Leading Manufacturing and Distribution Company Maximizes Profitability and Customer Satisfaction with IoT Enabled Services by Birlasoft

 
Customer Overview

The customer is a large-scale manufacturer and distributor of bicycles and cycling products, with presence in Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America

Challenges & Opportunities

The company was facing numerous operational issues with manual checking bins for decal levels. Pickers had to notify buyers about shortages via emails. This was a time consuming and error prone process. There was risk of missing a reorder point, overflow of employee orders in the pick-up area, and there was increased dependence on the mailroom employee to send reminders to concerned parties about the orders. Additionally, there was the opportunity to reduce employee traffic to the mailroom. These changes could therefore deliver process improvement and enhanced operational excellence.

Birlasoft's Solution

To streamline operations, simplify processes and bring efficiencies, Birlasoft proposed automation of non-stock ordering and shipment tracking process. Birlasoft recommended Internet of Things (IoT) JD Edwards Orchestrator for standardizing integration of devices with the enterprise, gaining instant access to real-time data and process the data continuously for optimized operations through the solution our customer was able to achieve:

  • Inventory level monitoring, and triggering of automatic creation of PO after breach of threshold, using sensors integrated with ERP and IoT orchestrator by Oracle.
  • Automatic employee order tracking and reporting using sensors configured in the Employee Orders carts (totes), and at the warehouse shipping and receiving stations, integrated with the ERP.
Benefits Realized
  • Standardized and automated processes : Birlasoft’s solution enabled flexibility in the customer’s business operations and infused operational agility. By installing and configuring the device and sensors, real-time data from sensors enabled monitoring and improving process efficiency, thereby standardizing the process
  • Improved productivity : Birlasoft’s solution improved employee shipment tracking process, reduced traffic and eliminated random check for order arrivals thereby enhancing organizational productivity. With IoT, employees are notified when order leaves the warehouse 30 min. away and when their order is ready for pickup. Mailroom employees were repurposed from emailing employees about when an order arrives to taking orders.
  • Cost and time savings :The enhanced process efficiencies, productivity and asset utilization resulted in reduced costs and time. Devices and sensors eliminated manual checking of bins for decal levels, reduced reorder time to supplier and improved communication between pickers and buyers while enriching inventory levels within the bins which enabled faster creation of bicycles.
  • Reduced risk of missing a reorder :In the existing system, pickers had to notify buyers of shortages via email. This was a tedious process with long lead times on decals and there was risk of missing a reorder. Birlasoft’s solution enabled auto creating purchase order with automation for the buyer that abridged risk of missing a reorder
  • Enhanced asset utilization : With improved employee shipment tracking and by auto creating purchase order, they could easily track shipment and run preventive maintenance on critical purchase orders to improve throughput and utilization. Manual checking time was repurposed with other value add work.
  • Clutter-free mail room space :The automated process reduced human intervention, diminished the need for the mailroom employee to put orders away, thus allowing better mailroom maintenance and utilization