NetSuite WMS Advanced Warehouse Tour with Alpha Comm
Summary
TLDRAlpha Comm designs, manufactures, and distributes cellphone accessories, focusing on efficiency through NetSuite's warehouse management system (WMS). Their process involves receiving, storing, and picking products for shipment across 17,000 locations. WMS integration streamlines procurement, receiving, inventory management, replenishment, order allocation, and shipping. Workers follow WMS-guided steps to ensure accuracy and efficiency, ultimately enhancing their ability to fulfill large volumes of orders swiftly and accurately. This systematic approach is detailed through a walkthrough of their 150,000 square-foot warehouse and subsidiary operations in Montebello, California, and Mexico City.
Takeaways
- 📱 The company specializes in designing, manufacturing, and distributing a wide range of cellphone accessories available at local carrier stores.
- 🚚 They offer a unique 'ship to store' service for carriers, handling the entire process from picking to packing and fulfilling to 17,000 locations.
- 🔄 NetSuite and a fully integrated warehouse management system (WMS) are crucial for achieving the required efficiency in their operations.
- 🏭 The facility described is approximately 150,000 square feet, with additional warehouses in Montebello, California, and a subsidiary in Mexico City.
- 📦 The process begins with procurement, where purchase orders are created and sent to manufacturers, and continues with receiving and storing the products.
- 🔖 Upon arrival, products are unloaded, sorted by SKU, and assigned a license plate (LP) number for tracking and storage location assignment.
- 🔍 A cycle count of SKUs is performed daily to maintain accurate inventory balances, which is managed through the WMS.
- 📈 Replenishment plans ensure items are transferred from storage to pick faces, setting minimum levels to maintain stock for pickers.
- 🛒 Sales orders are processed with an allocation step in the WMS to prevent multiple salespeople from selling the same product simultaneously.
- 🌊 The waving process in WMS consolidates orders for efficient picking, with the ability to cluster orders and control the number of totes per picker.
- 🔗 The picking process relies heavily on RF guns for scanning and instructions, ensuring accurate order fulfillment.
- 📦 After picking, a PAC outstation is used for cross-checking the picked items against the customer's order to ensure accuracy before shipping.
- 📈 The WMS integrates with FedEx for shipping label generation, verifying correct item quantity, weight, and shipping method before finalizing the order.
- 📊 The final shipping label routes the package to the appropriate shipping method container, and the system updates the order status and triggers billing in the accounting department.
Q & A
What kind of products does Alpha Comm specialize in designing, manufacturing, and distributing?
-Alpha Comm specializes in designing, manufacturing, and distributing cellphone accessories that are commonly found in local carrier stores.
What sets Alpha Comm apart from other companies in the same industry?
-Alpha Comm stands out by offering a ship-to-store service for their carriers, where they pick, pack, and fulfill orders to 17,000 different locations, emphasizing speed and efficiency.
How does Alpha Comm integrate technology to improve efficiency in their operations?
-Alpha Comm uses NetSuite and a fully integrated warehouse management system (WMS) to streamline their operations and increase efficiency.
What is the approximate size of Alpha Comm's warehouse in Montebello, California?
-The warehouse in Montebello, California is approximately 150,000 square feet.
How does Alpha Comm manage the receiving process of new products?
-The receiving process starts with the procurement department creating and sending purchase orders. The receiving department then pre-assigns system homes for products, receives the goods, and prints a license plate (LP) number to track the pallets.
What is a 'license plate' number in the context of Alpha Comm's warehouse operations?
-A 'license plate' number is a unique identifier printed by the WMS and attached to a pallet of products, which helps in tracking and managing inventory.
How does Alpha Comm ensure inventory balances through their cycle counting process?
-Alpha Comm performs cycle counting of a set number of SKUs every day, where materials workers physically count items and the WMS allows for this process to be recorded, ensuring inventory accuracy.
What is the purpose of the replenishment plan in Alpha Comm's WMS?
-The replenishment plan in the WMS ensures that items are transferred from storage locations to pick faces when the stock level falls below a predetermined minimum, keeping enough inventory for pickers.
How does Alpha Comm handle the allocation of items during the sales process?
-Salespersons must allocate the items they intend to sell into their orders within the WMS to prevent multiple salespeople from trying to sell the same product.
What is the waving process in Alpha Comm's WMS, and how does it work?
-The waving process involves grouping orders into a wave, which can include multiple orders for a single customer. This process helps in organizing and optimizing the picking and packing of orders.
