Case studies
Throughout its near 25 years history, Qualtec has come across a number of cases where there has been the need for unique software developments.
Whilst our core business is the installation of largely standard ERP Solutions, Qualtec Systems is always delighted to investigate and meet very specific business requirements. When we do so, we always develop the best solution that we can and this often means that the end user finds that the new functionality not only works in the simplest way with as few decisions as possible to be made, but that it also creates opportunities for them that they did not anticipate before the experienced consultants from Qualtec used their expertise to resolve the problem.
Case study 1 - Importation of Mixed Product Containers
A very fast growing customer required to add a bulk warehouse remote from their picking area in double quick time. Qualtec’s consultants investigated the overall requirements and found that it would be possible to improve the existing importation process at the same time as catering for the bulk warehouse facility.
Containers would arrive consisting of many lines from multiple purchase orders and sometimes multiple suppliers. The contents would be known in advance, but it was hard to know which stock was needed urgently for picking and which was destined for bulk stock. Carton quantities were also variable and sometimes also had mixed product content.
A system was designed which enabled the container content to be built from the expected purchase orders and given a consignment number.Using information held against the product itself, an initial report would be produced to allow a degree of pre-planning of the expected work showing how many pallet locations would be needed for high volume products, so that these could be pre-allocated within the store.
A different version of the report could be produced on the morning of arrival which was divided into three sections. The first section identified products which were urgently required in the picking area together with a maximum quantity to transfer to fill the picking bin, based on carton quantities if known. The second section listed products which were never stored in the bulk store but were not immediately required at the pick face, and the third section listed the products destined for the bulk store.
The reports were replicated on the computer stock system with the goods in location having sections recording the products and quantities in each at the point of receipt. It was therefore possible to select and transfer the urgently needed stock from goods in within the bulk depot directly to the picking depot with minimal re-keying of data by automating the creation of a transfer transaction. Similarly, a second tranche of non-urgent picking stock could be handled the same way.
The items for storage in the bulk warehouse could then be built after the urgent items had been dealt with. The quantity of products in cartons would be captured at this point (no variation allowed within pallet for the product) and recorded against the pallet and bin location with bar coded labels being produced at the same time.An advantage was gained here such that when replenishment from bulk was required at the picking face, the automated inter-depot transfer mechanism was able to calculate the ideal number of cartons of whatever quantity held to pick, and select the most efficient bin location to pick from.
Case study 2 - Bespoke software
Whilst the Qualtec KnowHow application is feature rich Qualtec is always ready to develop specific software to meet very specific customer requirements to minimise manual operations, simplify stock handling and maximise efficiency.
One such case was demonstrated by a customer needing to handle frequent multiple orders from major retail chains for a range of products to be supplied to each of their stores at a known future required date. The orders would be received electronically, imported to the sales ordering system automatically and created as unallocated future orders due to their required delivery date being some days ahead of the current date.
The new routine enabled the user to select orders related to the customer head office and product range (or products) link them as a batch,and then automatically create an internal stock transfer instruction to move the required stock from bulk warehouse to the picking face. On confirmation of bulk picking, an e-mail is sent to the order handler so that picking notes/handheld pick instructions can be created for the sales orders as the stock is now logically available at the pick face.