Vehicle manufacturer, Daimler-Chrysler South Africa, has chosen to automate the management of its warehouse inventory with an Intermec barcoding system supplied by mobile solutions provider, RangeGate South Africa.
Poor stock accuracy and inadequate tracking had impacted negatively on the company`s administrative and sales management, customer service and bottom line. Daimler-Chrysler approached RangeGate for a system that would streamline its order processing cycle, have the right product in the right quantity at the right time through accurate stock inventory and efficient tracking, lower operating costs and get timely data to and from the plant floor.
"RangeGate`s solution has allowed Daimler-Chrysler to respond in real-time to information changes, and ultimately to the needs of its customers," says Piet Coetzee, materials manager: inventory warehousing for Daimler-Chrysler.
"The solution has significantly increased stock accuracy and tracking, streamlined order processing, and led to an enhancement in staff productivity."
In addressing Daimler-Chrysler`s business challenge, RangeGate set about automating the packing and picking process, thereby eliminating the impact of human error on stock accuracy.
RangeGate installed an Intermec 2.4GHz spread spectrum radio frequency network to provide the data collection backbone. TRAKKER Antares handheld terminals were implemented as online data collection devices, along with screen mapping devices. Intermec 3440 thermal transfer printers were installed to print bin labels.
The integration of the information gathered by the data collection devices with Daimler-Chrysler`s SAP R/3 business application system was done via InterSys. An ERP Integration suite, InterSys services connections from all terminals and routes the messages directly into SAP R/3. The response from R/3 is sent back via InterSys to the terminals, resulting in accurate, Real-time information access.
"With RangeGate`s solution in place, stock accuracy is up to 98% - the 2% due to sabotage," says Coetzee. "Along with increased reliability and accuracy, our employees prefer using the scanners to capturing data manually."
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