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Increasing Transparency with Tablet PCs
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Warehouse Control Systems (WCS)
Applicable Industries
- Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions
- Quality Assurance
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Warehouse Automation
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
sudhoff technik, a wholesaler of custom rubber, plastic, and aluminum products, was facing challenges with its warehouse workflows. The company was dealing with a large volume of paper documents, including incoming documents and approximately 130,000 outgoing proof-of-shipping slips and invoices. The process of sorting and filing these documents was tedious and prone to errors. If a customer called to track a shipment, an employee in the warehouse would have to go through all of this documentation to find the answer. The company was also building a new logistics center and needed to eliminate the space-wasting paper archive and make their business processes flow more efficiently.
About The Customer
sudhoff technik GmbH is a wholesaler of custom rubber, plastic, and aluminum products. The company works with highly specialized, often very small vendors. Because of limited resources and experience, these vendors might not be able to maintain the high level of quality required by sudhoff technik's customers. Therefore, the company adds an extra step of quality control. Based on a customer’s requirements, sudhoff technik bundles together all kinds of products that can come from all over right in their warehouse. This is only possible with a well-organized facility as well as intelligent electronic warehouse management and order processing. The company was also building a new logistics center and needed to eliminate the space-wasting paper archive and make their business processes flow more efficiently.
The Solution
The company implemented DocuWare, a document management system (DMS), to electronically store incoming documents and outgoing proof-of-shipping slips and invoices. The system was integrated with Microsoft Axapta and Tablet PCs. Outgoing shipping slips are now stored right after a shipment leaves, captured using a Panasonic KV-S2026C Scanner, and stored in a central document pool. A message is automatically sent in real-time to their ERP system. To answer customer queries about a delivery date, employees can check within their Microsoft Axapta system with a few mouse clicks if their shipment has left the facility. More detailed information about the shipment can be accessed from the central document pool. On the receiving side, all records are scanned directly upon a shipment’s arrival. In a window set up in the ERP System, employees in Administration and Quality Control are informed when shipments are received. This electronic shipment is then electronically labeled with the status of “Not Checked” and may not be booked until it has been authorized by Quality Control.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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