LonMadi (Mobile SMARTS KIZ)

2020: Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group Manages JCB Parts Warehouse with Cleverence Software

About Customer

A warehouse is the heart of any company that makes or sells any product. In addition to goods for customer orders, inventory and raw materials are also stored here for the needs of the organization. The better the warehouse management system is built, the more profit the company will receive. But without a modern accounting system, high rates will be more difficult to achieve.

"Since 1991, we have been the official distributors of the world famous brands of road construction equipment : JCB, Powerscreen, Terex Demag, GROVE, Deutz GROVE, Tadano, GOMACO and SENNEBOGEN. We are also engaged in the sale and maintenance of cars from these manufacturers. The company "Lonmadi/Quintmadi" today occupies about 50% of the niche market in Russia . Our main product is JCB road construction equipment. The very yellow loader excavators with a large brand inscription on the body, which can be seen on the streets of large cities. The warehouse provides spare parts, oils and filters, including our own repair zones and mechanics working on the spot, "said Alexander Shvedov, executive director for the service line of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi group of companies.

Almost 70% of the total volume of spare parts and goods "Lonmadi/Quintmadi" receives from the central warehouse of JCB in Podolsk. The rest is from China and Turkey: spare parts for JCB road construction equipment and other brands, sold by the group of companies within the framework of its own brand "LONMADI Parts."

"Customer orders are displayed on a computer screen on three pages. In order to fulfill them all, you need to process a large amount of documents - receipt and issuance. Because we get a huge amount of products. For example, last week they received a 40-foot container from Turkey: about 600 units of nomenclature. And this is not the largest delivery. We use "1C: Manufacturing Enterprise Management" as the main business solution, but until recently all warehouse documentation was on paper, "said Alexander Shvedov.

Tasks

If you organize a paper document flow correctly, it will be no less effective than barcode accounting. Even though you have to use more competent and responsible employees. But with large volumes of goods and a large staff, the company cannot rely only on the professional qualities of employees. In this case, a tougher warehouse management system, in which even beginners will not make mistakes, will allow for higher performance.

The First Steps to Automation

The central office of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi group of companies has been located in the village of Elino, Solnechnogorsk district since 2016. It houses a number of divisions responsible for the life of the holding, including the head office, central warehouse, service services and sales offices.

"We didn't immediately realise it was time to automate the warehouse - there were fewer goods. And only thanks to the pure enthusiasm of the IT department did they first implement barcode scanners, and then scan the documents themselves. Since there was no physical need to implement any software solution and equipment, we could not feel all the advantages of warehouse automation. It would look artificially like a kind of add-on over our business processes, "said the executive director of the service line of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group of Companies.

Old accounting methods and search for new solutions

For several years, employees of the warehouse of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi group of companies kept records on paper. The documents of acceptance, shipment, movement of goods were first printed on paper, then processed in 1C. But with the move to the new office, priorities increased, which caused the need to automate processes.

"The market for software solutions is large. Cloverens has attracted its affordable and easily mastered mobile application development environment. Plus, the software of this particular developer already has a com-object built in, using the properties and methods of which, we could seamlessly connect the software to our 1C accounting system . In other words, we needed a product for harmonious integration of the bar coding system into the algorithms of our output warehouse, so that it could be used to receive goods and complete orders by reading the ShK, "said Alexander Shvedov.

Decision

Adapted the experience of other companies to their own needs

What could be easier to record on paper? One bundle of documents - new orders, the second - ready to issue to the client. But is it possible to organize such a mechanism in electronic form? Will the accounting system immediately write off the goods from the balances?

"Initially, we made so-called visual order queues based on Kleverens' platform. Something similar can be seen at McDonald's and Burger King. The screen is divided into two parts: in the left there are orders for picking, and in the right - ready-made ones. In this case, the order number disappears from the screen after issue. Since it is often very difficult to determine the current warehouse load, the introduction of a visual queue allowed us to quickly respond online to calls related to the receipt of a large number of orders. This was the first solution for automation and visualization of warehouse operations, "said the executive director for the service line of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group of Companies.

New Order Issue Mechanism

The implementation of software and shipping documentation, printer configuration, adaptation of the Cleverence mobile client to the needs of the company, as well as the configuration and refinement of the interface were carried out by specialists from the Lonmadi/Quintmadi group of companies. Currently, the data exchange mechanism is as follows: a task from 1C is unloaded to a mobile computer, and after processing it is returned to the accounting system.

