Integrated Fulfillment Management at

Mason Companies, Inc.

Ryan Plotz, Sr. Systems Analyst, Mason Companies, Inc.

Dan Raffesberger, Sr. Systems Analyst, Mason Companies, Inc.

Oracle Value Chain Summit 2015

Agenda

Company Background

Prior State

Project Team

Implementation

Challenges

Go-Live Success

Project Impact

Company Background

Founded in 1904 by August Mason from Germany and son Bert Mason

Family Owned Company located in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

1922 –Door to Door

1985 – Mail Order

1996 –Credit Offer

1999 – Multi-Channel

Company Background

Company Background

Company Background 17TH largest internet retailer in the US

Marketing Channels Catalog Mailings

Email Marketing

Websites

All 10 Catalog Sites

ShoeMall, Ebay ShoeMall, Amazon ShoeMall

Ebay Enabba

Logistics 3 warehouses

High number of PO receipts

High volume of returns

High picking/packing rates

About iNYXA • Chicago-based global Oracle integration Partner

& Software Developer, since 2008.• Focused exclusively on E-Business Suite –

Supply Chain & Manufacturing functions. • Several complex implementations, pre-built

solutions & bolt-on products for customers in Retail, Industrial Manufacturing, Hi-Tech, Healthcare.

• Cost competitive with Global Delivery Capability using Development Centers in India, and an experienced Onsite team.

Select Customers

Operational Consulting

Oracle Product Expertise

Custom Development Capabilities

Project Management &

Execution Excellence

Prior State Legacy system

Highly customized, built for Mason

Minimal support knowledge/user community

Obsolete technology stack

Mason is one of the largest users of this technology in the world

Challenges in integration with newer warehouse control systems

Licensing limitations

External financial system

Several different technologies used for supply chain components of business

Difficulty in expanding into future business opportunities

Drop-ship

Acquisitions

New/different product lines

Very efficient

Key warehousing component rates met or exceeded industry standards

However

EBS Project Team Inyxa Solution Architect

Inyxa functional/technical leads

Inyxa development team PL/SQL (5)

ADF (2)

Mason IT project manager

Mason lead analyst/architect (2)

Mason IT data migration/architect (2)

Legacy system IT analysts (2)

Mason subject matter experts (2)

Mason key business users (4)

Mason executive sponsors (1)

Implementation - Process

System Selection Process Well defined requirements

Extensive sales demonstrations

All tier 1 vendors evaluated

Phase 1: Implement Oracle Financials Summer 2013

Phase 2: Implement Inventory/Purchasing/WMS - integrated with PIM and legacy OMS Summer 2014

Phase 3: Stabilization Ongoing

Implementation - Approach Limit scope to required supply chain components for initial implementation

phase

Use vanilla EBS wherever possible

No core EBS customizations

Allow for more simplistic future upgrades/patching

Maintain legacy system efficiencies

Extensions built off of core EBS forms/functions/API’s

Keep all components on one technology stack

All front-end extensions would be built using one of the following technologies

EBS mobile apps

ADF

Unit test individual components prior to integrated testing events

Multiple integrated testing events

Several rounds of load testing

Including up to 50-60 people from all areas of the business

Challenges – Inventory

Many unique attributes for industry and vast product base

400+ attributes stored at 3 different hierarchical levels, with inheritance

Interface with our PIM to load all items and item data into EBS

~1 million unique items

Allow for frequent updating of existing items

Allow for frequent addition of new items

Inventory Approach – System Integrator’s perspective

• STIBO Product Data Management to Oracle EBS Integration– A single interface for Item Load / Org Assignments / Item

Category Load / Cost Overhead Load / Hierarchical Style SKU attributes.

– Architected to handle extremely large data volume. – Ability to handle two way item creation. (Open Box items

dynamically created in EBS interfaced back into PIM for creation there.)

• Build a hierarchical repository in EBS for managing attribute inheritance, which is used by planning & Warehouse Management extensions.

