CASE STUDY BEWA Sp. z o.o.
BEWA Ltd. was established in 1992. The main operation of the company is production and sale of spring water and beverages. Most of the production is directed to the biggest commercial chains in Poland, such as Eurocash, Biedronka, Kaufland, Auchan and Carrefour. BEWA produces using water drawn from five wells, two of which are deepest in the country, and reaching 312 m in the ground. Presently, the company belongs to Polish capital. Dynamic development imposed to build a new warehouse, the area of 11 000 m2. In order to provide effective and reliable operations, it was decided to implement a system supporting warehouse management.
„The aim of the implemented system was to improve broadly defined warehouse logistics, accelerated shipment and picking processes as well as tracking from the moment of acceptance from production. Moreover, we expected the system to provide better processes control and access to database to analyze current business operations.” – said Roman Siemieniuk from BEWA sp. z o.o.
„ibcsTiger system is responsible for all warehouse processes in enterprise. It registers goods from production and warehouse release. Warehouse operations are performed with the use of Motorola MC9090 mobile terminals, warehouse acceptance is performed with desktop terminals. Data, issue and acceptance documents are transferred via interface from ERP SAP Business One system. The system also includes transport module, which is responsible for external transport management: means of transport registration and management” – said Robert Chajdaś from IBCS Poland
At this stage, it was acknowledged that the most suitable one will be a mobile system of finished goods warehouse management with production registry, based on Motorola mobile terminals, Zebra Technologies desktop and mobile label printers and Motorola Spektrum 24 radio environment. Applications managing this infrastructure are ibcsTiger WMS with transport management module and interface for ERP SAP Business One system.
The implementation lasted for about six months. Division into stages considered production seasons, therefore the intensity of operations was managed by BEWA implementation team, so as not to interfere with production processes. Apart from essential implementation operations, IBCS Poland experts have also conducted complex trainings for administrators and system users, as well as radio network optimization.
Warehouse management system was coupled with IT infrastructure
BEWA belongs to the biggest beverage producers in Poland. The company strengthens its position on the market each year – in 2013 it sold 308 547 685 liters of beverages, which translates to production of 2400 pallets everyday. Such high production capacity require perfect organization of all its stages: from accepting raw resources, through processing and shipment of readymade product. In order to control such complex process while keeping the highest standards, it is necessary to possess advanced IT structure.
When requirements for IT platform were clearly defined, the focus was on the choice of a company that could fulfill them. A few offers of mobile communication systems providers were considered, yet the final choice was IBCS Poland.
Analyzing the needs and expectations of BEWA, IBCS Poland specialists worked out a concept of solution. The first stage was a thorough pre-implementation analysis with project of solution.
„The choice of IBCS Poland solution was caused by a very good price, credentials and the functionality of offered solution – ibcsTiger is not only a classical warehouse management system, but – thanks to additional modules –a complex tool facilitating company operations.” – said Roman Siemieniuk
Better access to data and greater work comfort
„We didn’t wait long for results of the implementation. Both workers and management have observed substantial benefits of the system.” – said Roman Siemieniuk
Thanks to use of mobile equipment – terminals operating in radio network area, work of operators and warehouse workers was significantly facilitated. The system made batching and flow of goods much easier. It allowed to save time and eliminate errors. The devices, as expected, develops possibilities of ERP system used in the company.
The next step was to expand the system with additional modules, allowing even load positioning (time windows), control of issue delay, support of production planning (information about assortment lacks), final load hour control and grace period control for goods accepted from production.
„The most important benefit from WMS installation is shortening warehouse processes – goods release. Production is seasonal, so periods of increased demand require more resources. Implementation of the system brought normalization in this situation.” – claimed Robert Chajdaś