Current state and problem
The car parts retailer Světluška experiences seasonal peaks every spring and autumn. During one of them in autumn 2020, the company owners realized that despite overtime, warehouse workers were not able to pick orders and the company could not continue to grow. Therefore, they decided to deploy the LOKiA WMS warehouse system.
Světluška decided to change the way the warehouse works based on an internal analysis. They were prompted by concerns that the increase in the number of orders would put them in a situation where they would not meet the promised deadlines for shipping goods. They were also warned by the overtime work of warehouse workers. Světluška wants to accommodate customers in all circumstances and deliver goods as quickly as possible. However, the lengthy processing of orders in the warehouse meant a large number of overtime hours. “The number of orders is constantly increasing and we don’t want to get into a situation where we will be sitting on the phone all day telling clients that their order will arrive two to three days later because we can’t keep up,” says Světluška’s operations manager Martin Janíček.
Proposed solution
After a thorough market analysis, they decided on a warehouse system. When they were looking for a supplier, they mainly checked references – where and for whom the company already operates a warehouse system, how many clients it serves, and whether the WMS can be connected to the company's internal and accounting ERP Pohoda E1 system. "I didn't want a solution from a garage company that manages three warehouses in its immediate vicinity. And because the price also played a role in the decision, in the end we came up with GRiT and their LOKiA WMS warehouse system," explains Světluška, her operations manager, specifying the criteria.
Collaboration between Firefly and GRiT
The cooperation between GRiT and Světluška began in mid-January with an analysis of warehouse and company processes, and on March 1, the LOKiA WMS system was put into production. A huge challenge was that Světluška operates both as a retail and wholesale company. According to him, the change spread throughout the entire company. It wasn't just about overhauling processes in the warehouse, they also changed the way accounting documents are processed. For example, they started using delivery notes as accounting documents, and on the contrary, they abandoned double checking the contents of the package because it was no longer needed.
" Previously, warehouse workers prepared the package, it was checked by another person, then the invoice was manually prepared and the shipping label was printed. Now LOKiA takes care of the check and in 80% of cases everything is done automatically. In total, we completely overhauled the processes in the warehouse and the company and after six weeks we deployed the system in live operation. I consider that to be an absolutely record time, " Janíček looks back on the implementation phase.
Resulting changes
“LOKiA WMS is modular. God willing and our skill will allow us to grow at a good pace, so it offers us a great platform that will grow with us. You will appreciate the power of WMS as the number of operations increases. The more parcels I process, the more LOKiA will help me. If I process 30 parcels a day, that's great, but I will never reveal its potential. But if I process 1,000 parcels a day, then I will really use the system to its full potential.“
How we helped
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