Starrett sees Indigo as perfect software tool for the job

Indigo, a leading international warehousing and logistics software provider, announces that Starrett, the world-renowned manufacturer of precision tools and saw blades, has invested in Indigo WMS. In a project due to commence during the summer of 2016, Starrett, trading as The L.S. Starrett Company Ltd, will be implementing Indigo’s warehouse management software (WMS) as part of a 4-phased project to improve warehouse accuracy, streamline stock management processes and cut costs.

Currently, Starrett relies on a paper based warehouse management process to fulfill all aspects of its complex international supply chain processes. Introducing Indigo WMS will allow it to benefit from full stock visibility and automated warehouse management.

This will enable the company to compete more effectively in new high growth export markets.

During the original software evaluation process, Indigo’s supply chain consultants completed an extensive review of Starrett’s warehouse operations, highlighting how its WMS software would deliver business performance improvements. In particular Indigo WMS is expected to reduce the incidence of picking errors, remove the need to perform ongoing stock counting and an annual stock take, provide instantaneous ERP stock updates for the movement of raw materials and also cut the cost of back order processes.

As part of the software implementation, Indigo will introduce operate perpetual inventory management, with cyclical counts ongoing in specific locations, thereby enabling picking and counting operations to continue in parallel and overall warehouse throughput levels to increase. This will be of great benefit as currently, picking and packing operations must be stopped to allow an accurate count to be made, which brings the warehouse to a standstill on a regular basis.

Due to the complexity of Starrett’s product range, with its almost infinite combination of size and tool variations, miss-picks can occur. When these errors impact customers, they can be costly and time consuming to rectify. Incorrect goods need to be returned and correct stock items shipped, causing delays to goods received by the customer and impacting customer satisfaction levels. Added to this, a high degree of manual intervention and process duplication is required to complete order paperwork.

All these issues and more will be removed with the introduction of Indigo WMS.

“Indigo WMS will form the basis of our KPI monitoring in the future and our goal is to achieve 100% inventory accuracy, move away from the current situation of multiple shipments being made and fulfill each order with one invoice and a single shipment,” says Stuart Black, IT Manager at Starrett. “Having looked at the market, Indigo WMS was an excellent fit and will integrate seamlessly with our existing ERP solution,” he continues.

Indigo expects to complete Phase 1 of the Starrett implementation by January 2017, focusing on the main goods receiving and finished goods warehouse. Phase 2 will include extending Indigo WMS to include tracking and tracing of all raw materials moved into and out of the manufacturing departments around the site in Jedburgh, Scotland. “Of all the vendors we contacted, Indigo took the time to learn about our business and offer us a relevant solution to solve a business problem, rather than simply sell a software product. Given our starting point and use of a paper based system, the expertise of Indigo’s supply chain consultants and the guidance they will bring to introducing software to an otherwise very traditionally managed warehouse, is going to be invaluable,” adds Stuart Black.

“We are delighted to have been selected as a technology partner by such a highly regarded manufacturer as Starrett and look forward to working closely with them over the coming years to automate their warehouse operations,” says Peter McLane, Managing Director at Indigo Software.

Established for over 36 years, Indigo is a leading independent European warehousing and logistics software provider with extensive experience of working with clients in the food and drink, FMCG, chemicals, apparel and industrial manufacturing sectors.

Melissa Collins

Tel: 0191 375 6700

Email: Melissa.collins@indigo.co.uk