristics such as finished gauge, finished

width, grade and quality and determines the

‘optimal’ cutting pattern for the master plate.

The new Hotmill Scheduling solution (HS)

will provide specialised programming

capabilities for the single reheat furnace

and feedstock to both the Steckel mill and

plate mill. The process uses current

inventories, and caster schedules to

generate multiple rounds, based on user-

defined sequencing rules and parameters.

The scheduling solution will also include the

ability to re-allocate slabs already loaded in

the reheat furnace to alternative orders

should mill problems prevent the scheduled

specification being produced.

Benefits Some of the benefits which will be provided

by Broner’s new solutions are said to include:

• Integration of capacity balancing and

material flow planning across the entire

plant from the Blast Furnace to shipping

finished product including the new steckel

mill and plate mill, as well as the existing

heavy sections mill and billet mill.

• The ability to operate the new plant with:

minimum inventory; optimum delivery

performance; maximum yield; and

minimal production costs.

David Mushin, CEO of Broner Metals

Solutions, commented: “Broner has a long

standing relationship with Gerdau Açominas

supplying advance scheduling solutions since

1999 and I am pleased to continue this

relationship to assist Gerdau with their

business needs.” n

The objective of the new project is to provide the new production lineswith Advanced Planning Scheduling solutions that will support Gerdau'sproduction, inventory and sales strategies and place Gerdau Açominas amongthe most efficient producers of plates and hot coils.”

“

Broner Metals Solutions at a glance Broner Metals Solutions specialises exclusively in delivering, metals specific, MES,planning, scheduling and supply chain solutions to the steel and aluminium industries.Broner solutions help metals producers respond to the greatest challenges of today’seconomic climate, by improving customer service, improving productivity and reducingcosts. Broner Metals Solutions provides packaged, configurable products that aredesigned specifically to manage the complexities and variabilities of metals production.The company’s solutions range from: business optimisation & order promising; throughproduction and material planning, integrated/through-scheduling, production scheduling;to MES Production, Quality, Inventory and Equipment Management and Warehousemanagement. Broner Metals’ MES solutions are designed to the ISA95 standards andinclude tracking and data management & analysis.

www.logisticsit.com

Gerdau Açominas selects Bronerscheduling solution ffoorr nneewwsstteecckkeell aanndd ppllaattee mmiillll ccoommpplleexx


Printing & Labelling Product news

Epson comments that the

WorkForce Pro WP-4095 DN

and WP-4595 DNF printers are

ideal solutions for enterprise

workgroups, offering the

emulations that IT managers expect, along

with performance, reliability and up to 50

per cent lower cost per page than

competitive lasers[1]. These inkjet printers

are said to offer a genuine alternative to

laser products and provide further cost

savings due to a super-fast automatic

double-sided printing function, reducing

paper usage.

Businesses benefit from

lower ink costs with a

choice of high-yield

cartridges providing

up to 3,400 pages

each[2], with a print

resolution of

4800x1200dpi. This

provides businesses

with top-quality prints

that are water,

smudge, highlighter

and fade resistant,

as they dry instantly

thanks to Epson DuraBrite Ultra ink. Both

devices are network-ready for easy sharing

and offer PDL support, including PCL6,

PCL5c and genuine Adobe PostScript 3

emulations. They also come with Epson

Connect[3] to meet users’ mobile printing

needs, enabling them to print on the move

from smartphones and tablet PCs.

Peter Silcock, product manager at Epson

UK, said: “These additions to the

WorkForce Pro line-up are created for

seamless integration into enterprise

workgroups. They offer the best of both

worlds: durability and performance

combined with economy and ecology.

These devices offer users a massive 80 per

cent reduction[4] in energy

consumption compared to

competitive lasers, with a

universal print driver and

a range of

emulations, providing

both efficiency and

environmental

benefits. With the

WorkForce Pro

range, businesses

no longer have to

compromise between

reliability, performance

and cost-efficiency.”

References:[1] Comparison made against the top 10

A4 colour laser printers and MFPs sold

in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and

the UK in Q4 2010 as tracked by IDC.

Cost per page is calculated from

manufacturers' official list prices for

toner cartridges and published yields in

France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the

UK as of December 2010.

[2] In accordance with ISO/IEEE

24711/24712.

[3] Supports the following languages:

English, German, French, Italian,

Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch. Requires

a wireless connection to the internet.

[4] Comparison made against the top 10

A4 Colour Laser Printers & MFPs sold

in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, & UK

in Q1 2011 tracked by IDC; power

consumption calculated using

manufacturers' published data for

Print/Average Mode as of July 2011.

[5] Determined in accordance with ISO/IEC

24734 showing the average of ESAT /

FSOT from the Office Category Test for

default simplex / duplex. n

Epson makes additions toWorkForce Pro range

“These additions …offer the best of both worlds: durability andperformance combined with economy and ecology. These devicesoffer users a massive 80 per cent reduction in energy consumptioncompared to competitive lasers, with a universal print driver and arange of emulations, providing both efficiency and environmentalbenefits.”

– Peter Silcock, Epson UK

Epson has added to its WorkForce Pro range, with the WP-4095 DN and WP-4595 DNF. These printers are specifically designed to offer cost and energy

efficiency, high-quality output and durability to enterprise workgroups as wellas small and medium-sized businesses.

WP-4095 DN.

WP-4595 DNF.

www.logisticsit.com


Printing & LabellingOpinion

Based on the strategic alliance

between two major global

players in the steel industry,

Nucor Corporation and Duferco

Group, Duferdofin-Nucor is now

the primary manufacturer of beams, long

rolled sections, merchant bars and rounds in

Italy, Europe and North Africa. The

combination of knowhow, technology and

human resources has given rise to a

cohesive, robust and integrated network of

companies, able to achieve maximum

synergies in production, at competitive costs

and with minimal environmental impact.

Transparency andtraceability

The company, based in San Zeno Naviglio in

the province of Brescia, Italy – and with 4

production units in this same location –

controls the entire production chain, from

liquid steel to end product. For more than a

decade, Duferdofin-Nucor marked semi-

finished products (dog-bone, blooms and

billets) by applying paint manually and writing

a casting number on each piece of steel for

reference. This manual system limited data

completeness and was also subject to a high

level of human error. Over time, this system

proved to be inadequate, inefficient and

incapable of guaranteeing the transparency

and traceability of the entire production

process.

Duferdofin-Nucor required a durable label that

would ensure reliable grip on uneven surfaces

and provide resistance to the dust and soil

that characterise steel warehouses. The labels

would also be required to withstand

temperatures of approximately 100°C as well

as long journeys on open railcars and

therefore variable weather conditions.

Consequently, the company started to explore

alternative solutions offered by the market and

used by other manufacturers, testing different

labelling systems, such as metal labels

applied with silicone, plastic tags applied by

nail gun and various types of adhesive labels.

Superior adhesive power

A Zebra channel partner worked closely with

Duferdufin-Nucor to identify a solution that met

the end user’s requirements. Zebra 8000T

Ultra High-Tack Matte labels were chosen for

their superior adhesive power and their

resistance to extreme temperatures (-40° to

150°C), ensuring the steel blooms’ traceability

from the very beginning of the manufacturing

process in the steel mill. The channel partner

implemented this solution because the Zebra

labels are

manufactured using

high performance film

coating made of heat

resistant polyester,

combined with ultra-

strong special

adhesive. This works

on difficult-to-label

surfaces, making

them effective under extreme heat and in the

event of exposure to chemicals and other

hostile substances common in steel

production facilities.

The early stage of the identification process

involved labelling the semi-finished products

with information about section, length, quality

and casting bloom number, and a barcode

that enables the loading and unloading of

stock by using handheld optical character

readers. The company used Zebra Z Series

mid-range printers to print these barcode

labels. These printers are made of die-cast

metal with a broad range of features and

options, capable of fast production speeds

and designed to ensure high performance for

the most challenging processes and

environments, such as heavy industry.

Between 500 and 1200 labels are printed

daily on-demand and then applied manually

to the semi-finished products.

Error reduction

The use of barcode labels means that

products can be identified early on in the

manufacturing process

and easily tracked. The

Zebra channel partner also

developed a specialised portal reader with

an industrial scanner that automatically

identifed the end products. The use of this

auto-ID technology solution has helped

eliminate errors and verify the materials

being used. This solution ensures complete

traceability of materials as well as allowing

for significant time and cost savings.

Furthermore, the transition to this process

required minimal upheaval as the staff only

needed a quick training session to become

familiar with using Zebra printers and the

hand-held optical scanners deployed in

this solution.

