ERP/WMS alliance set to lower costs
CINCOM and TallShips Solutions ’ recently announced alliance will see customers offered a fully integrated ERP and WMS (warehouse management system) package, but only in Australia at this stage.
The alliance is indicative of a growing trend by software developers to integrate solutions for their mutual customers, and according to Paul Hargreaves, Cincom Australia’s MD, offers many advantages for local manufacturers. “It provides a more rounded solution to what we have now. It provides that additional component (WMS) we didn’t have, which is an integral part of the businesses we are dealing with,” he said.
TallShips’ WMS system, PowerHouse/WMS, is designed to streamline a number of procedures, including raw materials inventory management, delivery to multiple production lines, movement through work in progress, intermediate stages, and into finished goods storage and distribution. Combined with either Cincom’s Control or Priority ERP software, Hargreaves says this offers manufacturers an integrated supply chain solution for end-to-end production.
“With the integration of both Control and Priority it really does provide an introduction into SME and LME markets with Control in the LME market space with a focus on complex manufacturing and Priority more suitable for a broader range of SMEs,” Hargreaves told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
Doug Stracey, MD of TallShips Solutions says with the two products put together, users will be able to see what’s happening from start to finish, and enable JIT type processes in a company to operate successfully. “It’s great having JIT, but you have to have visibility and the systems must be tightly integrated to get that visibility.
“TallShips' WMS system can track the product from the time the product is purchased. It can track it into the warehouse, throughout the warehouse and out the other side of it. Before and after that, we hand it over to Cincom’s Priority or Control ERP system.
“On top of that we offer web visibility so that customers and suppliers can look into whatever a company wants them to see within its warehouse.”
According to Stracey, the alliance offers companies major cost savings when it comes to integration. “It has all been done, and with integration the most likely area for cost blow outs in a project, we have eliminated the risk side of it.”
Changing role of warehouse
Regarding the warehouse, Stracey says manufacturers no longer regard it as a black hole but more a strategic part of their business. “They get product in and out without losing huge quantities. There is no more end of the financial year shuffle of the figures.
“However, there’s more need to know where a product is, getting the product turning over, plus more cross docking,” he said.
“One of our customers moves 20 containers per day through its warehouse with a 99.96% inventory accuracy. And that’s measured properly, not in dollar terms, but the right quantity of the right product at the right location. If it’s not, it’s a miss.
“To them the warehouse is a strategic weapon. If a customer says ‘I want’, they can look in their WMS system, they know how many they have, they know where it is, they deliver it, and the customer is happy. Out-of-stocks are no longer acceptable.
“Today, the products are scanned in, and scanned out, with set procedures in place so everyone does the same thing.
“We are seeing a growing use of pick-to-light and voice picking, and in the right application they are excellent technologies.
“It’s not just a matter of size of the warehouse, it’s how they do their picking. If there are a lot of unit picks, voice or pick-to-light is quite often very good. Pick to light is not expensive and is easy to justify, if you have the volume. Much the same with voice.
The systems allow companies to use untrained workers in the warehouse. “They don’t need to know where a product is or what it is. As a general labourer you can use anyone in there.
“But at the level above that, at the supervisor level, it makes them smarter allowing them to drive the warehouse smarter,” he said.
However when it comes to RFID, Stracey believes very few companies can justify the technology. “There’s a lot of hype, but little go.”
“If you look at the majority of the justifications for a RFID system, it’s just the same as justifying a straight bar code system - getting control of your warehouse, products visibility all those things. You don’t need RFID to do that.
“RFID technology is there and it works, but you have to have the right application. It’s great if you put a tag on every box, you can scan a whole pallet and know exactly what’s on it, but the costs for the number of times you do that can’t be justified.
“We can integrate RFID into our product. That’s not a problem. The design of the system makes it very easy to do that.”
Stracey says that while there are trials in the US, but no one is really using it. “Most are just slap and shipping.
“The manufacturer is putting the RFID tag on a product because the end customer requires it. That’s staying in business, rather than getting an advantage out of RFID,” he said.
3-Aug-2005