Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Customer Case Study

A Third-Party Logistics (3PL) customer appointed THINK to digitise their warehousing and stock control away from excel spreadsheets and a paper-based system. The objective was to move to an on-line warehouse management system to improve stock visibility and position the company for further growth and expansion.

THINK embraced an aggressive implementation timetable to support the 3PL client’s expansion. Customer stock was loaded into the new system allowing immediate stock visibility, stock, and transaction control through the introduction of bar-coded pallets.

Additional solutions included

• Full barcoding of all products from receipt to despatch.
• Traceability of products.
• Online stock visibility and access to stock information for customers.
• Ease of use for warehouse personnel.
• Support of system when new customers are on-boarded.

THINK’s quick turnaround (6-8 weeks) to implement a warehouse management system to support the Third-Party Logistics (3PL) customer’s business model allowed the business to continue to grow and attract new customers.

Direct benefits following THINK WMS implementation:

• Expansion from 180,000 Sq. Ft to 250,000sq ft of internal space on multiple sites as well as 9 acres of external space, all covered by WMS stock control.
• Controls to cover ‘bonded’ and ‘free’ stock to ensure only available air conditioning units were available for picking against customer orders.
• Introduction of bar-coded supplier serial number tracking for all air conditioning units despatched from site.
• The effective stock control of palletised soft drinks required the scanning and capture of manufacturing lot information and SSCC pallet codes at point of receipt across a whole range of supplier label formats.
• The addition of two external warehouses with 1,000s of additional storage locations.
• Automated reports sent to 3PL customers detailing current stock position.
• Support for on-site sub-assembly manufacture for Caterpillar products with just-in-time deliveries of key components to main assembly plant.
• WMS provides a full range of despatch documentation tailored to the needs of the customer.
• On-line access to stocks using Customer Portal.