Data Collection and Verification for Warehousing

Dynamics AX development case study

Company

The Company is one of the leading manufacturers of fresh dough and pastry supplying 25 countries worldwide.

Business situation

The Company started as a producer of pastry and confectionary and added manufacturing of fresh dough expanding its product range and production sites. Its customers are international chain stores and merchandising partners.

As the Company had evolved from being a local supplier to one of the world-known manufacturers of fresh doughs, it needed a solution to provide a comprehensive strategy for warehouse management. The solution had to support the use of mobile devices, auto-identification technologies, and all kinds of inventory transactions, such as packing, picking, and shipping.

Challenges

The Company needed a customized solution for Dynamics AX warehouse management. The solution had to speed up all the warehouse processes and eliminate the imperfect manual procedures.

The solution had to provide the following functionality:

• Support wireless mobile devices
• Support Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies
• Collect inventory transactions in real-time
• Verify operations for the mobile warehouse users
• Enable fast transaction of sales orders to production
• Break down orders into items suitable for manufacturing and packing
• Automate the picking process to ensure that the correct orders are supplied to customers
• Provide accurately and timely invoicing

Solution

The Company partnered with Axiopea to implement Axapta 3.0 that was later upgraded to Dynamics AX 2009. The system was customized to fit the needs of the Food and Beverage industry, such as the warehouse management of perishable goods.

Axiopea built a solution that helps control all the inventory and orders through the automated processes. The system supports wireless connectivity between handheld devices and Dynamics AX. All data collection and verification processes are automated, resulting in the increased accuracy of the orders fulfillment from start to finish.

The solution features:

• Fast order processing. Creation of the production orders from the sales orders bypassing the Master plan to speed up manufacturing and shipment.
• Picking automation. The customer orders are validated at the warehouse through the wireless devices and the AIDC technologies. The scanners read barcodes and the operator makes sure that the right items are picked for the shipment.
• Bar code labels. All inventory items are marked with the bar code warehouse labels. The mobile warehouse users can now access the real-time inventory and order data and efficiently manage it.
• Physical inventory count. The mobile warehouse users can audit the on-hand inventory through mobile devices and submit this information to the system.
• Shipment labels generation and printing. When the operator scans the barcodes to pick the items for shipment, he or she places labels with the shipment address on them. The mobile warehouse users can scan each item at any time of warehousing and shipping to ensure that it matches the order.
• Automated invoicing. The customers are invoiced when the orders are shipped. The invoices are scheduled to be printed at night, during the non-working hours, when the system load is the smallest.

Results

With Dynamics AX customized to suit the needs of the Food and Beverage industry, the Company was able to streamline its order management, packing, picking, and shipping processes. This solution helps to enhance the customer satisfaction with faster processing and precise order fulfillment.

The picking stage that tends to get the most attention at the warehouse is now productive and accurate. The manual processes are replaced with high technologies, increasing efficiency and decreasing labor cost.

Using our Dynamics AX Warehouse Management solution the Company was able to

• Achieve 100% order fulfillment accuracy
• Increase sales volume
• Improve the productivity of the warehouse staff
• Manage inventory more efficiently and prevent the loss of inventory
• Invoice customers faster

With the real-time inventory data collection and verification, the Company was able to speed up all the warehouse operations and serve its customers in the best possible way.

Need to develop a similar Dynamics AX warehouse management solution? Contact us!