Huhtamaki increases warehouse productivity with best-of-breed cloud WMS

The challenge

Prior to implementing SnapFulfil at its Gosport site in the UK, packaging manufacturer, Huhtamaki employed a basic system to manage inventory in its warehouses, along with a paper picking process. This led to major problems with both inventory accuracy and productivity.

"With around £500,000 worth of lost stock in our warehouses and three shifts working seven days a week and still not hitting our KPIs, we had an expensive problem." 

Gary Owens, Head of Supply Chain

The solution

Having experienced the lack of functionality associated with an integrated ERP WMS and also witnessed the major difficulties and costs associated with the implementation of an on-premise WMS in previous roles, Gary had a clear idea of what he didn't want.

With rich, Tier 1 functionality, rapid implementation methodology and its unique, No Capex business model, SnapFulfil offered a best-of-both-worlds alternative.

Gary said: "We met SnapFulfil at a trade show and were immediately impressed, both by the software and the people.

"I'd seen first-hand how painful and expensive it can be to implement one of the big WMS' and, even if I'd wanted to, getting approval for the capital expenditure to acquire a traditional software license would have been difficult due to the lengthy payback period.

"SnapFulfil's No Capex model has allowed us to implement a best-of-breed WMS quickly, without headaches or heavy upfront investment."

Benefits

  •  ~30% increase in productivity
  • 20% reduction in headcount, removing the need for a night shift.
  • 10% improvement in OTIF performance
  • 98% warehouse utilisation
  • 99% reduction in stock losses

As a result, net savings in Year 1 after SnapFulfil subscription costs were £84,000 and total net returns in Years 2 and 3 exceeded £240,000.

Gary says: "The pace of the operation is now dictated by the system rather than the people and the knowledge that SnapFulfil not only directs, but also records every movement also helps keep our operatives efficient."

 

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