Musgrave upgrades warehousing across the UK with Infor SCM WM

25Jul12

Musgrave, the leading independent food retailer purchasing group in Ireland and the UK has upgraded all warehousing to Infor SCM Warehouse Management (WM). The new system provides detailed inventory management of all stock, including multiple units of measure, lot control and catch weights, all aimed at improving accuracy and margins.

Infor SCM WM controls work and tasks within each warehouse, balancing order requirements and optimizing productivity. It also manages labour, timetabling work parties, scheduling rotas and monitors costs.

In each warehouse, employees use handheld devices with instructions provided by the Warehouse Management System on what to pick for each retailer, combining chill and fresh goods with ambient products. The ability to pick accurately for each outlet including fresh goods in a single packet has considerably increased productivity. Before, each shop may have required separate deliveries according to product type, which slowed down warehouse stock retention, and forced retailers into multiple deliveries, and a possible reduction in combined sales where product may not have been available for peak sales.

The last mile to the retailer has also been targeted by Musgrave Retail Partners GB to allow for streamlined deliveries. As Colin Bendel, IT Manager – Supply Chain for Musgrave Retail Partners GB explains: “The beauty of Infor SCM WM is that it micro manages everything in the warehouse. Goods come in from different suppliers and are allocated space in the building which correlates to their final destination with the most minimal of effort. The system has built-in intelligence that allows for the swiftest path for each item through the warehouse and onto the lorries for dispatch. Where there is greater demand than product, it can even allocate on a pro rata basis so that for example all Londis shops in an area can have some product, rather than the last ones on the list ending up without. It is indeed a very powerful system.”

“Our next goal was to tweak the final delivery of those carefully selected orders and have them at the retailers in the most efficient time and manner possible. To that end, we have installed routing and scheduling software to deliver the goods.”

The transport planning software integrates fully with Infor SCM WM and, based on the geography of the retailers that require deliveries, plans a route specific to each day’s orders.

“Before our lorries and vans left the warehouses as buses on a route, which was not always the fastest route, or the most sympathetic with regard to fuel or traffic or even seasonal road restrictions,” adds Bendel.

Overall Musgrave Retail Partners GB has successfully installed a common, up to date version of the WMS system across Budgens and Londis. This has enabled the company to offer an improved service to its retail clients in the form of service accuracy and product presentation. By incorporating a fresh flow in the Pick by Line, it can offer improved range offering and product quality for its Londis retailers.

WMS Radio Frequency ID coupled with hand held devices allows the system to deliver improved accuracy, service and productivity within the warehouse. The solution also allows for future growth, including the concept of being able to slot in any store located anywhere easily into operational matrix.

The new flexible and sustainable IT infrastructure, a key plank to its original objectives, is now in place supporting a robust IT maintenance, development and disaster recovery model for the future.

In summary, Musgrave Retail Partners GB is now achieving its ambition of creating an integrated selection and dispatch of goods which results in on-time and on-product deliveries for customers. Using Infor SCM WM and distribution logistics software from Paragon, Musgrave Retail Partners GB can now identify the fastest route from picking product to delivering in store: reducing mileage, fast tracking deliveries and ultimately providing its retail partners with a streamlined service that delivers what they want, where they want it, when they want it.

About Musgrave Group

Musgrave Group works in partnership with   independent entrepreneurial food retailers and food service professionals in Ireland, the UK and Spain. It co-create brands with its retail partners, equipping them with the sales, marketing, IT, finance and logistical expertise that comes with the most advanced retail model.

 

About Infor

Infor is the world’s third-largest supplier of enterprise applications and services, helping more than 70,000 large and mid-size companies improve operations and drive growth across numerous industry sectors.  To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.

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Tags: enterprise applications, Infor, Infor SCM WM, Ireland, Musgrave, PR, Practice PR, Press Release, UK, warehouse management