More efficiency and automation thanks to RFID
Logistics
Initial situation
Digitization is finding its way into many companies and an essential basis for the functionalities of Industry 4.0 is data that has to be collected within the warehouse and supply processes in a company and, in the worst case, manually recorded. Many processes and manufacturing steps within the actual production are now automated to a high degree. In the management of material warehouses, we often encounter less automated processes. All too often handwritten removal certificates are filled out for storage withdrawals, possibly signed by a superior, and filed in the warehouse as evidence. The receipt may have to be entered later in the inventory management system or another management system.
Stress always arises when this procedure is not followed properly, removal certificates are lost, or are illegible. MRP processes based on the withdrawal certificate are not triggered and the material stocks fall below critical levels.
Lingemann helps you to make your warehouse management transparent using RFID management.
Analysis by Lingemann
Our long-standing customer, a well-known supplier of hygiene articles and everyday products, has requested a tailor-made supply concept for this. In this plant, over 1,000 employees work on over 16 lines in several halls. Our main task is to manage the magazine and issue consumables such as office supplies or occupational safety.
Implementation
In addition to looking after the magazine, Lingemann manages storage locations directly on the production lines where our BOOST.Tower dispensing machines are installed. The tower, including the filling service, supports the employees in their operational work. For further technical support, we introduced our BOOST.Warehouse system at the beginning of 2019. All articles, users, and cost centers are stored here to make the procurement and administration process as efficient as possible. The employees register at the sales counter in the magazine using an RFID reader with their company ID. The required products are placed in the shopping cart and the Lingemann staff picks the goods, hands them over to the respective employee, and confirms the booking. It is transmitted in real-time to the Onventis ordering platform, bundled with the processes from the BOOST.Tower and online orders and transferred to the ERP. This ensures that the withdrawals have been posted correctly. Furthermore, the employee receives an order confirmation email, which serves to ensure that no stranger has placed the order using the work card.
The respective cost center manager or department manager receives the collected withdrawal bookings in a monthly report. After checking and approval, we generate a collective invoice based on the cost centers, which is posted against an order in SAP.
Operation and ongoing optimization
Withdrawals from the magazine as well as machines, the line filling as well as the normal webshop orders are now transmitted to just one system in which the central monitoring of the cost center budgets takes place. Also, weekly reports are sent to the person responsible for the cost center that provides information on the monthly and total budget utilization.
With the establishment of our subsidiary Boostrack GmbH, we are now able to offer digital solutions that we have developed based on our experience in management and supply. The realization that only a few initial situations are the same and that every customer has individual requirements has also flowed into the development.
For 2020, we are planning to further expand the decentralized supply so that the ways to remove materials can be reduced. By using the patented BOOST.Boxes, which are installed directly on the production lines, traceability is maintained. Frequently required goods should also be automatically monitored by the BOOST.Sensor or simply transmitted at the push of a button via the BOOST.Button.
Measurable success
The implementation of this customer project took about 3 months. This enables us to guarantee optimal automated handling of order processes, which enables our customer to reduce his process costs.