By Freya Purnell
A new voice-directed smart SAP WMS solution implemented at dairy producer Parmalat’s Lidcombe distribution centre (DC) has helped the dairy producer gain full visibility of its workforce and increase productivity by 15 per cent.
The solution was designed and delivered by Icon Integration and Dematic, working with Honeywell Scanning and Mobility. It replaced a paper-based system at the Lidcombe DC, a key warehouse in Parmalat’s Australian network.
“The Lidcombe DC is very important to our business as we service a number of high-profile customers across a wide area, and it is imperative that our warehouse runs as effectively as possible in order to deliver perishable dairy goods fresh and on time,” said Guy Romeo, national logistics transformation manager, Parmalat.
Seth van Dijk, sales manager, Dematic, said Parmalat initially enlisted them to investigate how technology could help them optimise their current processes, and a voice-picking solution was determined to be the best option.
Parmalat’s overall goal in implementing the new system was to achieve greater utilisation of their labour to improve overall warehouse efficiency. To achieve this Parmalat needed to upgrade to a system that offered more visibility, so they were in a position to specify what tasks employees fulfilled at all times.
“Parmalat’s business is fast-moving consumer goods with a short shelf-life, therefore it was vital they introduced automated processes that led to less travel time, better rotation of stock, less wastage and ultimately an increase in the litres per man hour,” said Jason Nalewabau, director, SAP Logistics Execution Solutions, Icon Integration.
“We had the tools at Icon to automate Parmalat’s new smart WMS design and on top of that we overlayed the Honeywell voice system to get the visibility and speed of execution in the warehouse.”
Parmalat achieved productivity and safety improvements through Honeywell’s Vocollect voice solution’s ‘Hands-Free and Eyes-Free’ qualities, which means employees no longer need to look down or put down papers and scanners to pick up a unit or crate of stock. The DC also is better organised and stock is moving much more freely since the new system was deployed. Customers are also benefiting from enhanced order fulfillment performance.
“Under the new WMS and voice-directed picking system, we’ve experienced a 15 percent improvement in terms of our litres per man hour,” Romeo said. “As a result we’re not only reaching our targets, but exceeding them, even during peak periods such as the Christmas that has just passed.”
Parmalat’s new voice-directed picking solution has not only been designed for use in warehouses distributing milk in nondescript crates, like Lidcombe, but also Parmalat DCs that predominantly distribute other product categories including cheese, soft dairy and UHT milk.