“Finding a solution capable of withstanding

the extreme conditions of industrial

environments has been very challenging,

but we have finally found the right product

for our needs”, said Sergio Bassano, head

of programming at Duferdofin-Nucor, Italy.

“In future we plan to implement this auto-ID

technology solution, so that the

identification of the blooms at defined

production stages is completely

automated.” n

Zebra Technologies labelling tracks semi-finishedindustrial steel products at Duferdofin-Nucor

Safe and secure – today’sbusiness motto

Whether you’re in a store,

the office, a warehouse,

or in the field, wireless

technology is a critical

tool for conducting and

improving business. Yet, despite its

ubiquitous presence in business, we still

read, almost daily, about hackers breaking

into large network databases – heightening

concerns about identity theft and credit

card fraud. Security risks associated with

wireless networks have forced businesses

to comply with new, more stringent

regulations for network security and data

encryption. While there are risks any

wireless network faces, current state-of-the-

art wireless hardware security systems can

minimise that risk.

The standardisation of 802.11 wireless

devices has been a driving force in the

advancement of worker efficiency. It has

also brought higher levels of service to

retail and commercial customers alike. The

unassailable benefits of wireless devices

are driving the growth of 802.11

technology. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance,

chipsets sold on an annual basis to

support wireless technology will grow to

one billion units by 2012. Clearly,

companies that ignore the value of wireless

technology will be left behind as their

competitors benefit from its many

advantages. However, the use of wireless

technology is not without risks, and astute

companies will take measures to mitigate

these risks before wholly embracing

wireless devices.

Exponential pace

Driven by the need to guard company-

sensitive data from nosey competitors and

ruthless hackers, protocols to protect

wireless data have made their way to the

market at an exponential pace. It is

incumbent on providers of wireless

components to be authoritative experts in

the latest wireless security technologies.

Advances in the 802.11 protocol and

securities will continue. Securities used five

years ago are now considered non-

effective. WPA2, along with Radius

Authentication servers are now standard in

enterprise systems.

Providers must also remain vigilant and

knowledgeable about the progress hackers

are making in developing methods to

access propriety information contained

within wireless networks. Today, more than

ever, it is critical for anyone with a wireless

network to work with a partner

knowledgeable and equipped to address

the security concerns associated with their

business.

At risk

Unless strong wireless security measures

are embraced, you are at risk of exposing

your proprietary information to competitors.

You are also at risk of having your

customers’ financial data and other

sensitive information compromised by

hackers. To avoid such disastrous

circumstances, it is critically important to

implement wireless security measures.


Printing & Labelling Opinion

“It is incumbent on the ‘system’ to ensure that the device is atrusted part of the store-managed equipment, and authenticate it,before it is allowed access to the network.”

Today, more than ever, it is critical for anyone with a wireless network to work with aknowledgeable partner who is equipped to address the security concerns associated with

their business, writes Plamen Petkov vice-president of marketing, Datamax-O’Neil.

Plamen Petkov: The use of wirelesstechnology is not without risks.


Printing & LabellingOpinion

In any wireless network, access points give

wireless devices, such as scanners, mobile

computers, and printers, access to the

heart of the operation, the network servers

that store and distribute information. Each

of these wireless devices, whether sending

information, receiving information, or both,

can associate with the network once it is

within range of the access point. It is

incumbent on the ‘system’ to ensure that

the device is a trusted part of the store-

managed equipment, and authenticate it,

before it is allowed access to the network.

Finally, to protect the communication links

between trusted devices and the network

server, the data is encrypted to render it

unusable in the unlikely event it is

somehow intercepted.

The mix of industry standards and

proprietary certifications are sure to

expand over time as the hacker community

adjusts its tactics to thwart industry-wide

security measures. To sustain the integrity

of your business data, it is essential that

you choose a partner that can support your

wireless security needs today and into the

future. n

I-Class Mark II: We made the best better.Datamax-O’Neil’s I-Class revolutionized the barcode printer industry with its award winning modular design, fi eld installable options and rugged reliability. For the past several years, resellers have named the I-Class the “best channel product” in some of the industry’s most reputable independent surveys. Now we’ve raised the bar even higher, with the redesigned I-Class Mark II. Offering the fastest processor, largest memory and widest selection of communication ports available in a mid-range printer, the I-Class Mark II provides lower operating costs and fl awless print quality. For applications as diverse as manufacturing, transportation & logistics, food & beverage and pharmaceuticals, the I-Class Mark II will maintain its outstanding reputation for performance, reliability and value.

+33 4 75 75 63 00www.datamax-oneil.com

20% Faster Print Speed 44% Faster Processing 50% More Memory 61% Lower Power Consumption

your chanceof finding a better printer0%

Citizen printer helps winemanufacturer producecustomised labels on demand

The latest label printing

technology from Citizen, the

manufacturer of label, barcode

and industrial printers, is

helping Môreson Vineyard, a

specialised South African wine producer, to

create high-definition, customised labels for

its range of Miss Molly wines. In particular,

the Citizen technology is giving Môreson

the ability to produce labels on demand

either singly or in large volumes.

Situated in the Western Cape Province just

outside Cape Town, Môreson Vineyard

produces bottles of wine in the thousands

each year, requiring labels to be printed for

each bottle on-site before dispatch. With

many award-winning wines and periodic

high bottling volumes, Môreson’s wanted to

enhance the label quality for consumer

benefit and also increase printing rates to

improve the speed and efficiency of the

process.

Reliable and fast

Although the previous label printer

supplied by Citizen proved to be reliable

and fast, Môreson decided to upgrade to a

model which offered the same performance

but with enhanced printing capability. The

label’s design was modified to depict the

company’s distinctive logo and include the

specific wine variety description, therefore

helping to create a stronger brand identity

while adding additional consumer

information. Local Citizen value added

reseller, Label Ales worked closely with

Môreson to develop an effective solution

based on the latest Citizen CLP-8301

Printer.

With the CLP-8301’s ability to print on a

variety of media up to 220mm wide,

Môreson is now able to produce individual

labels as batches three labels aside for any

combination of their wine varieties and at a

high resolution of up to 300 dpi. This

ensures the necessary high print quality

needed for the distinctive logo, the wine

description and consumer advice, and

most importantly the barcode information.

In fact, these features have made this

printer popular for many retail applications

requiring EAN/UCC compliant barcodes.

With printing speeds of 100mm per second

and fast media loading via the Metal Hi-Lift

mechanism, label printing during the often

busy wine bottling process has allowed

multiple varieties to be processed

simultaneously with minimal disruptions or

delays.

Comprehensive range

Esme Viljoen of Label Ales said: “We had

been supplying Citizen’s comprehensive

range of label printers to numerous

customers for many years now. For

Môreson the key element was upgrading

their existing Citizen printer for one with

increased functionality without

compromising on speed and reliability

aspects. The CLP-8301 printer’s multi label

printing, text and logo print capability now

benefits both their bottle label production

process and enhances the marketing of

their wines.” n


Printing & Labelling Success story

CITIZEN SYSTEMS EUROPE AT A GLANCECitizen Systems Europe operates from locations throughout Europe coveringthe EMEA region. It offers a wide range of printers for industrial, retail,healthcare and mobile applications specialising in label, barcode, portable andpoint-of-sale printers. In each case, the company’s products are sold andsupported by a network of specialised partners. Citizen Systems Europe is awholly owned subsidiary of Citizen Systems Japan and part of the Citizen groupof companies, a global organisation that manufactures products ranging fromits world-famous Eco-Drive watches, calculators, mini-printers and industrialprinting systems to machine tools, quartz oscillators, LEDs and other electroniccomponents.

“For Môreson the key element was upgrading their existingCitizen printer for one with increased functionality withoutcompromising on speed and reliability aspects. The CLP-8301printer’s multi label printing, text and logo print capability nowbenefits both their bottle label production process and enhancesthe marketing of their wines.”

– Esme Viljoen, Label Ales.


AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTURE

www.logisticsit.com

Product news

Psion has announced the Omnii

XT15, its next generation rugged

handheld device. With its

toughness, reliability and

extended battery run time, the

Omnii XT15 represents a new landmark for

rugged mobile devices. To extend the value of

Omnii even further, the new Omnii Advantage

programme gives customers the opportunity

to re-purpose their devices free of charge at

any time after the first year of ownership. For

example, a customer can start with a 2D

barcode scanner and in the third year and

replace that module with an RFID reader as

the market moves to this technology. This

eliminates the need to replace the entire

product.

