3M warehouse software improves distribution

3M said that its HighJump Warehouse Advantage software has improved distribution operations for a Greek subsidiary by facilitating the launch of a third-party logistics (3PL) business.

3M Greece has installed a warehouse management system (WMS) in its distribution centre located near Athens.

The WMS from 3M Supply Chain Solutions went live in one day.

It has enabled fast inventory cycle counts, as well as optimised batch order waves as well as reducing manual workload, increasing inventory control and improving lot traceability.

3M Greece's building lease was coming up for renewal and, as a lean organisation with a warehouse team of 18, the 6000m2 of warehouse space was too big for them to manage.

The HighJump Warehouse Advantage system allowed the company to achieve the following.

* Maintain its own warehouse.

* Modernise operations for the subsidiary.

* Utilise the extra space.

* Apply its experience in logistics services to launch its own third-party logistics (3PL) business.

Human resources, logistics and IT manager of 3M Greece, Christos Baracos, said: "The entire project from conception to board approval, design and installation took eight months, yet the 'go live' was completed in just one day with few resources and minimal disruption or problems encountered." He continued: "Although we moved from a completely manual system, when we went live with the HighJump WMS the users did not have any problems whatsoever.

We didn't stop operations, not even for a day".

General manager EMEA, 3M Supply Chain Solutions, Leo Valentin, commented: "The 3M Greece DC has now entered a new era, and our WMS has received highly positive feedback from both warehouse staff and customers.

New processes for picking, packing, inventory counts and labeling have resulted in great improvements in terms of productivity, speed, accuracy and overall warehouse visibility".

* Inventory scanned 'on the spot' - the inventory location capability of HighJump Warehouse Advantage has optimised cycle counting in the distribution centre (DC).

Previously, staff had to shut the whole warehouse down for two days and bring in extra staff to run a stock count manually.

Now staff can scan inventory on the spot using radio frequency (RF) guns and conduct reconciliation of discrepancies on a daily basis without any interruption to the operation.

The HighJump WMS has not only enabled the DC to launch its new 3PL business, it has also allowed the DC to remain lean and more streamlined in its operations.

Staff numbers have not increased inn spite of the activity rising 400 order lines/day two years ago to an average of 650/day today.

Peaks are of 900 to 1000 order lines/day.

Furthermore, HighJump WMS has enabled smaller batch order waves that staff can prepare during the course of the day in a more efficient timeframe.

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