Monday, May 20, 2013

I am now a better Manager – ERP Solution Applied

Better Management:

 
Luke Wimberly from Handy Hardware believes that their implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution from VAI has helped him to become a better manager.

·         I can clearly see what my employees are doing.

·         I never have to wonder what they are doing.

·         I never have to wonder if they are working.

·         I know if they are on-break or off-break.

·         If they are actually picking or having an issue.

·         I can watch them from my office instead of having to come down to the floor.

·         I find out where my employees are and what they are doing at all times.

 

Watch the Video:

 

The Experience:

·         The overall experience with RF (Radio Frequency) has been a good one. 

·         It took a little getting used-to, because they were used to doing things manually. 

·         After everyone became familiar with the system, everything went off without a hitch. 

·         It probably took about a week for everybody to learn everything well. 

·         It has now overall tremendously increased time for picking, shipping or receiving.

 


Benefits:
·         For anything that we use RF, productivity has increased.

·         Productivity has gone up 47%.

·         Our ERP supplier, VAI, is responsive to our needs.   They correct issues quickly.  They are a good company to work with.

  

Handy Hardware Overview:

Handy Hardware is one of only six dealer-owned hardware buying groups in the U. S. As a regional wholesale hardware distributor, whose growth spans the last forty three years, Handy's basic structure and approach to the market place have remained sound and unchanged, through an ever-changing economy. Handy Currently serves over 1,300 members in twelve states out of their 560,000 sq. ft. facility in Houston, TX and their second warehouse facility covering 468,000 sq. ft. in Meridian, MS.

 


Thoughts:

A week?  As a business owner I would gladly trade a week and the aggravation of new software to get a 47% increase in productivity.  Imagine what the long term ROI (Return on Investment) would  be.

 

Where can you start or finish, when talking about this success story about ERP, RF processing and productivity in warehouse operations.  What I notice most is a common theme in WMS (warehouse management systems), ERP in general and life as a whole. 

 

Change is uncomfortable. 

 

We live life peak-to-peak.  We are at a place now where we know we have to make changes, but the gap between where we are and where we would like to be seems great.  Too large to jump in a single step.  If it were easy for us, we would already be there contemplating the next gap. 

 
I cannot imagine it was an easy decision to move forward for Handy Hardware.  I also imagine that they knew they could not stay where they were.  Probably took some hand holding, some leap of faith.  VAI has done this work before, they have a proven success record and above all staying where they were on a technology stance was not going to allow them to compete and service their customer base in a manner that would enable growth.

 
We know it is not an easy choice to make change.  It is usually very difficult to get consensus among your team.  But, what are the alternatives?  If you do not service your customers, someone else will.  At Dolvin Consulting we work with industry experts like VAI and IBM to deliver proven solutions to your challenges.  We can only guess who you are and what your struggles include.  Today’s challenges can be tomorrow’s memories, if you start now.  Contact us to see how we can help you.  We are here to help.

 

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