Extend product life

Industry analyst firms recognise the benefits

of an adaptable product platform. David

Krebs, vice president mobile & wireless at

VDC Research, commented: “Customers are

looking for mobile business solutions that will

continue to drive productivity and extend

product life beyond three years. Psion’s Omnii

XT15 provides customers with the flexibility to

adapt their handheld devices in the future, by

replacing modules with the latest technology

available, thus extending the life of the

product.”

The Omnii Advantage programme enables

customers to upgrade any module free of

charge after one full year of ownership. The

full Omnii Advantage programme terms can

be found at:

http://www.psion.com/omniiadvantage-terms

Compelling adaptability

“No other company in our industry is offering

such compelling adaptability and value.

Choosing Omnii means you benefit from an

economic proposition that is as strong as its

technical leadership,” said John Conoley,

CEO, Psion. “When customers buy the Omnii

XT15, they’re not just buying a product,

they’re buying into a unique product family.

Omnii is the most customisable and

upgradeable platform in our industry. As

customers’ needs evolve, their Psion Omnii

devices can evolve with them.” Key features

of the Omnii XT15 include:

• Modular upgradeable rugged design –

Certified for IP67 and IP65.

• Multiple data capture modules – Range of

imaging and laser scanners from multiple

vendors.

• Extremely rugged and upgradeable

display module – Proven to withstand 1.25

Joule impact with zero degradation to

touch performance.

• Eight interchangeable keyboard modules.

• Tri-Sensor technology – Accelerometer,

digital compass and GPS are all standard

features – essential for Mobile Device

Management (MDM).

• Extended battery performance – High

capacity battery and new architecture

enable a continuous run time of 20 hours

(including scanning and wireless usage).

• Expanded wireless capabilities – Includes

WAN, 3.8G HSPA+, 2G Edge and

802.11b/g/n.

Conoley concluded: “We continue to meet the

need for rugged and reliable devices for our

customers in the transportation and

distribution, manufacturing and industrial, and

wholesale trade markets. The Omnii XT15 is a

significant addition to our company portfolio

of products and an important step in our

mission to develop devices based on our

open innovation model that help our

customers to transform their business.” n

March 2012

Psion Omnii XT15 enables majorsavings in total cost of ownership

Customers are looking for mobile business solutions that willcontinue to drive productivity and extend product life beyond three years.Psion’s Omnii XT15 provides customers with the flexibility to adapt theirhandheld devices in the future, by replacing modules with the latesttechnology available, thus extending the life of the product.”

– David Krebs, VDC Research.

“

Psion’s Omnii XT15 provides customers withthe flexibility to adapt their handheld devices inthe future, by replacing modules with the latesttechnology available, thus extending the life ofthe product.”


Motion tablet computer device is at the heartof improved productivity and accuracy at Poundland

The recipient of the Discount

Retailer of the Year 2011 at The

Retail Industry Awards, Poundland

has become a high street

phenomenon. With increasing

sales and more than 380 stores, the huge

number of deliveries handled by the two main

Midlands-based warehouse hubs requires the

latest in technology solutions to ensure that

Poundland’s supply chain keeps pace with

demand.

The challenge

Poundland’s Quality Assurance Team, plays a

pivotal role in ensuring the timely delivery of

goods to stores across the UK and Eire in

order to keep up with the ever expanding

product range. The deployment of a

comprehensive solution to check and record

items being delivered became a priority for

the IT team. Long-time technology solutions

partner Box Technologies was tasked with

providing a truly mobile solution to increase

accuracy and of course, productivity.

Poundland had a solution in place that only

partly solved the problem. Its shortcomings

came from the fact it was trolley based,

cumbersome, and comprised a laptop,

scanner, and camera, powered by a mobile

battery pack to ensure the solution could last

the shift. In an environment alive with forklift

trucks and constant movement, the Quality

Assurance Team found itself having to

interrupt its work in order to allow the traffic to

go past. Being trolley based, there was also

an added problem of getting the unit between

pallets during busy periods. The challenge

was to find a solution that was not only

mobile, portable, and compact but one that

also incorporated all of the required

technologies needed to allow the Quality

Assurance team undertake their tasks with

increased productivity.

Finally, it was the clear and quantifiable cost

savings delivered which convinced

Poundland to acquire the solution offered by

Box Technologies. The tablet device enabled

Poundland to replace multiple different

elements of the legacy hardware. Long-term

cost reductions in terms of maintenance and

support costs could be realised with just one

device doing the job previously performed

by four.

Ideal platform

The increasing sophistication and functionality

provided by tablet-based technology seemed

to offer the ideal platform. Box Technologies

worked with the team at Poundland to specify

a tablet device incorporating all of the

required functionality. The Motion F5 PC

developed and manufactured by one of the

leading vendors in the industry, takes

technology into the field to streamline multiple

processes and improve mobile workforce

productivity.

For Poundland, the objective was to roll out a

solution that enabled a rapid and accurate

quality control procedure through the use of

one portable device. As goods are delivered

into the warehouse, every box must be

opened and samples of the goods checked.

Type, quantity, colour and contents must all

cross reference against the existing database,

and of course, in real time. When

discrepancies are found images must be

taken to record these and where new items

are taken into stock, these must be entered

into the database.

Highly ergonomic

The IP54 rated F5 has enabled the Quality

Assurance team to operate with one device

that captures data via a barcode scanner,

integrated 3.0 megapixel digital camera and

a web cam. The ergonomics of the

lightweight device with its slip-free grip and

moulded handle make it an ideal design. It is

built to be carried all day, to survive bumps

or drops and enables data capture while

standing or walking. For hands-free

operation Poundland equips the tablet with

straps and a safety harness. Its gorilla glass

provides the strength needed within tough

workplace environments and View Anywhere

technology ensures excellent viewing of all

kinds of documentation and images

whatever the light source.

In operational terms, the device provides Wi-

Fi, Bluetooth wireless connectivity and

optional mobile broadband with Gobi

www.logisticsit.com

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTURESuccess story


AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTURESuccess story

connectivity (WWAN) for real time data

transfer. The device has powerful processing

capabilities and is available with up to an Intel

Core i7 vPro. It has an extended battery life to

cope with the most demanding shift and

incorporates a hot-swap battery feature which

eliminates downtime when changing batteries.

This superior performance and level of

functionality within such a portable form-factor

answered Poundland’s requirements precisely.

Greater mobility

With the Box Technologies-enabled solution,

the Quality Assurance team can go about

their work more quickly and through

increased flexibility and greater mobility, can

improve its productivity levels. An added

bonus is the reduction of interruptions for the

fork lift drivers. This wearable and portable

solution has revolutionised the task of the

team. Mick Corbett, IT Solutions Leader at

Poundland, confirmed this. “The Quality

Assurance team have a mission critical task to

perform. Our expansion and increasing range

of goods that we can offer our customers

means that the task will continue to expand

and evolve. The introduction of the Motion F5

tablet has brought huge benefits in our

abilities to check the quality of goods, and the

speed with which we do that. Finally, we have

eliminated the need for a bulky and multi

faceted approach to one that brings the best

of state of the art technology together in one

lightweight and portable device.” n

March 2012www.logisticsit.com

IT Solutions which work for you! From managing stock to delivering product, Box Technologies has

requirements.

www.boxtechnologies.com

Delivering the Customer Interface Through Technology

01844 264 [email protected]

Box Technologies offers a solutions based approach:

End to End Project Management Design and Installation Implementation and Training Life Cycle Management

Box Technologies at a glance Box Technologies is a UK provider of customer interface technology solutions, within six

core market sectors: retail, hospitality, finance, public sector, utilities, transportation and

logistics. Box Technologies success over many years derives from its selling proposition

of ‘Delivering the Customer Interface through Technology’. As an ISO 90001:2008-

accredited business, supported by direct relationship with leading manufacturers, Box

Technologies delivers total solutions across a number of product lines – digital signage,

EPoS, mobile and self-service – supported by in-house service delivery teams.

Motion Computing Motion Computing, headquartered in Austin, Texas, produces rugged, slate tablet PCs

for mobile professionals in industries including healthcare, government, and field sales

force automation. Motion is a mobile computing and wireless communications solutions

provider, with an enhanced line of tablet PCs and accessories that are designed to

increase productivity for on-the-go users while providing computing security, power and

versatility.

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTURE

34 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS www.logisticsit.com

Product news

The V1010 vehicle-mount computer

offers a rugged, high-resolution

XGA 10-inch touch screen display

and a choice of Windows

Embedded 7 and Windows CE 6.0

for seamless migration into most supply-chain

environments.

While drawing its main power from a forklift or

other industrial vehicle, the V1010 is also

equipped with its own back-up battery, which

provides continuous power for up to four hours,

minimising downtime associated with

transferring the computer between vehicles.

