posted by Philip Harman on Jul 10
Direct Selling Association Members Find Wcs By Qc Software A Good Fit
QC Software (www.qcsoftware.com) is the leading provider of Tier 1 warehouse control systems to the warehousing and distribution industries. No other WCS provider has worked with as many members of the DSA (Direct Selling Association.) Since 1996, QC Software, utilizing state of the art technology combined with extensive research, development, and rigorous testing, has developed the QC Enterprise suite of products. Designed to be modular in nature, easily configurable, and platform independent, this highly scalable solution satisfies the needs of any size warehouse.
lia sophia is a direct selling company that offers an extensive line of high quality jewelry at affordable prices through a vast network of Advisors (independent sales representatives). In 2006, the company opened a new 200,000 sq. ft. facility in Roselle, Illinois, and took the opportunity to reconfigure its current distribution environment to prepare for the future.
The Direct Selling Association (DSA) clearly proves that people like to shop through direct selling. According to recent surveys, nearly three fourths (74 percent) of Americans have purchased goods or services through direct sales. Direct selling is a growing industry. Sales in the U.S. have more than doubled in the last decade to more than billion and are now more than 0 billion worldwide reports the DSA.
“Our systems were manual and paper-based,” said Tom Lang, Director of Operations. With a goal to improve the material flow and increase the throughput of the material handling system, lia sophia worked with a systems integrator that recommended QC Enterprise, by QC Software, system as the best fit for functionality and configurability.
Phase I was completed in the late fall of 2006 with the implementation of QC Software’s OMS (Order Management System) to plan orders for picking using specific cartonization rules that optimized the number of cartons for order fulfillment. Orders are now planned in waves of boxes for the Pick-to-Light (PTL), A-Frame or both. The PTL waves are planned for the slower moving items and to supplement A-Frame picking, where the A-Frame waves are planned for the faster moving items to automate the picking process. A print and apply system was added to the A-Frame’s carton induction to keep pace with the A-Frame. If the A-Frame reports a short pick, the QC OMS automatically schedules and re-picks the shorted item at the PTL. This streamlining of picks has reduced shipping costs because backorders are kept to a minimum.
Phase II of the project was implemented in 2007 because lia sophia was still growing exponentially, and required additional capacity to fulfill their orders. A second A-Frame, with a print and apply for carton induction, was added to provide additional system throughput .To eliminate the pack-out area bottleneck, a second pack out area was added. The new order expedited function allowed the company to isolate individual orders for rapid processing.
In Phase III, lia sophia implemented QC SMS™ (Shipment Management System) to streamline the automated shipping process by providing reliable shipping manifests for parcel and LTL shipments. From a financial point of view, shipping costs were significantly reduced.
QC Software’s Navigator, OMS, and SMS modules helped lia sophia improve the accuracy, capacity, and flexibility of its order fulfillment operations while enhancing personnel productivity and resource scheduling. But, lia sophia’s management became increasingly concerned over the shortcomings of its existing inventory management system.
In 2008, lia sophia made the decision to initiate Phase IV of the project, and engaged QC Software to supply a replacement inventory management system. “We became increasingly concerned regarding weaknesses in our legacy inventory management system. The software wasn’t stable, or well supported, and lacked some key functionality. In addition, our concerns were growing over the future financial stability of the company developing the software. We decided that it didn’t make sense to continue developing the product, and we would be better off putting our energy into something to replace it. We felt that it would be better to migrate to a single platform, and we worked with QC Software to implement its Inventory Management System (IMS), so that we had a single suite of integrated software tools from a single vendor,” noted Lang.
According to Lang, “We are in the direct selling business. We don’t just sell jewelry, we sell a business opportunity. Perhaps even more critical than shipping the jewelry is getting business supplies to our independent reps. New lia sophia advisors are supplied with what’s referred to as a Starter Kit. It contains samples and the necessary staples they need to start a business. In addition, they need supplies to sustain their business. Those two types of shipments are extremely critical, and we wanted to make sure that they get the appropriate attention.”
QC Software, Inc.
www.qcsoftware.com
Jerry List
JerryList@qcsoftware.com
(513) 469-1424
Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines
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