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WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENTSYSTEM SUCCESS STORIESLEARN FROM THE BESTCase Studies

There is no shortage of information on the Internet describing the benefits of a warehouse management system. And while some of these articles tout perfect warehouse implementation experiences and immediate return on investment, the rest of us live in the real world and understand that implementing a WMS requires hard work and employee dedication. So what can manufacturers actually expect from a WMS implementation? Below are four true stories from real-life manufacturers who implemented the WMS module from IQMS and found success with its comprehensive ERP solution.

Custom Profile in Grand Rapids, MichiganLeading appliance, furniture and marine industry extruder, Custom Profile, has a notable company motto: It strives every day for zero product defects and 100 percent on-time delivery. With a current benchmark of 99.99+ percent on-time delivery for the past year and zero shipping errors from incorrect quantity or item selection for the past three years, Custom Profile is pretty darn close!

But it was not always this way. Before it implemented IQMS, Custom Profile was trying to run a competitive business through four different software systems. A combination of homemade software, Access databases, QuickBooks and Excel spreadsheets was resulting in several system crashes a day and costly data entry errors from duplicate information entry into both Access and QuickBooks. In short, the pieced together legacy systems did not support the basic needs of a growing business.

When Custom Profile partnered with IQMS, it selected to implement the ERP vendor’s robust warehouse management system (WMS). By equipping personnel with handheld scanners and labeling inventory items accurately with barcodes, Custom Profile has virtually eliminated shipping errors. They reduced labor required to ship product by one person, resulting in savings of approximately $36,000 annually.

Most impressively, Custom Profile increased its on time delivery rate to 99.99+ percent and has experienced zero shipping errors due to incorrect item or quantities being shipped in the last three years.

Plastic Components Inc. in Germantown, WisconsinPlastic Components, Inc. (PCI) specializes in the production of tight tolerance, precisely engineered parts for the lowest cost possible. By eliminating all non-value added labor from its manufacturing processes, PCI has become a leading supplier of critical molded components for a diverse range of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive and health care industries, as well as plumbing, water filtration, industrial engine and appliance parts.

The biggest benefits PCI realized directly after implementing IQMS came out of the warehouse management system (WMS) module. PCI used to hold inventory on hand when it wasn’t necessary, which was expensive, but tighter inventory control through scanners and barcodes enables PCI to run leaner and faster with less investment upfront in raw materials.

The WMS module has allowed PCI to reduce its warehouse space by 25 percent as a result of the better timeliness of material delivery. Additionally, the WMS’ streamlined pick, pack and ship features (from pick ticket to packing slip to custom shipping labels) increased PCI’s on-time delivery rate to 99.3 percent.

Previously, PCI took physical inventory quarterly and experienced major reconciliation issues with each count. IQMS’ warehouse management system (WMS) lets PCI take cycle counts throughout the year, so the company now needs to conduct only one, much shorter and far more accurate, physical count at year end.

Mar-Bal, Inc. in Chagrin Falls, OhioMar-Bal, Inc. is a one-source solution provider of thermoset composite products. From design and formulation to compounding, molding and finishing, Mar-Bal is a privately-held manufacturing company with 350 employees producing state-of-the-art products across four facilities in North America.

Over the last few years, Mar-Bal had been experiencing challenges in its day-to-day operations. Mar-Bal’s customized (AS400-based) ERP software was outdated, preventing the necessary increase in manufacturing activity required to keep Mar-Bal competitive in today’s global economy. As each year passed, it became more expensive to operate the old ERP system due to the specialized support required to maintain and upgrade it.

One of Mar-Bal’s greatest pain points was deficient inventory control. The inability of the outdated software to be able to scan inventory from the shop floor was making inventory management a manual and extremely time-consuming process that included redundant data entry and unavoidable data entry errors. As Mar-Bal expanded and increased manufacturing activity, its operations needed to be more agile, but employees were instead spending an average of six hours a day verifying inventory. The lack of inventory visibility also required a full physical inventory to be performed once per month that included machine downtime, wasting valuable production time while all employees manually checked inventory levels.

Through IQMS’ Warehouse Management System (WMS), Mar-Bal can now track the movement of all inventory—every single box and part—throughout its plants. With barcode labeling and scanning, full physical inventories are no longer necessary on a monthly basis, saving considerable amounts of time and labor.

Mar-Bal can now use the WMS module to see exactly what inventory is on hand and where it is. The time spent verifying inventory locations at all plants is now six hours less per day or $30,000 annually. IQMS’ inventory control system provides the requisite accuracy so that full physical inventories are no longer needed on a monthly basis and Mar-Bal has moved them to once a year, saving 2,750 hours of labor or $53,000. Additionally, a complete monthly inventory check required the plant to shut down, resulting in lost production time for 90 machines. IQMS’ WMS was able to save nearly 5,000 potential machine hours that were previously lost to downtime for physical inventory.

Load Trail in Sumner, TexasSpecializing in standard and heavy duty automotive trailers and trailer parts for the construction, farming and housing industries (to name a few), Load Trail offers a wide variety of products to the market that people rely on daily to help their businesses succeed. Load Trail takes pride in its high quality trailers and relies on good client relationships to sustain and grow its business.

But as Load Trail worked to become a nationwide leader in trailer offerings, it began to experience challenges with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software’s capabilities. Load Trail’s legacy ERP software was unreliable, with limited scheduling capabilities that were all over the place and sometimes didn’t work at all. The poor software performance was greatly affecting on time material planning and on time processing, decreasing possible cost savings for Load Trail and hurting valuable customer relationships.

Load Trail’s ERP software solution lacked what Load Trail needed the most – the functionality necessary to maintain an excellent level of customer service, operational efficiency and increased competitiveness in the market. So Load Trail sought out a more comprehensive ERP solution and selected to partner with IQMS.

One of the IQMS modules that Load Trail found most beneficial was the warehouse management system (WMS). Using the WMS module for a recent physical inventory, Load Trail discovered that a simple scan of an item allowed them to easily reference and audit the entire plant’s inventory, saving time and increasing inventory visibility.

With WMS, Load Trail’s monthly inventory tracking went from 13 employees over two full days to only six employees for five hours, an 85 percent decrease in labor. Load Trail was able to add two extra production days per month to their planning schedule when their inventory time was decreased to only half a day.

For more information, please visit www.iqms.com or call 1.866.367.3772

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Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE® Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 210,000 customers of all sizes in all industries in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com.

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