Implementing an efficient warehouse
management system

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Situation and requirement

A specialist in cable management in the automotive, aeronautics, railways, household appliances, renewable energy and electrical installations sectors for more than 70 years, this company develops solutions for fixing, connecting, identifying, installing and protecting cables and their fitting tools, along with pioneering systems in the telecommunications sector.
The logistics at this international company’s French manufacturing site has now come under pressure following strong growth which has kept staff busy on operations over the last two years and prevented them from tackling some fundamental issues:

  • Processes are manual, leading to low quality and productivity
  • The materials, equipment and location of the warehouse are not adapted to the flows they need to process
  • The building (5,000 m2) will remain a constraint for another 3-4 years
  • The ERP has a “light” warehouse management function, operations are done manually with paper order preparation slips entered in the ERP

The company’s three-year vision is the pursuit of double-digit growth. To keep pace with this growth and ensure the required quality level for customers, our client decided to embark on the transformation of its distribution warehouse logistics.
MLA was called on to accompany this transformation, which aims to:

  • Optimise inbound, internal and outbound warehouse flows
  • Optimise warehouse layout and staff organisation
  • Equip this warehouse with a market WMS in Saas mode
Customer benefits
  • Understanding the key processes applied to manage physical flows at the best cost, quality and lead times
  • Improved skills among management and logistics operators with regard to best practices in the warehouse logistics business
  • Adoption of the selected WMS tool, adapted to warehouse flows
  • Commitment to a continuous improvement process in line with the expected improvement in performance
Our approach

Our work comprised three phases:

• Processes and Flows: mapping flows, processes and the existing and target set-ups.

• WMS call for tenders: tender specifications addressed to seven companies in the WMS sector – three big companies and four SMEs; organisation of pre-tender interviews, resources to help with selection (functional, technical and financial rating grid), help with contracts (integration and maintenance licence).

• Warehouse implementation: target implementation study based on data from inbound, outbound and internal warehouse flows (ABC study).

• Project Steering: project committees, steering committees, business action plan: implementation of a business action plan to achieve the target in PDCA form facilitated throughout the project life.

• WMS configuration: functional adequacy, gap analysis, functional analyses for specific developments, interface design, process adaptations, parameter settings folder, drafting operating modes.

• Data reliability: cleansing and completeness of the reference data, stock and logistic dimensions of the articles.

• Organisation: study of existing and target tasks, job descriptions, target organisation chart, sizing, communication.

• Economic aspects: costing and conditions required to achieve the improvements (costs, quality, deadlines) expected from the updated processes, the new organisation and the new warehouse management tool.

• Functional acceptance with key users: writing scenarios, preparing data sets, carrying out tests per function and end-to-end, handling corrections.

• End-user training: training plan, drafting materials, running training courses.

• Go-Live: start-up plan, assistance with implementing the plan, handling anomalies

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Client feedback

Involvement of MLA expert consultants with
recognised Supply Chain skills

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Client feedback

A close, trust-based relationship established
by MLA at all levels of the company

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Client feedback

A pragmatic approach, adapted to the level of maturity
of everyone involved as regards their ability
to conceptualise and work in project mode

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