"The second project was implemented a little later. In 2014, I visited JCB the company Great Britain in. The dealer communicated with his mechanical engineers through a mobile application. In two branches used for these purposes, in the smartphones third - c tablets. OS Android We also transferred our warehouse to issue orders in electronic form to the employee's "mobile phone." And the storekeeper can now record something in the document, leave comments and record the result of the work, "said Alexander Shvedov.

Cleverence's Cleverence platform and the META (Mobile Engineer Task Application) based on it allow you to control the start and end times, pauses and travel times. Employees of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group of Companies can easily and quickly find the form of any order in the archive.

"It used to take half a day to find the right outfit order. Now the need to raise paper documents from the archive has completely disappeared. The situation has changed dramatically in terms of communication with customers: there is no more illegible handwriting and unreadable letters - we issue a correctly and correctly filled version of the order order by the mechanical engineer. This is perhaps one of the main advantages, "Alexander shared.

Warehouse equipment

The first data collection terminals acquired for work in the warehouse by the service director of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group of Companies were. ATOL SMART.Droid At the same time, they took a laser scanner for reading 1D barcodes. Subsequently, it became necessary to scan 2D codes and labeling, and the shipping documentation had to be replaced with the Smart.Lite ATOL.

"We had to" rearm ": adapt the Kleverens platform to the DataMatrix accounting of codes and get acquainted with" Honest SIGN. " Our previous attempt to implement a barcoding system in the early 2000s was not logically completed, and six Zebra 2824 printers were idle for several years . Today we print labels using the same 'Zebra', but we use the TSC Bluetooth printer plus. We have about 20 terminals in two warehouses: 7 in the Quintmadi warehouse and 12 in the Lonmadi warehouse. All operations of storekeepers, wherever they are - in oil, in a tire warehouse, in the area of ​ ​ storage of buckets, running gear - must be carried out at the shipping documentation, "said Alexander Shvedov.

Improved Software

In the "Kleverens" software, the specialists of the "Lonmadi/Quintmadi" Group of Companies have finalized the printing of labels and receipt documents: the "Acceptance Label" immediately applied to the product indicating the storage location greatly simplifies the distribution of products on racks. The document "Transfer to bins" was also changed according to the requirements of the warehouse. Only "Order Matching" and "Inventory" remained unchanged.

Slight complexity of warehouse automation project

The first difficulties faced by Lonmadi/Quintmadi specialists were associated with the deployment servers and printing of labels. It took 2 months to troubleshoot. And in order to avoid the re-issuance of spare parts, almost immediately banned the printing of documents on paper, leaving only electronic copies.

"At the beginning of the implementation, we spent several sleepless nights looking for answers to our questions. And when they could not find a solution, they turned to technical support for the developer. 'Cloverens' specialists responded quickly and substantively to our inquiries. We worked for a long time on the old version of the server and mobile client, because they are more stable. I believe that you should not touch what already functions perfectly. And although I don't like new releases due to the fact that they always have errors, we still had to update. And it was after the firmware update shipping documentation 'Kleverens' began to give us empty cells when placing goods. So we placed 300 items in the warehouse with one document into the void: there is a product, but the system does not show the storage address. A lot of time was spent while everything was found. We don't do this anymore, "Alexander Shvedov shared his working moments.

New algorithm of work

Step one is the agreement on barcoding products by the internal Lonmadi/Quintmadi ShK in Turkey before being sent to Russia. In the Russian Federation, acceptance is carried out on the basis of the document "Receipt of Goods," a label with a place of storage is applied and placed in cells.

"Our main operations - order selection, inventory, movement by cells, receipt of goods. All of them are carried out using shipping documentation. There is no need to constantly look at monitor computer, clogging the goods on the shelf. There is no need to check the entire parish against a leaf. After all, both 300 and 500 positions can come. And this is not one sheet. We just do a random inventory once a month. And once a year full - throughout the warehouse . If it weren't for 'Kleverens' we wouldn't be ready to process as many DataMatrix codes by November 1st. In two warehouses we have about 50,000 commodity items: 'Lonmadi' - about 26 thousand, 'Quintmadi' - 16 thousand. In terms of the number of pieces, even more, "said Nikolai Chumakov, deputy head of the warehouse logistics department at Lonmadi/Quintmadi.

