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The need to incorporate a small change to the business – such as to support a new product line or a new way of organising deliveries - can require an extensive software project involving in-house staff and external consultants to modify the WMS accordingly. Another limiting factor is that implementing successive modifications over a lifetime tends to compromise the stability of a typical WMS.
Even when the need for rapid flexibility is clearly evident, many operations directors will soldier on with the incumbent WMS simply because the risks of conversion tend to be very high. Extensive disruption can be the downfall of a business that depends on shifting stock in real-time.
Despite this, when plans to terminate support for the existing WMS were announced, Rosebys, a home furnishing retailer, had both the incentive and the opportunity to find a more modern and flexible system. “With a conventional WMS, it can take three months to implement a small adaptation to the business. The way Rosebys operates today, we might get two weeks’ notice to support a change initiated from within the buying department. We really needed a WMS that could help us achieve a smooth and controlled response within the shorter timeframe,” says Chris Gee, business systems controller at Rosebys.
Taking the high jump
The HighJump Warehouse Advantage WMS from 3M Supply Chain Solutions was able to meet Rosebys requirements. The software is designed to support user-defined functions without changing the core software or its interfaces. This aims to promote long-term stability by preventing successive customisation projects from compromising the foundations of the system. Moreover, adaptability tools enable in-house staff to customise the system.
“HighJump Warehouse Advantage is very easy to understand and work with,” says Gee. “Some of the first changes we needed to make were to customise the on-screen prompts for users and to write a new log record, to analyse certain pick walks and verify the most efficient warehouse layout. We were successful in testing and implementing these changes, by ourselves, within days.”
No hiccups
In addition to its easy flexibility, HighJump Warehouse Advantage includes support for techniques commonly used within the logistics industry. As an example, Rosebys had not used radio frequency (RF) receiving before but was able to change its receipt process from manual to RF without experiencing a single hiccup. This has delivered a boost to goods-in activities, allowing a reduction of around 20 per cent in receipt-to-putaway time.
“We managed to migrate the distribution centre at Selby onto HighJump Warehouse Advantage without a hitch, taking advantage of the new functions and capabilities immediately,” Gee says. “Changing to a new WMS brings big risks, and disruptions to operations are usually readily apparent. The best measure of success is that few employees outside the warehouse team can identify that such an important changeover has happened.”
Most recently, Rosebys adapted HighJump Warehouse Advantage to interface with DHL for parcel tracking. The in-house team made changes to pick/pack routines, wrote the interface into the carrier system and processed the subsequent return file within a couple of days. Again, this was achieved without any outside help and has resulted in significant cost savings for Rosebys.
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