New RedPrairie Warehouse Management system increases staff productivity by 50 pct at Belgian postal service
De Post – La Poste, the Belgian postal service, has successfully implemented a new Warehouse Management system from RedPrairie, a leading consumer driven optimisation company. The system has automated and optimised De Post’s central warehouse and increased the productivity of warehouse staff by 50 pct since its implementation in June 2007. There is complete visibility into inventory levels, paperwork has been virtually eliminated, and orders received before noon are dispatched the same day.
The central warehouse of De Post – La Poste stores all supplies for post offices across Belgium. It receives an average of 2,000 orders a day. Stocks include 900 different items of apparel, more than 1,000 types of products sold at postal windows (stamps, parcel packages, etc.), and over 2,000 consumables for internal use in post offices. Items are stored in three different buildings.
To address these issues, De Post – La Poste opted for RedPrairie’s Warehouse Management system. RedPrairie’s excellent track record and local presence in Belgium proved decisive factors in this choice. The system handles all inbound stocks, warehouse management, and picking order processes. With Warehouse Management, incoming goods are automatically allocated to their optimal position in the warehouse, based upon the frequency of their demand. High rotation items are placed so that they can be easily accessed by the picking staff. Even before goods arrive, their placement is known, so no time is wasted looking for an appropriate spot.
“Order picking routes are now systematically optimised, even allowing for multiple orders to be prepared simultaneously. Inventory management has gained in precision, since the exact status of all inventories is continuously updated. The same system is now used in all three warehouse buildings, greatly increasing flexibility: staff can easily be switched from one building to another to cover peaks in demand.”
Warehouse Management also provides a clear overview of staff activity at the end of the day. It indicates such things as the number of orders processed and the time it took to process them.