Step two - barcodes are applied to all goods that come from the supplier unmarked. To print the label, you do not need to complete the receipt document: just click the "Print Product Label" button, and the printer will issue a ready-made sticker with the storage address and article number.

"95% of the work is done by storekeepers at data collection terminals. Since deliveries from JCB Russia are regular, there are few products - up to 60 items. First, in the accounting system, we form a document and upload it to the shipping documentation. He opens the task and starts scanning. At the same time prints the storage address on the mobile printer. Then we physically place the products on shelves and racks. It's so much easier. Our warehouse is of the hub type: it works to replenish stocks, to ship goods to customers. Here, field mechanics who leave for maintenance or urgent repairs receive everything they need. The responsible person uploads the task to the terminal, it is fixed by the number in Kleverens. And 1C marks the receiving region, "said the executive director for the service of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group of Companies.

"We distribute tasks: someone replenishes warehouses in OP and deals with clients from distant regions with sending today, someone completes goods for customers and visiting mechanics with sending the next day. Storekeepers unload tasks from the PC to the shipping documentation in the order of a live queue. In the task that the employee throws off for himself on the shipping documentation, the first thing he does is fill out the column "Client for the gate, car number." And only after that begins the assembly of the product. Data exchange between 1C and connected equipment was configured via Wi-Fi online, "said Nikolai Chumakov.

Total 4 hours of training

Resistance is a natural reaction to innovations. Automation of warehouse and commodity operations scares line personnel, because such a mechanism of work is unusual. But the accounting familiar to everyone "on a piece of paper" has long been outdated. And as practice shows, as soon as storekeepers learn to keep records using mobile computers, company employees no longer want to pick up paper invoices.

"In 4 hours I trained the storekeepers of the Rostov branch to work with 'Cloverens': I printed and pasted barcodes with addresses on the shelves of the racks and explained how to place the goods and perform arrival, consumption, receipts. The mobile client interface on the shipping documentation is very simple. Now I still occasionally show the personnel where cogs, nuts, bolts, welding wire, overalls should be stored . Accounting also trained to conduct annual inventories by region with terminals. For all the questions that arise, they call me. Sometimes I help, sometimes I send to the IT department. On average, a new employee can be taught to use shipping documentation in an hour. Then he calmly works on his own. We need help - I turn to the warehouse manager, "the deputy head of the warehouse logistics department of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi company shared his working moments.

Results

The influence of the human factor, the low speed of personnel work, the dependence of the warehouse on specific employees are the most common difficulties that the company faces without an automatic system for monitoring the movement of stocks. The larger the warehouse, the more stable, fast and proven solution is needed. Automation allows you to reduce the cost of compensation for customer complaints, increase sales, and at the same time speed up the work of all departments.

"We have gained a lot of benefits from the introduction of 'Cloverens'. This is both faster acceptance of goods and better inventories by fewer people. The result cannot but rejoice. It was important for us to have access to finalizing the application. The Kleverens platform provides such access - the code is open. I think that software 'Kleverens' is one of the best solutions on the market today, "said Alexander Shvedov.

The introduction of the Kleverens platform allowed the Lonmadi/Quintmadi group of companies:

• less critical of the staff and not require any super opportunities and abilities from the storekeepers,
• abandon the storage numbering system used in all branches and organize and structure warehouses,
• It is easy to control the quality of work of a particular unit, since the processes of acceptance and issuance of goods have become of the same type.

"We have completely abandoned paper media. All work orders can be found at any time and sent to the customer a document with the most complete information about the work performed. Plus, we now record travel time, start and end times, pauses without any problems. The program is simple, convenient and users like it, "summed up Nikolai Chumakov, deputy head of the warehouse logistics department at Lonmadi/Quintmadi.

Tips on shipping documentation help employees of the Lonmadi/Quintmadi Group of Companies not to be mistaken: Shipping documentation immediately informs if the goods were distributed to the wrong shelf during acceptance. And on the screen of the mobile computer there is a notification that the supplier sent the wrong product and that there are no products in the delivery document.

"'Kleverens' will tell you immediately after scanning the barcode" put it there. " We want to further improve this system: we have a mezzanine of four floors, each of which has 9 lines, spare parts are placed in demand. For example, the first floor is the most running, the second - less running, the third - even less running, the fourth - very rarely sold. I am sure that the Kleverens platform will allow us to implement more than one of our ideas, "Nikolai Chumakov summed up.