PIM

Middleware

Challenges – Purchasing Complex purchase orders

Blanket/backup order management

Management of high volume of open orders

Varying product types

Multiple Matrixes

Footwear PO may have hundred of lines for multiple widths and sizes

Seasonal and fashion based product

ADF Supplier Work Bench (SWB) Provides summary data at re-buyer, supplier, style color, and purchase order levels with drill down capability

Quick access to data providing a quick view and guidance into ordering priorities, issues, and management metrics of performance

Eliminates multitude of current reports and individual buyer processes, standardizing the buyer process to add efficiency and more immediate issue visibility

Provides suggested ordering quantities based on day supply targets

Provides suggestions on expediting or delaying to orders to meet demand at the optimal time to reduce inventory and prevent backorders

Offers mass change functionality at sku level to more efficiently maintain high sku products purchase orders

Provides ability to copy orders instead of entering new ones manually, creating efficiency in high sku products

Ability to send purchase orders to e-mail directly in the system, instead of printing, scanning, and then e-mailing

Purchasing Approach – System Integrators Perspective

• A single portal for supply planning, buyer intelligence & entering purchase orders.

• Support purchasing for Style SKU’s, by providing a matrix display for Purchase Order Entry

• Ability to recommend purchase quantities & react to changing demand projections by highlighting opportunities for pull-in & push-out of supplier delivery dates.

• Ability to seamlessly integrate with EBS Purchasing. Purchase Orders started in custom screen can be completed EBS and vice-versa.

Challenges – WMS High volume receiving by UPC scanning

Cross dock indicator for entire PO if more than x% of full PO is determined to be immediate needs

Cross dock indicator for single items within PO if scanned item is determined to be immediate needs

Random location Putaway (PO receiving and returns) Putaway is much more efficient when the user can scan the items into whatever location has available space

Wave Generation/Delivery Assignment EBS Concurrent Program

filters include org, order type, priority

Multis – multiple items going to same address on same order with same shipping method selected – same delivery

Waves size determined by # of consolidation locators available for the org

Deliveries get assigned to a consolidation locator for packing

Singles – single item going to single address on order

Wave size determined by org parameter

Items flow straight down conveyer to singles packing station

Wave Release EBS Concurrent Program

Uses vanilla release rules to release orders for picking

Picking High speed - picking by zone (EBS locator picking order), not by order

Multis – generic label gets printed to notify conveyance system to divert to multi consolidation area

Singles – put on conveyer and sent directly to singles packing area

Several filters included to limit picking if necessary

Challenges – WMS - cont'd Packing

Singles Packing

Packs oldest order found on system for scanned UPC

Prompts user to add catalog/insert into box if required

Multis Packing

System forces complete pack of all expected components of that shipment before allowing completion of Shipping

Ability to lookup missing items easily if required

Prompts user to add catalog/insert into box if required

Integration with ProShip software at time of packing completion for:

determination of most economical shipment method

packing label printing

outbound shipping label printing

return shipping label printing

Enforcement of shipping rules

Challenges – WMS - cont'd Returns (ADF Form)

Easy to use ADF frontend application that interfaces with EBS’s core RMA process

Order derivation logic

Return multiple items on the same order in the same transaction

Interfaces with EBS Inventory module to create new “open” items, for items that were returned and deemed to be re-sellable

Interface with ProShip labeler product to generate return labels that get applied to product

Cycle Count Cycle count by locator instead of item

Scan all the UPC’s in a locator

System will check against on-hand and add cycle count adjustments OR ask for a Recount.

Adjustments can be approved from standard Cycle Count forms in Inventory

Directed Counting

Indicate how may times a year you want to count each location. System will direct you to the next locator to count based on picking order.

SHU Pull application ADF front-end application that interfaces with the WMS module to allow business users to lookup inventory

quantities, and automatically account alias issue quantities out of stock for the specified item.

Auto completes an account alias issue to an account selected within the form at time of transaction

Auto generates and prints a SHU PULL form (containing the account alias issue transaction information) to the correct warehouse from which the item was issued out

WMS Approach – System Integrators Perspective

• We did not start the discussion with what the Oracle WMS system can do, instead we started with what the ideal process for Mason should be.

• Both the Business & I.T. WMS leads had prior experience with Oracle WMS & extensive product knowledge.

• Warehouse on legacy system was fairly efficient since sorting / conveyer equipment purchased over the years was optimized with legacy system.

• Goal was to build on the strengths of the legacy system while addressing known limitations.

• Even though no customizations to Oracle code were done, several custom Mobile Forms were made which allowed Mason to minimize no. of keystrokes / scans.

WMS Solution Objectives

Speed: Fast order to ship times.

Flexibility: High variability. Ability to quickly adapt to demand spikes or changes in product mix. Ability to leverage material handling infrastructure optimally.

Accuracy: Shipping Accuracy.