How does Alpha Comm ensure the accuracy of the items picked and packed for shipment?
-After picking, the picker uses a PAC outstation to cross-check the items picked against the customer's order in the WMS. The system only allows the creation of a FedEx shipping label if the quantities and items match the order.
What is the role of the integration process between Alpha Comm's WMS and FedEx?
-The integration process between the WMS and FedEx ensures that once a shipment is verified and the shipping label is generated, FedEx is notified to update the order status in the WMS, which then routes it to accounting for billing.
Outlines
📦 Warehouse Efficiency and Integration
The script describes the operations of a company specializing in the design, manufacture, and distribution of cellphone accessories. They differentiate themselves by offering a 'ship to store' service for carriers, which requires high efficiency in their warehouse management. The company uses NetSuite and a fully integrated warehouse management system (WMS) to streamline their operations. The process includes procurement, receiving, storage, inventory management, replenishment, and order fulfillment. The script details the steps taken from the arrival of products to their storage and subsequent picking for shipment. The WMS guides workers through each task using a menu system and an RF gun, which simplifies the process and ensures accuracy. The company maintains warehouses in Montebello, California, and Mexico City, covering a large area and handling a vast number of products and SKUs.
🛒 Order Fulfillment and Shipping Process
The second paragraph delves into the specifics of the order picking and shipping process within the company's warehouse. Pickers use an RF gun to scan and select items from designated bins, guided by the WMS system, which cross-checks the picked items against the customer's order. Once the order is confirmed, it is weighed and, if correct, a FedEx shipping label is generated. The script highlights the integration between the WMS and FedEx systems, ensuring accurate order fulfillment and shipping. The company also discusses the importance of the PAC outstation for verifying the accuracy of the picked items before they are shipped. The process concludes with the order being closed out in the WMS and sent to the accounting department for billing, emphasizing the seamless flow from order creation to completion.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Warehouse Management System (WMS)
💡Ship to Store
💡Cellphone Accessories
💡Procurement Department
💡Receiving Department
💡License Plate (LP) Number
💡Cycle Counting
💡Replenishment Plan
💡Pick Face
💡Wave Process
💡PAC Outstation
💡FedEx Integration
Highlights
Alpha Comm specializes in designing, manufacturing, and distributing cellphone accessories.
They offer ship-to-store services for carriers, picking, packing, and fulfilling to 17,000 locations.
NetSuite and a fully integrated warehouse management system enhance operational efficiency.
The 150,000 square feet warehouse in Montebello, California, and subsidiary in Mexico City handle product storage and distribution.
Workers follow a step-by-step process in the WMS to perform their tasks efficiently.
Procurement department creates and sends purchase orders to manufacturers.
Receiving department pre-assigns system homes for products and manages inbound items.
Dock coordinator prints receiving paperwork and manages unloading and pallet building.
License plate (LP) numbers are used to track pallets and products through the system.
Cycle counting is performed daily to maintain accurate inventory balances.
Replenishment plans ensure items are transferred from storage to pick faces for picking.
Salespersons allocate items to orders to prevent multiple salespeople from grabbing the same product.
The waving process in WMS consolidates orders for efficient picking.
Pickers use an RF gun to scan and pick items according to cluster numbers and bin instructions.
PAC outstation cross-checks picked items against customer orders for accuracy.
Integration with FedEx allows for automatic shipping label generation and order closure.
Salespersons select shipping methods, which determine how orders are routed for dispatch.
The warehouse management system simplifies tasks for workers, streamlining the receiving to shipping process.