DAP’s V1010 also offers advanced

communications options including Wireless

USB, carrier-independent wireless broadband

from Gobi TM 3000, and integrated ZigBee

wireless technology. The vehicle-mount

computer runs on the Intel E660T industrial

processor and has 2 GB DDR2 RAM and a 32

GB solid-state drive.

“The V1010 packs a lot of power and

functionality into a slim form factor that

transitions from vehicle to vehicle with ease,”

said DAP’s vice president Eric Miller. “Its 10-

inch display complements our 7-inch rugged

tablet and our widely deployed 12-inch vehicle-

mount computer.”

Quick-connect/disconnect feature

The added value of DAP’s new V1010 vehicle-

mounted computer is its

ability to coexist with

DAP’s M9010 rugged

tablet. The two products

share a patent-pending

mounting system that offers

a quick-connect/disconnect

feature, as well as an

expandable interface

enabling connection to

various peripherals.

DAP’s new Intelligent Docking

System does more than

simply secure a computer to

a forklift, truck or other

industrial vehicle and provide

power. The mounted system is able to connect

through traditional contacts or, as in the case of

the M9010 tablet and V1010, through Wireless

USB to minimise failure points between the

cradle and the device.

Seamless integration

With the Intelligent Docking System, customers

are no longer limited to the number of I/Os on a

computer. Borrowing from the modular design

philosophy of DAP’s computers, its modular

design allows for

maximum flexibility to fit the

intended application by seamlessly integrating

expansion modules with additional I/Os to meet

most application needs. The quick-

connect/disconnect cradle offers customers I/O

ports for peripherals like barcode readers,

document scanners, printers, weight scales

and telemetry interface to the vehicle’s on-

board computer.

“We know there is no such thing as one solution

fits all. Customers often have a need for both

tablets and fixed-mount computers,” said Khalid

Kidari, DAP’s director of product management

and marketing. “With this cradle, customers get

a sturdy docking system that accommodates

both form factors for ease of purchase and

implementation, thereby maximising and

expediting their return on investment.”

The devices will be available for purchase in

the fourth quarter of this year. n

March 2012

DAP Technologies previews twonew rugged products at Modex

We know there is no such thing as one solution fits all. Customersoften have a need for both tablets and fixed-mount computers.”

– Khalid Kidari, DAP. “

Attendees at the recently held Modex show in Atlanta got the first look at two new products from DAPTechnologies: the V1010 vehicle-mount rugged computer with a 10-inch XGA display and the patent-pending

quick-connect/disconnect modular Intelligent Docking System with Wireless USB.

The V1010 – packing a lotof power and functionalityinto a slim form factor.

35ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICSwww.logisticsit.com March 2012

Cognex Corporation has

announced the new DataMan

300 barcode reader for high

speed logistics applications

such as tote scanning, label

print and apply verification, and carton code

reading. The new DataMan 300 is a

complement to the DataMan 500 reader,

which has proven itself throughout its

introductory year as a popular choice for the

logistics, retail fulfilment and distribution

markets.

For high-speed logisticsapplications “We saw an industry that has been relying on

laser technology and knew that we could offer

a better, yet affordable, image-based solution

for high-speed logistics applications,” said Carl

Gerst, vice president and business unit

manager, ID Products. “The DataMan 500

reads 1-D or 2-D codes presented in any

direction at high speeds for postal, parcel and

package sortation as well as presentation

scanning. The DataMan 300 is now available to

take on fixed 1-D code reading for high speed

tote scanning and print and apply lines.”

According to Cognex, the DataMan product

line of barcode scanners can consistently

provide higher read rates than laser scanners.

With this new release, the Cognex algorithm,

1DMax+ is paired with Hotbars technology

which is said to be able to dramatically

increase the decoding speed of damaged or

poorly presented 1-D linear barcodes used in

the logistics industry.

High performance

Cognex comments that Hotbars uses texture

to locate barcodes at any orientation, and

then extracts high-resolution 1-D signals for

decoding. Hotbars combines superior signal

fidelity with super-fast speed, giving this next

generation of Cognex DataMan readers

unprecedented performance. Camera-based

barcode readers are claimed to be able to

help the logistics industry achieve:

• Higher read rates that can reduce costs

and increase throughput.

• Visualisation to access data for

continuous process improvement.

• Lower equipment costs because imagers

have no moving parts.

• Future proofing as 2-D matrix codes are

becoming more prevalent through all

industries.

The Enterprise Mobility Network,

a resource for professionals

working with or around mobile

technologies, recently launched

a report looking at the

interaction of mobile technologies and

information security risk. The report,

compiled by security and mobility expert

Andrew Moloney, was launched at a recent

inaugural Enterprise Mobility Network

webinar, held in association with IDC.

Building on interviews with Tsion Gonen,

chief strategy officer of SafeNet; Trefor

Davies, CIO of Timico; Rashmi Knowles,

chief security architect, Alun Dowling, head

of IT at RCT Homes; Dave Mahdi, global

product marketing manager at Entrust and

Jeffrey Peel, managing director at

Quadriga, the report explores and

explodes the myth that mobility represents

an increased security risk. Indeed, based

on the interviews, the report concludes that

a comprehensive mobility strategy could

actually improve the security profile of a

business.

From a strategic perspective, the report

details the categories of risk associated with

going mobile and five steps that can

improve the security profile of a business

deploying mobile technologies. Much of this

initial activity requires little or no immediate

investment. For example, for the 8 out of 10

businesses without a basic mobile device

policy, the lowest hanging fruit is a simple

do's and don'ts checklist. The report also

identifies six key tactics to turn mobility into

a key platform of increased security:

• End-to-end encryption.

• Geo-location via GPS or triangulation.

• Biometric identification as part of shared

devices.

• The use of one-time passcodes (OTP)

for authentication.

• Out of band (OOB) – the use,

segmentation and securing of individual

voice/text/data channels if compromise

occurs on any single channel.

• Secure element – a chip inside the

phone as a secure, encrypted RFID

source of credentials.

In addition the report carries two case

studies. The first looks at the use of a

mobility strategy to increase security and

improve productivity at RCT Homes in

Wales, whose deployment of Motorola

ES400 devices is a critical component of its

maintenance operation. The second

investigates how a major high street retailer

is managing a mix of dedicated and BYOD

devices in its stores and the different

applications it is finding for mobile

technologies.

"It is incredible to think that despite the

prevalence of mobile devices, as many as 8

out of 10 businesses still lack a written

policy on mobile device use," said Andrew

Moloney, CEO of security specialist Artisan

Southwest and author of the report. "As a

result, the lowest hanging fruit is also the

cheapest and does not require any

additional investment, just the time to

compile and distribute a written policy

outlining a few simple steps. This alone can

help improve the security of mobile

technologies in any business." n

Cognex expands logistics barcode scanning capabilities

New report shows how mobile technologies boost security

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTUREProduct News

Data

captu

re R

esearc

h

www.LogisticsHandling.com

COLLABORATION IN MOTIONMaterial Handling News and Video

YourLogisticsLOGISTICS & MATERIAL HANDLING VIDEOS

www.YourLogisticsTV.com


VOICEtechnology

www.logisticsit.com

Interview

MLIT: Voice in the warehouse has been

around for nearly a decade in the UK. What is

new?

OʼReilly: The market has definitely moved

from the experimental stage into mass

adoption, so today’s buyers have different

selection criteria and they tend to take a

longer-range view when making technology

decisions.

MLIT: How have buying criteria changed?

OʼReilly: Enterprises have a keener focus on

business value as opposed to simply driving

cost out of an organisation. They are looking

for ways to better fulfil their primary value

proposition as a business, and that often gets

back to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Voice solutions certainly help with these

initiatives because they can enable a

distribution centre to operate nearly error-free

in order selection.

MLIT: And that’s a new development?

OʼReilly: Perhaps not entirely new, but there

has been a shift in emphasis. Yesterday the

emphasis was on cost reduction, whereas

today it is on enhancing key corporate

strategies and delivering business value.

Fortunately, Voice can do both, so that puts

Voxware in a good position.

MLIT: You also said that buyers are taking a

longer-range view?

OʼReilly: True. In the past I think Voice

solution providers over emphasised the quick

ROI that Voice delivers. What this led to, in

some cases, was a rush to put in solutions to

obtain short term ROI – only to wake up later

to long-term cost and flexibility issues that

negatively impact the business.

MLIT: What kind of issues?