Maintainability: Integrate with or & work within Oracle E-Business suite with zero impact on patching, upgradability or performance

Challenges - EBS Integration with Legacy OMS

Timing of order creation in legacy system to order fulfillment in EBS

ATP process run in EBS Sends current on hand Available to Reserve quantities per item to OMS

Sends future item availability dates based on lead times from receiving and incoming purchase orders to OMS

Order/Customer info loaded from OMS into EBS interface tables Customers

Order Headers

Order Lines

Oracle EBS order import process Pulls info from aforementioned interface tables to load customer/orders into Vanilla EBS Order Management

module

Decision made on which warehouse to fulfill product from

Orders either come into EBS as reserved (immediately fulfillable) or unreserved (backordered)

Backordered items in EBS allow us to see that demand for Purchasing and for warehouse immediate needs purposes

Wave Creation process is run Creates waves and assigns deliveries

Segregates multi and single waves

Challenges - EBS Integration with Legacy OMS - cont'd

Wave Release process executed Releases the wave to the warehouse for fulfillment

Picking occurs Workers can pick based on varying levels of filters

Picked multis - get printout applied to tell conveyance system to divert to multi consolidation area for packing

Picked singles – no printout, the conveyance system sends these directly to the singles packing stations

Packing/Shipping confirmation occurs Singles Packing

Multis Packing

OMS Integration Approach – System Integrators Perspective

• Order Management which remains on legacy, needed ability for Global Order Promising. This was achieved by providing both a daily BULK ATP interface – as well as a single ATP interface for real time Order Promising.

• Needed ability to pass shipment / tracking information from Parcel Manifesting system back to OMS for use by the Call Center application.

• Ability to fulfill vendor drop-ship orders, and provide the same Order Promising capability for drop ship orders as was available for internally fulfilled orders.

• Ability for RMA orders created in reverse logistics workbench to flow back to the Legacy OMS

Legacy Order Management &

Call Center

Parcel Manifesting

Reverse Logistics

WorkbenchDrop Ship Aggregator

Go-Live Success Executed ~1000 line go-live plan

Included conversion and mass loading of:

Inventory Items

~1 million items

On hand inventory quantities and costs for 3 warehouses

~73k stock locators

~1.4 million on hand quantity

Purchase Orders

~25k purchase orders

~3.4 million customers

~10.5 million legacy orders for returns purposes

~6 million outstanding prepaid returns

Initial order load

~48k Orders taken during cutover down time

Suppliers

~1,400 suppliers

Go-Live Success - cont'd

Coordinated with fiscal year end (June 25th – 29th, 2014)

Minimal impact to business/customer base Order management unaffected by go-live

Warehouse and Purchasing only offline Thursday and Friday

Ability to expedite shipment of orders to customers for these 2 days when business resumed

Resumed normal warehouse/purchasing operations Monday, June 30th as planned

No additional resources required to meet shipment demands caused by downtime

Shipped nearly 40k units the first 24 hours on the new system!

“This is probably the

smoothest transition

of a major IT system

that I have ever

seen.”

Daniel J. Hunt

President/CEO

Mason Companies,

Inc.

6 Months Later…..

Completed busiest holiday season in company history

Shipped over 2 million packages on new system

Had highest unit shipping day in history of the company

3 of the top 10 highest unit shipping days in company history

No disruptions to business efficiencies

Increased efficiency of general merchandise picking

Increased customer satisfaction and efficiency due to cross docking

ProShip software integration efficiencies

ProShip labeler used for all warehouse labels

Freed up legacy system licenses to allow expansion of call center

Decreased load on legacy system

Increase in support efficiency

Currently implementing drop-ship

Increase in Supplier Workbench adoption/efficiencies

Better positioned company to pursue new business ventures

Project Impact

Integrated Financials

More user friendly/supportable environment

Tighter integration within fulfillment systems

Eliminated non-supported technologies

Enhanced ability to expand into different business opportunities

Transferred legacy sourcing/distribution licensing to other business areas

Reduced legacy risk

Keys To Success Right People

Good Partners

Internal resources with the prior Oracle EBS experience

Small but focused team

Executive Support

Allowed deadline extension to support quality assurance

Multiple iterations of testing

Integrated Fulfillment Management at Mason

Companies, Inc.Ryan Plotz, Sr. Systems Analyst, Mason Companies, Inc.

Dan Raffesberger, Sr. Systems Analyst, Mason Companies, Inc.

Oracle Value Chain Summit 2015

Mason Companies, Inc. + Oracle Partnership = High Volume/ High Performance Retail