Lowry services plus Intermec hardware combine for a winning solution for wholesale manufacturer.
Customer
Novelty, Inc. located in Greenfield, IN, is the fastest growing non-food distributor in the world, focusing on the convenience store market segment. Its direct store delivery program extends across 11,000 stores in 35 states. Novelty’s wholesale division manufactures many of the licensed items that are on display by cash registers in grocery markets and convenience stores – items such as NASCAR, Scooby-Doo, Harry Potter, and Pokemon.
Business Needs
Between 8-10 of the newest, hottest and most sought after items are delivered by Novelty to over 200 major chains each week. By identifying and stocking items that sell fast in particular stores (sunglasses may sell but not cigarette lighters), its customers keep inventories moving and fresh. Novelty decided it was time to assess its storage and data collection capabilities.
The company’s extensive line of novelty products is stored in a 250,000 sq. ft. central warehouse, consisting of over 5,000 merchandise bins, fixed racks and movable racks for additional storage. Novelty delivery truck drivers filled their orders using a hand Pick system. Picked items were then manually entered into an inventory control system.
Solution
A representative of Lowry Computer Products, a leading manufacturer and integrator specializing in wireless, RFID-EPC, bar code, and data collection solutions for the supply chain, was asked to join Novelty’s WMS vendor and conduct a warehouse site assessment. Lowry identified a number of improvements that would increase efficiencies and cost savings:
- Installation of a wireless system in the warehouse and vehicle-mounted Intermec terminals on the forklift trucks for automatic data capture.
- Hand-held long range Intermec scanners for truck drivers to identify the product bin, then scan the product and bin to automatically update Novelty’s inventory system in real-time.
- The most productive starting point for filling orders, determined by knowing the exact location of each product.
- A re-numbering of the storage bins to correct an inconsistency that occurred at each aisle crossover, where a new series of numbers was assigned rather than continuing the numbering progression.
Lowry and Intermec representatives performed on-site testing of scanning distances on Novelty’s rack labels, using Intermec demo hardware. It was determined that Intermec advanced long range scanners also scanned at closer ranges, so Novelty only had to purchase one scanner to read bar code labels on multiple level racks.
Lowry not only partners with best-in-class partners such as Intermec to provide customers with the most cost-effective solution, but also provides value-add services such as site assessments, installation and integration with current enterprise systems.
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Inventory Management |
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Industry: |
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Consumer Goods |
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