·Order picking with pick-by-voice technology
·Minimising error rates and more efficient warehouse transport routes
·Move into new logistics centre and go-live of new WMS without delays
König & Meyer experienced a total transformation of its warehouse logistics. The German manufacturer of music accessories not only moved into its new state-of-the-art logistics centre with space for 7,200 pallets, but also went live with its new warehouse management system (WMS) from AEB, a leading provider of global trade and supply chain management software and services.
“We didn’t want to move into our new logistics centre with our old solution, which relied heavily on manual processes,” explains Björn Brem, who heads the WMS project at König & Meyer. “Our aim was to create a forward-looking logistics concept by improving and – wherever feasible – automating our processes and workflows.”
König & Meyer opted for AEB’s ASSIST4 Warehouse Management solution because it had already successfully been running AEB’s shipping and export software for ten years. One highlight for König & Meyer is the pick-by-voice solution, which helps the pickers be more productive while reducing the incidence of errors. Another feature that helps streamline processes is the completely mobile solution for large-shipment packing. This consists almost entirely of repacking from warehouse pallets to shipping pallets, so it wasn’t feasible to work with a desktop computer, printer, or scales. König & Meyer is able to rely on mobile equipment instead.
“A large share of our shipments – about 90 to 110 pallets a day – goes to retailers and wholesalers. That’s why it was so important to us to find an efficient solution for large-consignment shipping,” Brem adds. Since König & Meyer also ships up to 130 packages a day to its B2B customers, the customer solution also includes a traditional packing station with a carrier link.
“Even during the start-up phase, our picking processes were already much more efficient and our warehouse transport routes much shorter. We’ll see more positive results once we start using the data generated in the system for analysis and optimisation,” says Brem. The company has achieved its goal of reducing picking errors. “Our customers are the direct beneficiaries,” says Brem.
Both König & Meyer’s project director Brem and AEB’s project director Dr. Jochen Fuhrmann were very happy with the working relationship during the project runtime of about a year: “We were able to keep to the ambitious go-live timeline even though many of the processes had to be set up for the first time and supported by the WMS. We ended up with a well-engineered solution that we were able to implement without any problems,” concludes Fuhrmann. www.aeb.com/uk)
