Quite ‘some’ work….
A period of logistic issues lies behind us. Beside the disrupted international supply chain a software implementation in our warehouse didn’t run as expected. Unfortunately, from the beginning of this year this resulted in long delivery times and many more partial deliveries than usual.
Ambition
From the start in 1979 Kobout has been developing. All the time we have improved our processes, we have increased our product range and we have widened our service.
It is our ambition to always offer the highest quality of products, combined with the best logistic and technological solutions.
WMS
In 2017 we decided to replace the software that manages our warehouse. After long investigation we found a party that had all the answers to our wishes and questions. Shortly after that the first new designs for our Warehouse Management System (WMS) were delivered.
The main purposes:
- To improve the quality of the deliveries
- To reduce the lead times
- To increase the flexibility
- To integrate all additional customer logistic wishes and service into the standard software solution
Implementation
After an extensive design stage we could start step 1 of the implementation in the autumn of 2019. First WMS took over the management of our 44 Hänel Lean lifts. Unfortunately corona stood in the way in 2020. The preparations for the next step were very much delayed, so that we could execute this step of the WMS implementation only by the end of that year. The Incoming Goods Department switched to the new system. From that moment on WMS instructed where incoming goods had to be stored.
In the spring of 2021 we were fully hit by corona, with the passing of Pieter Dijksman as low point. Pieter was Logistic Manager and the project leader for the WMS implementation. There was grief and loss – at the same time we had only one aim: to make sure that the shipment kept on leaving our warehouse. Implementing the third WMS part had low priority.
Full switch
In the summer of 2021 we picked up where we left off. Our logistic progress was going smoothly again and time was available to shape the final step of the WMS. During the last Christmas holidays we allowed the final part of the system to go live. This concerned internal relocations and the picks for shipments.
Despite extensive testing some vital parts turned out not to work properly, so that we could not ship part of the orders in the first two weeks of 2022.
In January and February the delays increased, due to many corona infections. By that time we already worked with all our strength to solve the delays. Form morning till evening, six days a week.
By Easter the extreme delays were solved. However, only by the end of June we could, again, achieve our usual punctual deliveries.
It was quite some work, but we are there for you again, as in the good old days!
Swiss knife
Meanwhile we have reaped the benefits of our new software. The quality of our shipments has improved significantly and the lead times have been reduced considerably.
As our logistic software is tailored to the many customer wishes, we can now offer you very extensive and high-quality logistic service as standard functionality.
For example:
- Boxes provided with your article number or project number
- Counting products to the ordered quantities
- Cutting threaded rods into the sizes required
- Packing in boxes with private label
- Composing assembly sets
- Prefab assembly
And many more varied customer wishes….
Are you interested to know about the advantages of our state-of-the-art logistic solution for your process? Please click here and we will contact you.