COMPANY: Authentics Limited

INDUSTRY: Giftware

KEY BENEFITS:

• Inventory count time down from 5 days to 1.5 days
• 99.9% inventory accuracy
• Order picking time reduced by 50%
• Real-time visibility into warehouse inventory levels

 

The Company
For over 45 years, Authentics Limited has been one of the UK’s foremost designers and retailers of contemporary design gifts and housewares. Authentics’ four full time staff operate from a 16,000 square foot warehouse in Hersham, Surrey, England. Authentics ships their products throughout the world to a customer base of both large and small retailers, as well as taking online orders directly from individual customers.

The Challenge
Authentics Limited was running a paper-based warehouse managed by a home-grown warehouse management system (WMS). With over 750 active SKUs, Authentics has a wide variety of products, including bathroom accessories, handmade glass items, home decoration items, and giftware. During fall and winter, their busiest seasons, they averaged 150 orders per day, while in their off-peak period they would ship between 2 to 50 orders a day. Staff used paper pick tickets to fill orders, and would then record what they’d picked on each slip by hand, which would later be manually keyed into the system in the back office. Data would then be emailed to their head office in Weybridge for invoices to be produced and sent back to the warehouse so that each order could be dispatched.

"There was a lot of manual paperwork involved with the old system, and orders would get entered wrong, or data wouldn't get entered at all," says Darren Creasey, Warehouse Manager for Authentics. Stock location was a challenge, with much of their inventory being located by memory by long-term employees. There was also a problem with picking errors, as paper-based verification was inefficient, and sometimes resulted in customers receiving incorrect products. Errors in stock management and location meant that stock checks took a long time, with large variances between expected and actual stock levels. Authentics was also interested in implementing advanced features that their homegrown system could not handle, such as bin numbering, pack size putaway and picking and wireless handheld scanners. Authentics wanted better organization for their product and a higher accuracy rate to improve customer satisfaction levels.

The Solution
In June 2004, Authentics began their search for a warehouse management system to help them better run their warehouse. Having recently selected SAP Business One as their accounting system, finding a system that integrated with their newly acquired ERP was a must. Authentics turned to UK-based SAP partner Balloon One to help them select a WMS. Balloon One is the UK’s SAP Business One Service Centre andspecializes in offering service, support and software for SAP Business One customers. "The reason we chose to distribute RADIO BEACON was because of its excellent integration with SAP," says Craig Powell, Managing Director at Balloon One. "RADIO BEACON is heavily integrated into the SAP interface in look and feel, so when we demonstrate RADIO BEACON to the customer it feels like it is SAP, not an add-on product." In August 2004, Authentics was introduced to RADIO BEACON WMS and within a month their distribution center went live.

The Benefits
With the implementation of RADIO BEACON WMS, Authentics immediately saw an increase in productivity, processing orders in half the time it had taken previously. Staff used wireless handhelds to pick and pack orders and thereby data was automatically transmitted and recorded into their system. There was no longer a need for paper recording or manual data entry. Each member of the warehouse staff became an expert on stock location and warehouse processes.

Authentics also produces its own product barcodes, and with RADIO BEACON they are able to print specific labels and orders onsite to use as both a pick list and a shipping label. "I can print off one label, then have the guys go around with a scan gun because I can tell who’s picking an order just by looking at the system. I can then just ship the order from here," says Creasey. "I don’t have to send an email to head office to have invoices produced anymore." Accuracy has also improved since there is no longer a need to manually enter orders into the host system – RADIO BEACON automatically transmits all data electronically, so the chance of human error is virtually eliminated.

Authentics is now able to keep track of their stock with greater accuracy and efficiency, thanks to RADIO BEACON WMS. The time it took to perform stock counts has been greatly decreased, taking just over one day with RADIO BEACON WMS whereas it had taken over 5 days with the old system. The staff at Authentics found the transition period during the installation of the new WMS to be non-disruptive, since the software was so easy to learn. They no longer need to rely on memory to keep track of products, leading to speedier pick times and greater sharing of responsibility among employees. "Having the warehouse system in place means that instead of product location and warehouse layout sitting in someone’s head, it’s now in the system, and that makes it much more transferable so that every staff member is an expert," says Powell.

Since installing RADIO BEACON WMS, Authentics Limited has big plans for the future. While much of their client base is currently within the UK, Authentics also supplies their products to customers in North America, Australia, India, and Europe. Installing RADIO BEACON means that Authentics is now able to take the steps necessary to realize their goals of doubling their output and expanding into a larger warehouse. "If I ever have stock issues where there’s a discrepancy in stock amounts, I find that RADIO BEACON is accurate 100% of the time," says Creasey. "We needed a quality system to handle our growth, and we've found that system in RADIO BEACON."