OʼReilly: Logistics is an endeavour in which

agility and nimbleness are prized and

rewarded. Yet all too often enterprises work

very hard to put in technology solutions that

cannot be changed very easily. This, in turn,

leads to a higher than desired cost to evolve

a logistics operation. Today’s buyers are not

only looking for benefits tomorrow, they have

expanded their view to consider the day after

tomorrow. So we are seeing companies that

are more carefully considering the cost of

change, and adopting standards to ensure

that they do not deploy a new technology that

ends up restricting them in the future.

MLIT: How has Voxware responded to these

new realities?

OʼReilly: Well, we’ve had to evolve as a

company. We took the decision a long time

ago to productise our software, and to make it

both configurable and portable. It took time,

but we’ve achieved what we set out to do. Our

solutions give customers wider choices and

greater flexibility than was possible years ago.

MLIT:Give me an example.

OʼReilly: Today we are seeing strong interest

in multi-modal solutions; these are

applications that utilise Voice but also take

advantage of scanners, screens, and

keyboards when the time is right. These

applications require multi-modal mobility

devices. By making our software portable, our

customers can upgrade from a Voice-only

device to a multi-modal one – without paying

Voxware to change a single line of code in the

Voice solution because no such changes are

necessary. This gives customers greater

flexibility for the future than would be the case

if the Voice application was programmed for

the specific device on which it was originally

delivered. This is an example, we think, of

responding to the longer-range mentality we

talked about a moment ago: when a company

first brings in a Voice solution, they are usually

not thinking about a future device refresh;

we’ve tried to plan ahead in our software so

when that day comes our customers will not

be unnecessarily restricted.

MLIT: You’ve recently announced a new

release of your product.

OʼReilly: Yes, Voxware Voice Management

Suite 5.0 is now generally available. It

includes VoxPilot, a very advanced

dashboard that instantly connects analytics to

actions that managers can take to intervene in

work as it progresses.

MLIT: So what’s next for Voxware?

OʼReilly: We are excited about the future. We

all know that economic conditions have been

difficult in recent years, but fortunately for

Voxware the kind of customer business

projects that are the first to be approved are

the kind that we can help succeed. n

Voxware Q&A Dave O’Reilly was recently named managing director of Voxware

UK Ltd. He is responsible not only for the UK but also for overseesVoxware’s activities across the EMEA region. Manufacturing &

Logistics IT spoke with him recently about the state of the Voicetechnology market.

Dave O’Reilly: Excited about the future.


VOICEtechnology

www.logisticsit.com

Opinion

Voice-directed technology has

significant practical and

commercial advantages for the

fast-paced manufacturing

industry, not least in its ability to

help transform warehouse performance,

support business growth and increase

capacity. In the past, Voice-directed working

was applied almost exclusively to order

picking processes. But as adoption of the

technology by both large and small-scale

manufacturers and logistics operations has

increased, it has been extended to additional

warehouse processes such as goods

receiving, put-away, replenishment and

dispatch with equally impressive benefits.

High value The ‘hands-free, eyes-free,’ aspect of Voice

has been shown to be of high value both as

part of the goods-in process and in dealing

with more complex workflows such as piece

picking. Companies deploying Vocollect’s

technology, for example, typically report

productivity improvements of 10 to 25 per

cent and reductions in errors of up to 80 per

cent. For a large operation using Vocollect

Voice in multiple areas of the warehouse, this

translates to big savings and performance

improvements. These business performance

improvements typically deliver an investment

payback of less than 18 months and often as

low as six to nine months.

For operations that experience a high degree

of change and unpredictability such as food

production and distribution, Voice-directed

working makes it easier to adapt to change,

add new warehouse capacity and adjust

working patterns quickly. In particular, there

are distinct advantages for labour

management, such as the ability to lessen

indirect hours, decrease the likelihood of

attrition and significantly reduce training time

for new and seasonal

workers.

Speed and efficiencygains

Producers and

distributors of high-

volume, low-value goods

such as food

manufacturers,

meanwhile, are more

likely to cite speed and

efficiency gains as being

the biggest benefit of the

technology, especially in

achieving greater capacity, throughput and

lower per-unit costs.

For example, Allied Bakeries, part of

Associated British Foods PLC, relies on an

estate of over 280 VoiteQ-supported Vocollect

Talkman devices to ensure its broad customer

base receive a range of bread, rolls,

crumpets, muffins and other baked goods.

The wearable apparatus is used by the

organisation to pick products and fulfil

customer orders from an extensive logistics

operation spanning 19 UK distribution

centres.

Improved turnaround time Manufacturers of high-value, low-volume

goods, or distributors of products where mis-

picks can seriously impact

customer service often cite the

increased accuracy that Voice-

directed picking brings as being a

major advantage. For example,

Clipper Logistics, one of the UK’s

leading independent third-party

logistics companies, handles

warehouse operations for the luxury

department store Liberty London.

Clipper chose to implement Vocollect Voice

technology in its warehouse, in conjunction

with Vocollect solution partner VoiteQ, in order

to improve the turnaround time of goods

coming in to the warehouse and arriving at

the store.

Moving to Voice-directed working allowed

Clipper not only to improve productivity and

accuracy within the operation, but also gain

greater visibility of activities and stock. This

visibility means Clipper now provides real-

time feedback to Liberty. Crucially, Liberty

can now take advantage of this knowledge in

its merchandising and promotions.

As Allied Bakeries, Clipper Logistics and

many other manufacturers and logistics

operations have now discovered, the more

complexity or velocity of products moving

through the warehouse, the more compelling

voice becomes. For this reason, while smaller-

scale operations can benefit from Voice, the

technology really comes into its own in large,

fast-moving and complex operations. n

Supporting growth in manufacturing logistics

Manufacturers of high-value, low-volume goods, or distributors of productswhere mis-picks can seriously impact customer service often cite the increasedaccuracy that Voice-directed picking brings as being a major advantage.” “

Vocollect’s vice president of EMEA sales, Richard Adams, explains how intelligent Voice-directedpicking technology can deliver big benefits to large-scale manufacturing and logistics operations.

IF YOUR WAREHOUSE COULD TALK......it would tell you that your warehouse staff would benefit hugely from voice-enabled technology.

It’s easy to learn and use, especially compared with other warehousing technologies requiring weeks of training. Because voice is a natural means of communication, staff can get to grips with voice-directed working within an hour and be proficient in under a day, dramatically reducing training times and costs.

Are you listening?

The Voice of The Warehouse www.voiceofthewarehouse.com



Are you listening?



Are you listening?







The Voice of The WarehouseThe Voice of The Warehouse www.voiceofthewarehouse.comwww.voiceofthewarehouse.comwww.voiceofthewarehouse.com


Warehouse Management n Success story

Ahlsell is a leading company in

the Nordic countries, the Baltic

States and Russia supplying

goods and associated services

to professional users in the

product areas of heating & plumbing,

electrical, tools & machinery, construction and

refrigeration. In this region, Ahlsell has some

250 stores. Ahlsell's efficient logistics system

with central warehouses at strategic locations

throughout Scandinavia forms the heart of the

company's activities. Its stores, online store

and large product range ensure a high level

of service and reliable next-day delivery to

customers. Due to direct deliveries from the

warehouse, Ahlsell can ensure that customers

receive their goods on time.

In Norway, Ahlsell used to have ten regional

warehouses. Order picking in these facilities

was based on traditional order picking

methods. This type of work can be physically

and mentally difficult, making it hard to find

and retain good staff and limiting operator

productivity. At the same time, customers are

demanding that the correct order is delivered

at exactly the right time and that order cut-off

times are extended. This posed significant

challenges to the regional warehouses.

Improving operator productivity andcustomer service

To improve operator productivity and customer

service level, Ahlsell decided to build a central

warehouse in Norway, near Oslo Airport,

replacing nine regional warehouses. This new

central warehouse optimises Ahlsell’s product

flows and ensures fast and reliable deliveries.

Central stock-keeping creates benefits of

scale, which will allow the company to offer

customers competitive prices. Ahlsell selected

Vanderlande Industries to design and build the

automated material handling system, including

the Warehouse Control System (WCS).

Efficient automated goods receiving: Setup for all other warehousing activties

Incoming goods are de-palletised and placed

in multi-compartment product totes at 2

receiving workstations. In the Receiving area,

several activities come together, such as

scanning, counting and quality checking.

Ahlsell benefits from new central warehousein Norway with the help of Vanderlande

www.logisticsit.com

The Quickstore miniload automated storageand retrieval system.

Order picking for parts and components with Pick@Ease.



www.logisticsit.com

Requirements for receiving workstations are

constantly increasing to improve efficiency

and quality.

