ecostore needed a Warehouse
Management Software solution that
could keep up with rapid and ever
evolving change.
“As the brand expanded, just using our ERP system (NetSuite) and FIFO and LIFO just couldn’t cut it anymore – we needed to take that next step and MultiPick® allowed us to grow operationally as we added more overseas markets and expanded our web sales.”
Tony Morpeth - General Manager, Operations and Procurement
Malcolm and Melanie Rands founded ecostore on New Zealand’s lush, subtropical Northland coast in 1993. Between then and 2018, when they first approached Interlogic, the ecostore brand has enjoyed dramatic growth not just in terms of SKU’s offered but around their new routes to market and new countries entered. This success led to growing pains, and it became clear that ecostore needed a Warehouse Management Software solution that could keep up with rapid and ever evolving change. ecostore had already jumped the ditch into Australia and between 2014 and 2018 the brand started to appear in kitchens and bathrooms all over China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan. You can now buy their products in 15 countries and counting.
This created complexity with slightly different product formulations, aged inventory and export shipping in play which was creating sleepless nights and stressful days for operations staff. Too much time was being spent hunting for the right products to despatch, and the flows of crucial information between orders production, despatch, and invoicing were not always in sync. It was a nice problem to have as the world became ever more attuned to just how damaging cleaning products can be. Revenues were soaring, but behind-the-scenes cracks were starting to appear – cracks that inventory management software could eradicate.
IT’S WMS SOFTWARE BUT WITH A HUMAN FACE
The search for a warehouse management solution provider began and ecostore liked the fact that Interlogic was local and could get ‘boots on the ground’ at top speed. As always, inventory control was important and the MultiPick® software system was configurable enough to manage lot control through four quite different delivery types with different cut-offs:
SUPERMARKETS
- same day in and out
WHOLESALE
- order cut off at 12 noon with despatch before close of next business day
EXPORT ORDERS
- one week to plan and one week to pick and despatch orders which could be a full container or a pallet
ONLINE TO INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLDS -
- three days for fulfilment with confirmation and tracking sent via email
ORACLE NETSUITE & MULTIPICK INTEGRATION
ecostore had already built Oracle NetSuite into the heart of their business operations and it was vital that MultiPick® not only worked alongside this but improved on established business flows and process.
NetSuite continues to be ecostore’s master system, responsible for banking payments, logging staff hours and managing all the ingredients for manufacturing via work orders. We’ve worked to ensure this ERP system is completely aligned with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) into and from MultiPick®. The operations and warehouse team now has 100% visibility on stock integrity and visibility. They know exactly what’s on route from manufacturing to the warehouse, what’s available for picking, what’s in transit and what’s been invoiced.
The system also shines a light on productivity; no more chatting endlessly down the aisles! The managers can see in real-time if order processing is falling behind schedule and course correct.
“I’m a bit of a warehouse geek. Justin the General Manager from Interlogic took me to see how his other customers are using MultiPick® and we shared tip and tricks to make things run more efficiently. I loved that.’’
Rawi Romana – Warehouse and Distribution Manager
CONTINUALLY UPGRADING - IMPROVING EFFICIENCY LEVELS AND DRIVING THE PAPERLESS WAREHOUSE
Interlogic’s initial solution introduced barcode scanning into the picking side of the warehouse operation only. This left the checking and despatch area still using paper which was allowing human error to creep in.
Stage Two saw barcode scanners being introduced at the Despatch Station. Staff are individually logged into their own RF scanners for checking of orders and despatch to ecostore’s conveyor belt. Here they are re-scanned and allocated an IF number (item fulfilment) and couriered out.
Configuring and fine-tuning the new process saw two Interlogic customers also collaborating beautifully. Justin Robbins, GM at Interlogic introduced Rawi of ecostore to Sid O’Halloran, Warehouse Manager at Fresh Office and these three selfconfessed warehouse control freaks worked to fine-tune their systems together. It’s this kind of willingness to go the extra mile and help others that makes doing business so much more enjoyable and productive for all.
Whenever any issues arise or something needs to change like a new SKU, an alert or when a new distributor is added, Rawi can get in touch with a human at top speed using the ReadyDeck support system.