Monday, February 6, 2012

ERP Integration of Distribution Picking, Packing, Shipping, and RF Scanning Processes

Java City, a California based specialty coffee distributor, offers an enormous volume of coffee products for distribution, including on-line order processing.  Environmentally conscious, the company still roasts each bag of coffee by hand. With the integration of VAI’s WMS solution, Java City was able to enhance their customer service.


Our growth has been dramatic.  Productivity is up, picking accuracy is up, inventory accuracy is up, and product movement is improved.  Everything is logged and tracked.  We know where exactly where our inventory is located at all times and what is available for our customers.

We have a great relationship with our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) provider, VAI.  We have a one-on-one relationship with our project manager.  He knows us and our business.  We feel comfortable going to him when we are looking to improve our operations.



Before we could take advantage of the RF wireless capabilities of our system, we had to invest and barcode our locations and stock.  This enabled us to move from our old paper system, which required a lot of writing, filing and manual processing to an automated system. 

We now have faster access.  All of our transactions are available immediately.  We have reduced our backordered items.  The new system is much more intuitive and took less time to learn than our old paper based system.  The menus make it easier to navigate.

Before we automated our processing we would average 136 miss picks a month, not counting shipping errors on a volume of 5000 orders in that time period.  We now ship 6000 orders a month and only have an average of 8 miss picks. 

Our customers get exactly what the order.

Our billing charges happen immediately.  Billing and Accounts Receivable have been accelerated.  What used to take 3-5 days now happens in 24 hours.  Everything is trackable.

This distributor’s process improvements are typical when there is a good fit between challenge and solution.  We cannot promise you anything, but we know in our hearts that we can help.  If you are using paper or manual processing, there is room for improvement.  If you are not taking advantage of bar-coding and other automation processing, then there is room for improvement. 

If your inventory accuracy is not in the high 90’s, if you are late on customer shipments, if your customers do not receive what they order, if the only time you know you are accurate on inventory is when you are out-of-stock, then now is the time to reach out for help.

Dolvin Consulting leverages its industry experience and partnerships to bring you best-in-class solutions to your team, your organization, your bottom line.  In today’s economy, now is the time to take advantage of recent improvements in the integration that ERP solutions offer.  We do not know who you are, so take the first step and contact us today.  Our solutions typically pay for themselves with savings we help you achieve.

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