High storage density in Quickstoreminiloads

The product totes are conveyed to the 5-aisle

Quickstore miniload system (automated

storage and retrieval system), where they are

stored. Quickstore miniloads are

characterised by high storage density, high

performance, improved accuracy and low

energy use. Based on incoming orders, the

product totes are retrieved and conveyed to

the order picking area.

Goods-to-man order picking concept withPick@Ease workstations

For order picking the goods-to-man concept

with 5 Pick@Ease order picking workstations

was selected, because it enables Ahlsell to

improve operator productivity and customer

service, while keeping operational costs

down. The Pick@Ease workstation includes

proven ergonomic characteristics. It is

designed in a single level layout to minimise

vertical arm and shoulder movement. The

operator can adjust the workstation platform

automatically to his or her ideal height.

Operators pick items from multi-compartment

totes directly into shipping cartons (pick/pack

operation), minimising product handling. A

pick pointer and the touch screen indicates

from which compartment the operator must

pick the products, enhancing accuracy. The

operator selects the right shipping carton.

Shipping labels are printed and applied

automatically before the cartons are sorted

and palletised. The warehouse process is

controlled by the Vision WCS interfaced with

Ahlsell’s ‘Astro’ host system. n

Processing customer orders quickly and accurately has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and determines the success of your business. Find out what we can do for you at:

ACCURATE AND EFFICIENT SOLUTIONS IN AUTOMATED MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS

QUICK AND ACCURATE

www.vanderlande.com

Pick@Ease workstation formulticompartment tote.

Vanderlande Industries at a glance

Vanderlande Industries specialises indesigning and building intelligent IT-driven material handling systems andrelated services, which cover the entirewarehouse process, from GoodsReceiving to Shipping. The companyhas successfully automated more than1000 warehouses and distributioncentres worldwide. Solutions includeorder picking/order fulfilment systems,automated storage and retrievalsystems (AS/RS), sortation systems,conveyor systems/internal transportsystems and Warehouse Managementand Control Systems (WMS/WCS).



www.logisticsit.com

Community Foods selected the

Accellos WMS because it

integrates seamlessly with its

new enterprise resource

planning (ERP) software. John

Davies, director of operations, Community

Foods, commented: “It is fair to say that we’ve

seen stock record accuracy move from the

low 80 per cent to about 95 per cent in six

months. In a short, we have seen significant

gains since installing Accellos and we expect

a lot more to come.” The company specialises

in the procurement, sale and distribution of

organic and natural dried fruits, nuts, seeds,

pulses, grains and branded health foods. In

2011, the company celebrated 40 years of

business success.

Accurate traceability

The company adheres to strict food standards

requiring accurate traceability and record

keeping. This previously entailed keeping highly

detailed, time-consuming manual stock records.

“We did have a management system but it

wasn’t warehouse specific,” explained Davies.

“It had a manual paper-based workflow, which

was batch updated during the course of the

day. From our order-processing perspective, we

were plagued with the uncertainty of quantity

and freshness of stock in the warehouse when

we came to pick orders. This resulted in a high

degree of stock loss and shrinkage by not being

able to control our inventory movements.

“Secondly, we were experiencing a high level of

picking errors. Warehouse operatives picked the

wrong product because it was in the wrong

location or poorly recorded. As a result of these

picking errors, we had a high level of invoice

errors, which consequentially resulted in a lot of

customer claims and credits.”

Inventory accuracy

Community Food’s ultimate objective for the new

WMS was to gain control of inventory accuracy

in the warehouse and this would drive the

planning and replenishment processes. The

system would also ensure that orders were

fresh, provide age control for the products and

batch control for traceability.

Davies concluded: “We import products from

every continent around the world. To provide the

necessary due diligence we need systems that

will help control our processes. The real-time

functionality of Accellos gives us much better

information from the point of view of processing

orders in real time to visibility of stock

movements in real time.” n

Community Food’s ultimate objective for thenew WMS was to gain control of inventoryaccuracy in the warehouse and this woulddrive the planning and replenishmentprocesses. The system would also ensurethat orders were fresh, provide age controlfor the products and batch control fortraceability.

Community Foods hits targetwith ERP-integrated warehousesystem from Balloon One Community Foods Ltd. has reportedly improved stock recording accuracy by 15 per cent in justsix months using Balloon One’s wireless warehouse management system (WMS). The newsystem has also reduced wastage and improved stock reconciliation for the natural and organicdried food supplier.

Balloon One at a glance

Balloon One is an IT provider specialising in the distribution, implementation and support ofbusiness software and supply chain applications. Balloon One’s goal is to make large scaleenterprise applications accessible to small and midsize companies. The company focuses onapplications that are affordable, easy to implement and able to deliver a rapid return oninvestment. With 20 years’ experience in the business application market Balloon One hasworked with hundreds of businesses. The company has customers in a wide range ofmarkets, including: packaging, toy/gift, hobby, clothing, wholesale, retail, timber, DIY,furniture, education, leisure, IT, electronics, healthcare, medical distribution, water treatment,and chemicals and lubricants. In 2002, Balloon One was appointed as the first businesspartner for SAP Business One and today it is widely respected as a worldwide Business Onecentre of expertise. In 2004, the company added the Accellos One Warehouse solution to itsproduct portfolio. In 2007, Balloon One was awarded Partner of the Year by Accellos for itssales and implementation success.



www.logisticsit.com

Third-party storage and distribution

company, Vernon Land Transport,

headquartered in Bradford, West

Yorkshire, has purchased the

DeltaWMS Warehouse

Performance Management system to support

its continued growth. Vernon Land, which

operates throughout the UK and continental

Europe, is expanding its warehouse capacity

from 70,000 to 95,000 sq ft, increasing its

warehouses from seven to ten. The

company's circa 80 3PL clients include air

freight, pharmaceutical, printed matter,

automotive, manufacturing, brewing and retail

distribution specialists.

User-friendly system

"DeltaWMS seemed a better and more user-

friendly system than the others we looked at,"

said managing director Vernon Land. "We

noticed that many of the companies I would

class as leaders in our field were already

using Delta, and that also gave us the

confidence to choose them."

Vernon Land's new DeltaWMS environment

will include RF scanning and an interactive

module that allows customers to input to and

track their orders, online, 24/7. A single,

networked DeltaWMS system will manage all

Vernon Land's warehouse units, which are

grouped on the same site.

Strengths

"The third-party logistics market is arguably

the most demanding for warehouse

technology," remarked Delta’s managing

director Lance Bennett. "Delta's growing 3PL

market share and its adoption by many of the

market leaders reflects our proven strengths

and reputation in this arena."

Delta's 'optimise my supply chain' solutions

can be integrated with any ERP or other

system. DeltaWMS systems have been

developed for all types of warehouse

operation, including: distribution, third party,

manufacturing and bonded. n

Vernon Land Transport installsDelta system to support 3PL growth

Delta Software at a glance

Founded in 1990 and headquartered inWakefield, Yorkshire, Delta Software is asupplier of interactive WarehousePerformance Management systems and ajust-in-time technology developer. Thecompany’s ‘DeltaWMS’ flagship single-and multi-site systems are open-database, feature a user-friendlyinteractive warehouse management‘graphical map’ and can be easilyintegrated into any ERP enterprise orsmaller business environment. DeltaSoftware deploys its solutionsthroughout the UK and continentalEurope, on-time and to-budget, providingrigorous fixed-price guarantees. Deltaclients include The Co-op E-store, EddieStobart, Foulger Transport, Life Fitness,Maximuscle, Toyota Tsusho, Edexcel,Condor Ferries, Palletways and TheRoyal British Legion.

“ DeltaWMS seemed a better and more user friendly system thanthe others we looked at. We noticed that many of the companies Iwould class as leaders in our field were already using Delta, and thatalso gave us the confidence to choose them." ity – makes the 150 apowerful and productive tool.”

– Vernon Land, Vernon Land Transport.


Bettavend improvesproductivity and cuts costswith FleetMatics solution

In order to keep up with growing customer demand independent regional vendingcompany, Bettavend, turned to FleetMatics, the provider of fleet management

solutions for commercial fleet vehicles, to help better manage its fleet.

TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Success story

Bettavend has been supplyingrefreshment systems and ancillaryservices in the Hampshire area forover 20 years, during which timethe fleet has grown to 28 vehicles.

Operations manager, Ben West, pointed outthat before fitting the FleetMatics GPSmonitoring solution the company was unableto identify an engineer's location, thuscausing a time delay from one job to another."Our aim as a company is to offer a fast,efficient and friendly customer-focusedservice," he said "Due to a lack of informationon driver's location on the road, we wereunable to schedule work accurately for themand, as a result, we were weakening thestandard of service we aim to provide."