Transcripts
but alpha come we help design
manufacture distribute any kind of a
cellphone accessory that you might walk
into your local carrier store to
purchase everybody and his brother or
selling accessories one thing that makes
us different is we're doing ship to
store for our carriers we pick pack and
fulfill to 17,000 doors but in order to
do that we have to become as fast and
efficient as possible through NetSuite
and the full integration of the
warehouse management system the
efficiency is incredible as we do a walk
through through the facility you'll get
an idea of what we're talking about this
warehouse is approximately 150,000
square feet and we have warehouses here
in Montebello California and a
subsidiary in Mexico City we receive
product we store it and we pull it for
hicpac and shipment the WMS system
provides so the average worker they just
have to follow the steps in the menu to
get their job done so it's laid out in
processing steps that they can follow up
the process starts of course in our
procurement department where we will
create and send purchase orders to our
manufacturers and the receiving
department they'll have those POS
they'll be waiting for those inbound
items to come in via schedule they can
go in the system and they can pre assign
a system home for a particular product
or they can simply run a report in WMS
and say you know let me see all the
empty locations I have because some of
those products may need four or five
locations when the products come in we
unload them the dock coordinator in our
case will printout receiving paperwork
out of the WMS side then he simply
brings it over to where he's receiving
the goods they unload the trucks and
they build a pallet sorting all the
different SKUs and putting the like SKUs
on to a particular pallet then from the
WMS system he'll print what's called a
license plate an LP number this LP
number is then attached to the
particular pallet product from there now
he starts receiving through his RF gun
the particular SKUs on that pallet by
scanning the barcodes then a material
handler will get on a forklift
they will come scan this particular LP
and they're going to do what's called
put tube in so for example in the WMS
system if that particular SKU the
materials manager assigned it to this
particular bin the material handler who
scans the LP he scans the particular
location set up through the parameters
in WMS that's married up in the WMS
system which completes the initial
receiver so after we received the goods
and we put them in their storage bins we
also cycle count X amount of SKUs every
day to make sure we're maintaining
inventory balances and that's done by
our materials manager in here in the
inventory part of WMS so he can build
anywhere from 1 to 50 per se if he wants
to in a cycle count plan and the
materials worker would go out and
physically count those items the WMS
does allow for that to totally be done
in RF but in alpha comm particular case
we still use it with the worksheet one
of the next phases is replenishment you
don't pick items from a basic warehouse
storage bin it has to be transferred to
what's called a pic face in order to do
that we use what's called a
replenishment plan from the WMS system
so for example when the materials
manager sets up a pic face location he
can set a minimum level and say anything
that's at or below its minimum level
come out on this replenishment report
and what that does is it sets up a
transfer of the materials from a storage
location to that pic location and that's
a process that always keeps enough there
for the Pickers to pick another thing we
have to do when you have a sales group
up there selling items the salesperson
has to go into the system and if they
want to sell a thousand of those they
have to allocate those thousand items
into their order otherwise you have
multiple sales people trying to grab the
same product so the allocation process
is also part of the WMS and then those
items are held for pick pack and ship
the next phase of course after we have
our materials receive put away and
manipulated for picking is what's called
the waving process in WMS the sales team
upfront put orders in the system and the
wave coordinator can do what's called
create a
she can lump anywhere from one to a
hundred orders per se
once she manipulates all those orders
and puts them into a particular wave
number that's what grabs the material
and assigns it to that particular
customer order number in that wave so
there we do what's called building a
cluster and a WMS system you can wave
multiple order numbers for a particular
customer into a cluster and control how
many totes you want that picker to pick
we marry up the particular order to a
bin number and from there they'll go
into the pic warehouse and they'll start
picking the orders the picker will scan
the particular cluster number and it
will tell her to go to a particular bin
she'll scan that bin and it will tell
her how many that particular item to put
into this container for that customer
this particular process is where we rely
heavily on the RF gun once they finish
picking an order we use a PAC outstation
the importance of the PAC outstation is
we're cross-checking what that picker
picked in the RF gun as we marry it up
to the customers shipping container that
we prep for shipping he'll bring the
particular order up in the WMS part of
the screen and it will show the customer
all the items that customer ordered then
he'll simply start scanning the items
and that's the cross-check he's building
that shipping container in WMS as he
scans those totals marry up with the
requested quantity on this side once he
completes that order we set the
container on the FedEx scale now in the
WMS system we have what's called an
integration process the WMS information
integrates and talks to FedEx if all
those items are the correct quantity and
the correct item and the correct weight
he can hit his finish button and at that
point he will get his FedEx shipping
label if the quantities are wrong and
the item is wrong it will not let him go
further and he cannot get the shipping
label and finish the customer container
once that's done FedEx writes back to
our WMS system which closes out the
order and goes to our accounting
department for billing
one of the intricate parts is in WMS
when the salesperson creates the order
they pick the shipping method do they
ship it ground do they ship it ground
priority or do they ship it pallet and
as you get the final shipping label at
pack out station it'll route it to the
appropriate container for example if
it's an overnight express it'll set here
on the dock and it will go out overnight
express if it's regular ground is simply
loaded into the FedEx truck and the
trucks take it away at the end of the
day the warehouse management system
provides so the average worker they just
have to follow the steps on the RF gun
to get their job done from the first
stage with the Alpha comm receiving
process to the pick pack and ship
process so it's laid out in processing
steps that they can follow
تصفح المزيد من مقاطع الفيديو ذات الصلة
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)