Initial Situation
Digitization is finding its way into many companies and an essential basis for the functionalities of Industry 4.0 is data that has to be collected within the storage and supply processes in a company and, in the worst case, manually recorded. Many processes and production steps within the actual production are now automated to a high degree. In the management of material warehouses, we often encounter little automated processes. All too often, handwritten removal slips are filled out for stock removals, possibly signed by a supervisor, and filed in the warehouse as proof. The document may have to be entered later in the merchandise management system or another management system.
Stress always arises when this process is not properly followed, removal slips are lost or illegible. Disposition processes based on the withdrawal slips are not triggered and material stocks fall below critical levels.
BOOSTRACK helps you to make your warehouse management transparent using RFID management.
Analysis by BOOSTRACK
Our long-standing customer, a well-known supplier of hygiene articles and everyday products, asked for a tailor-made supply concept. In this plant, more than 1.000 employees work on more than 16 lines in several halls.
Implementation
In addition to looking after the magazine, our BOOST.Tower dispensers are set up directly on the production lines. The tower, including the filling service, supports the employees significantly in their operational work. For further technical support, we introduced our BOOST.Warehouse system at the beginning of 2019. All articles, users and cost centers are stored here in order to make the procurement and administration process as efficient as possible. The employees register at the distribution counter in the storeroom using an RFID reader with their personal ID card. The required products are placed in the shopping cart and picked. It is then handed over to the respective employee and the booking is confirmed. It is transmitted in real time to the Onventis ordering platform, bundled with the processes from the BOOST.Tower and the online orders, and transferred to the ERP. This ensures that the withdrawals have been posted correctly. Furthermore, the employee receives an e-mail confirming the order, which serves to ensure that no stranger has placed the order using the company card.
The respective cost center manager or department head receives the collected withdrawal postings in a monthly report. After checking and approval, we generate a collective invoice based on the cost centers, which is posted against an order in ERP (SAP).
Operation and ongoing optimization
Withdrawals from the magazine and vending machines, the line filling as well as the normal web shop orders are now transmitted to just one system, in which the central monitoring of the cost center budgets also takes place. In addition, weekly reports are sent to the person responsible for the cost center, providing information on the monthly and overall budget utilisation.
Traceability is maintained through the use of the patented BOOST.Boxes, which are installed directly on the production lines. Frequently required goods should also be automatically monitored using the BOOST.Sensor or simply sent at the touch of a button using the BOOST.Button.
Measurable success
The implementation of this customer project took about 3 months. In this way, we can guarantee optimal, automated handling of order processes, which has significantly reduced the overall process costs.