Fuel-inefficient

The GPS fleet tracking system has allowedBettavend to improve scheduling of jobs andbetter manage its service engineers. A furtherbenefit to the company is the reduction of fuelbills; even though the cost of fuel is

continuously on the rise, this has beenachieved through the reduction in vehicle idlingtime. "Unthinking drivers can often spend timein their vehicle with the engine idling, which isincredibly fuel-inefficient," said West. TheFleetMatics system records idling time andcan, if required, send alerts when pre-set idlingparameters are breached. With this informationBettavend has educated its workforce to thinkmore about their idling time and this awarenesshas resulted in a large fuel saving.

FleetMatics 'Live Fleet' shows dispatchers theexact location of each individual vehicle, aswell as reporting how long the engineer wasat a particular job and the time it took to gofrom one job to another. Knowing where adriver is at all times has made it easier formanagers at Bettavend to assignunscheduled jobs to engineers moreeffectively, as they can quickly locate thenearest vehicles to that specific job andassign the job accordingly.

FleetMatics 'Daily report' is another tool usedby Bettavend; this report is analysed against

the daily plan for eachdriver to see what taskswere planned and whichwere completed. A majorbenefit for West is that thedaily reports are sentdirectly to his iPhone, sohe's able to investigateany unusual eventsimmediately, wherever heis. "The iPhone App is areally great function tohave," remarked West. "Itmeans that even when I'mon the move, I still haveaccess to all of the fleetinformation."

A change of attitude among the staff hasn'tgone unnoticed in the company either. Due tothe monitoring of vehicles the drivers havebecome more punctual and relationshipswithin the company have improved. Westexplains: "There have been a few occasionswhen a customer has claimed that anengineer hadn't turned up to a job; with GPStracking we were able to quickly react andprove to the customer that in fact an engineerdid show up, meaning we were able to backup our driver."

Insurance premiumreduction

One unexpected additional advantage ofinstalling the GPS system is that Bettavendhas seen a substantial reduction in insurancepremiums. This reduction is due to the factthat historically GPS tracking has helpedspeed up the recovery of stolen vehicles,resulting in little or no loss or damages."Having a live streaming GPS installed onvehicles means the location, speed and thesafety of drivers are being monitoredwhenever the vehicle is in motion," said West."The safety of our drivers is a big concern tous, knowing where they are has given mepeace of mind."

The overall benefits that Bettavend has seensince installing the FleetMatics GPS FleetMonitoring tool have exceeded theexpectations of the company. Westconcluded: "With GPS monitoring we are ableto effectively strive for greater customerservice and also improve the utilisation ofvehicles, thus saving the company moneyand helping the business continue to grow atthe same time." n

Due to the monitoring of vehicles the drivers have become morepunctual and relationships within the company have improved.


Success story TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

Linde extends Paragon transportplanning software across 50 countries

Linde Group is deploying Paragonrouting and scheduling software in50 countries around the world. Thismajor roll out extends Linde’s use ofParagon for managing the

distribution of industrial and therapeutic gasesglobally. With Paragon automating andoptimising the routes and schedules, Lindecustomers can place orders for next-daydelivery. Linde has demonstrated that thesoftware has improved customer servicelevels, particularly with critical deliveries, andis enabling operational savings worldwide.

The Linde Group is a leading gases andengineering company with around 49,100employees working in more than 100countries worldwide. In the 2010 financialyear it achieved sales of 12.868 billion euros.The software licence extension builds on amajor deployment of Paragon announcedback in March 2010, which saw Linde

operations in Europe, the Nordic regions andAustralia and New Zealand implementParagon for transport planning, including dailydynamic routing.

Optimised delivery

Martyn Stretch, global transport manager forLinde's cylinder business, said: “Paragon isthe routing software of choice for Lindecylinder business globally. It is integral to theefficiency of our gas cylinder business andwe have proven that the software is the bestchoice for producing optimised deliveryroutes and schedules. With this new licence,we now have the opportunity to roll out the

software to all our sites worldwide fromcentrally hosted servers within our IS networkand accessed through a Citrix link. Paragonhas proven to be a reliable supplier and hasbeen supportive to our goal of continuallyimproving our gas delivery operations.”

Stretch continued: “The new licence gives ourlogistics teams around the world the ability touse and benefit from Paragon’s superiortransport planning capabilities, whichultimately will boost service levels. With so

many of our sites worldwide now usingParagon software, we have full confidence inthe system and can vouch for the company’ssupport during implementation andafterwards, together with the excellent trainingit provides.”

Paragon is currently supporting the roll out ofsoftware to Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Malaysiaand Chile, with further installations in theBaltics, South Africa, Hong Kong and Beneluxcoming during early 2012. n

Paragon Software Systems at a glance Paragon Software Systems is provider of transport optimisation solutions with over 1500routing and scheduling systems installed in more than 33 countries. Paragon helpscompanies reduce transport costs by up to 20 per cent through more efficientdeployment of vehicles and drivers. Headquartered in Dorking, Surrey UK, and with USoffices in Dallas, Paragon is a developer of routing and scheduling with over 30 years’experience.

Paragon is employed by transport operations ranging from just 10 vehicles at a singlesite to hundreds of vehicles operating from several sites. The system is used for routingand scheduling optimisation; managing transport resources; strategic planning;scheduling home deliveries continuously as orders are being confirmed; and managingthe execution of the transport plan in real time using vehicle tracking technology.

Paragon assists many leading companies with their logistics including: ASDA, Royal MailGroup, Harrods, Sainsbury's, AB Agri, CEVA Logistics, Wincanton, DHL Exel, NorbertDentressangle, Linde, Fuller's, John Lewis, Tesco, Keystone Distribution and Raleigh.

With so many of our sitesworldwide now using Paragonsoftware, we have full confidence inthe system and can vouch for thecompany’s support duringimplementation and afterwards,together with the excellent training itprovides.”

– Martyn Stretch, Linde.

“


TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Success story

CargoWise to providetechnology platform for Tigers

CargoWise, the global provider of unified platform software for logistics service providers (LSPs), hassigned a multi-year agreement to provide its ediEnterprise global freight and logistics technology

platform to the newly formed Tigers Ltd., a company created under a merger agreement betweenWLG, Inc. and Kamino Logistics Group Ltd. WLG is already using ediEnterprise globally.

Tigers recognised the value ofleveraging the current investmentto standardise its operations andexpand its product offering acrossadditional countries and lines of

business. Tigers will benefit from wide-ranging visibility during the merger and in thefuture by using ediEnterprise’s underlyingsingle-file-concept to link all relevantinformation together in one globallyaccessible database.

Consistent, high-qualityservices

Andrew Jillings, CEO for Tigers, commented:“We retained Spectrum Partners LLC to assistus in selecting the operating system for ournewly merged company. Tigers and itsstrategic agent partners will operateediEnterprise in offices across Asia,Australasia, the Americas and Europe underthe Tigers brand. ediEnterprise will beimplemented across all offices to provideglobal management visibility and operationalefficiency. Tigers will be able to offer itscustomers consistent, high-quality servicesacross the freight and logistics supply chain.”

Gene Gander, VP business developmentAmericas for CargoWise, said of CargoWise’scontinuing relationship with the newly mergedcompanies: “We have worked closely withWLG for many years to support their businessrequirements – they were one of our launchcustomers when we introduced our USCustom Brokerage product. Independently,we had also been involved in businessdiscussions with Kamino. The flexibility ofediEnterprise is a great fit for a company like

Tigers and we welcome the opportunity toexpand our existing relationship and provideTiger a ‘best practices’ global system formanaging their operations and serving theirmarket.”

Real-time information

ediEnterprise’s unified global platform anduniversal workflow supports Tigers’commitment to delivering both informationand freight worldwide. The single entryplatform enables Tigers to deliver real-timeinformation to customers consistently from allcorners of the globe. n

Tigers and its strategic agent partners will operate ediEnterprise inoffices across Asia, Australasia, the Americas and Europe under the Tigersbrand. ediEnterprise will be implemented across all offices to provide globalmanagement visibility and operational efficiency.”

– Andrew Jillings, Tigers.

“

CargoWise at a glance CargoWise is a global provider oflogistics technology solutions thatimprove visibility, efficiency, quality ofservice and profitability. CargoWise isrecognised for its next-generationsolutions, including ediEnterprise, theintegrated single platform supply chainlogistics management system withglobal capability. With clients holdingmore than 80,000 licences across acustomer community of 4000 sites inover 75 countries, CargoWise solutionshave become an integral part of theglobal supply chain. The companyoperates worldwide from offices acrossthe US, Europe and Asia. CargoWise isa key product brand of WiseTechGlobal,an international technologydevelopment company whose remit isto deliver innovative market-specificsoftware solutions worldwide.

