ARCO Case Study : Warehouse and Logistics Integration


About Arco:

Arco is UK’s leading supplier of Safety clothing, workwear, safety boots and safety equipment. It has 100,000 customers in the UK. It has seen a significant growth in recent years with a revenue of £200 million per year. Arco processes 50,000 garments per week which includes garment decoration. This needed good managing and that’s when SAP Warehouse Management (WM) cames into the picture.

Problems / Challenges: -

- No legacy system; updating data was costly

- Implementation was a tensed time. Only 48 hours to roll out the solution, which meant the old system was to be swapped out, and the new solution was to be loaded on time.

Solution Specification:

- A solution that not only provides standard warehouse functionality but also accommodates all the needs for garment decoration and warehouse packing function.

Arco's Warehouse Management solution:

  1. Utilize and benefit from the SAP product suite (SAP Business Suite).
  2. Track products from receipt right through until dispatch using RF devices to trace every movement.
  3. Real Time Data Capture was the essential element of the solution.
  4. Arco’s previous solution provided integration of RF devices. In WM, the same RF devices were used and integrated into SAP using SAP concepts.
  5. Design of the RF transactions was critical to the success of the project. A great deal of time was spent with the key warehouse users working with the ergonomics of these transactions.
  6. Arco’s major supplies were integrated in the Warehouse Management system via EDI. It supplied advanced shipping notification which helped make goods receipt as simple as scanning the bar code and automatically populating the information inside the WM system.

Performance of the warehouse:

Key performance indicators of the warehouse was the internet based reporting system. Using this the branches were able to:

  • Monitor the status of their orders
  • Monitor the throughput of their distribution center.

Solution summary:

-> Integrated solution easing maintenance

-> Lower total cost of ownership

-> Supported growth in throughput

-> Provides foundation for future business growth

-> Delivered in 20 weeks on-time, in budget


References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3vaSLDU4os&feature=player_embedded

3 comments:

doomsberry said...

I still like the way ZARA does it s business in terms of warehousing .I may be too biased but i am still a big mouth for in-house solutions to warehouse.

Avinash said...

I agree with you Rahul, but a lot depends on your operating model and your target customers... Zara and Arco operate in different market spaces and they have different target customers. Zara competes somewhat in a premium segment whereas ARCO is an Specialized security equipment manufacturer. The inventory patterns, the product shelf life, markdowns etc would be very different in these two cases.

Negi said...

Thanks for great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get this tips from you


Canadian logistics and warehouse

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