Ted Baker, the fast-growing British

designer brand, is rolling-out new

point-of-sale and retail

management software, Yourcegid

Retail, to help support its

expansion abroad. Yourcegid Retail is

expected to make dealing with complicated

tax regimes and customer service in local

languages more straightforward. The initial

implementation of the stores in Hong Kong

was completed just in time for the busy

Christmas trading period and ahead of the

opening of its first stores in mainland China

early this year.

Yourcegid Retail improves the productivity,

performance and profitability of speciality

retailers. The Yourcegid Retail portfolio

includes merchandise planning, forecasting,

sourcing and production, supply chain,

multichannel merchandise

management, EPOS and store

management, CRM and loyalty and

reporting. Over 1000 retailers and

20,000 stores in 70 countries are

currently using Yourcegid Retail to

drive their business forward.

Dustan Steer, Ted Baker’s IT director,

said: “We chose to work with Cegid

because of its expertise in fashion and

its international reach. Cegid is

present in all the local markets we

operate in and the software is highly

flexible, giving local support in the

relevant languages and lots of specific

tools already configured for each

region. Following local regulations is

one of the greatest challenges in Asia, so

Cegid proved to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for our

overseas activity.”

Country-specific needs

The retailer also plans to take advantage of

other Cegid features to help better align the

business with certain country-specific needs.

For instance, higher levels of in store service

in Asia often requires more sophisticated

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

and VIP tools, with gift card and loyalty

schemes possibly being explored in the

future. Steer also acknowledged the need for

building new data centres in the US and

Hong Kong to support the growing business

and speed up data transfer.

The £188 million designer brand recently

announced further expansion abroad after

half-year sales in the US went up by 74 per

cent to $16.7 million (£10.8 million), boosted

by new concessions and strong demand for

its clothes. Ted Baker said it would add 13

concessions in US department stores,

including Bloomingdales, to its existing base

of 150+ stores, mainly in the UK, France, US

and Asia. The company will also open a new

flagship store in New York in 2012, in addition

to four new concessions and an outlet store in

the US this year. n


Supply ChainSuccess story

March 2012

Ted Baker rolls out Cegid softwareto support expansion in US and Asia

www.logisticsit.com

Cegid is present in all the localmarkets we operate in and thesoftware is highly flexible, giving localsupport in the relevant languages andlots of specific tools alreadyconfigured for each region.”

– Dustan Steer, Ted Baker.

“

Cegid Group at a glance Cegid Group is an internationalenterprise management and verticalsoftware solutions provider, with aturnover of €249.6 million in 2010, 2000employees and 400,000 users worldwide.Combining The company has offices inMilton Keynes, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid,Milan, New York, Casablanca, Shenzhen,Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo.Delivering solutions and services toimprove our customer’s performance anddevelopment, Cegid’s offerings extendfrom vertical business solutions (retail,manufacturing & industry, hospitality,services, wholesale, CPAs, associations,Public sector) to ‘enterprise-wide’solutions (finance & accounting, tax,performance management, humanresources/payroll). Cegid’s solutions arealso available ‘on demand’ based on aSaaS deployment model, and addressthe needs of companies of all sizes.

The lean manufacturing model

pioneered in the automotive

industry is designed to save costs

by reducing stock-holding but it

can also expose a company to

substantial risks. If not enough stock is

delivered on time whole production lines can

grind to a halt, with potentially serious

consequences not only for lost profits but also

for customer relations.

Even short stoppages still carry a hefty price

tag in lost production, especially in high-value

industries such as aerospace and IT which

have high fixed costs. The higher the fixed

costs, the higher the potential lost profit; so

companies with expensive state-of-the-art

machinery and high research and

development costs are particularly vulnerable.

For example, a company running with 75 per

cent fixed costs can lose twice as much off its

bottom line as would a manufacturer that has

fixed costs of 25 per cent for the same length

of stoppage time. That’s without taking into

account the expensive knock-on damage to a

manufacturer’s reputation; if a manufacturer is

unable to produce their products on time, it

can only result in customer dissatisfaction.

Balancing act

While not always easy to measure, a dent in a

company’s reputation for reliability can swiftly

become critical. It is no surprise that businesses

want to ensure they get the balancing act

between risk and efficiency right. One irony of

the rise of Just in Time manufacturing methods

is that in an increasingly globalised marketplace

supply chains now stretch further round the

world than ever before and are consequently

more vulnerable.

Natural disasters such as the Japanese

earthquake, which disrupted supplies of

automotive and IT parts to America and

Europe, amply demonstrated that. A

catastrophe of a kind which would almost

certainly never occur in the UK had a direct

impact straightaway, with Japanese car

manufacturers being forced to slow down

production at UK plants because of a lack of

parts. Of course tsunamis are devastating,

unpredictable and unstoppable. But companies

that have stretched and vulnerable supply

chains obviously want to minimise the risks they

can control, without resorting to expensive over-

stocking and abandoning their lean

manufacturing processes.

One model of stripping costs out of the

supply chain that has proved highly

successful in the UK was pioneered here at

ByBox. We realised the potential for savings

which could be achieved with a novel

approach that gives complete visibility of the

supply chain at all times. ByBox delivers in-

night, pre-8am to a network of more than

18,000 secure drop boxes at 1400 locations

throughout the UK. The operation runs 365

days a year, including Bank Holidays, with an

enviable delivery success rate of 99.77 per

cent, making it one of the most reliable

delivery methods available.

Each part in the network is tracked at all times


Supply Chain Opinion

March 2012 www.logisticsit.com

The effective way to stripcosts out of your supply chain

By Mark Garritt, managing director, ByBox.

Of course tsunamis are devastating, unpredictable and unstoppable. Butcompanies that have stretched and vulnerable supply chains obviously want tominimise the risks they can control, without resorting to expensive over-stockingand abandoning their lean manufacturing processes.”

“

by ByBox’ award-winning software platform

Thinventory, which shows customers exactly

where their stock is so they can move it

according to need. Instead of rushing parts

out using expensive same-day delivery, which

attracts premium prices, companies can

place orders as late as10:30 p.m. and parts

will be in the ByBox drop box by 8am the next

day, ready for collection before the start of a

day’s work.

With deliveries every day of the year, ByBox

customers can save substantial sums of

money by avoiding the need to use premium

services such as same day delivery or

weekend delivery in all but the most

exceptional cases. Of course some

companies, especially those that operate

around the clock, may require parts urgently

outside normal hours and ByBox can help

them with its network of Forward Stock

Locations across the UK which are open 24

hours a day.

For simple swap-outs and non-intensive

installations, ByBox’ expanding Tech Courier

service operates 365 days a year, including

Bank Holidays, with a team of 160 technical

couriers available across the UK. And if a

company requires a skilled engineer as well,

ByBox can supply a high-end engineering

resource at variable cost through PPR

Solutions, a subsidiary of ByBox, which

deploys highly-skilled teams of mobile

engineers across the UK. Here at ByBox we

have always believed that the key to logistics

is “moving the data” as much as it is about

moving the parts. Our Thinventory software

platform gives customers several advantages

that can boost their bottom line and financial

fitness.

Freeing up working capital

First, the excellent visibility of ByBox’

supply chain enables customers to

significantly reduce stock-holding; freeing

up working capital to use more productively

elsewhere in the business. Especially in

these tough economic times when

companies are finding it increasingly

difficult to get credit from banks, this is a

benefit that cannot be over-emphasised.

Secondly, ByBox’ transparent system also

allows companies to carefully manage the

stock-holding of parts that are about to

become obsolete, reducing the risk of

having to squander capital by writing off

large stocks of unusable parts. With

Thinventory they can pinpoint such stock,

use it where possible, and avoid ordering in

unnecessarily.

Thirdly, ByBox smooths the path for

returning faulty parts under warranty. Parts

are simply placed in the drop box and

Thinventory does the rest. By maximising

the number of compensation claims which

were lodged in time, some of our customers

have gained substantial sums in

compensation.

When we started ByBox in 2000 we firmly

believed that many costs could be stripped

out of supply chains with new technology

and fresh thinking. The field services sector

was the first to experience the ByBox

‘distribution revolution’. Now it is time to roll

it out to other sectors where lean supply

chains are the goal. n


Supply Chain

www.logisticsit.com

Opinion

March 2012

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a yearIf you need an extended service on Sundays or Bank Holidays, contact ByBox.

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