Luxury hamper company Virginia Hayward has invested in Indigo WMS to develop its own 3PL operation. Using Indigo’s software, the company can offer high quality 3PL services and cost-efficient warehousing during quieter seasonal periods.
Investing in Indigo WMS has been a clear win and generated many financial returns for Virginia Hayward Logistics. These include a clear increase in throughput speeds, allowing the company to handle 38% more volume with the same number of staff.
Transitioning to software driven warehouse management has also enabled Virginia Hayward Logistics to reduce its administrative headcount by 50% and reallocate staff to other roles within the business.
Virginia Hayward Logistics reported a near-doubling of pallet handling capacity over the 18 months since deploying Indigo WMS. Actual pallet numbers handled have risen from 9,000 to 14,500 pallets, thanks to the improved efficiency and space optimisation that has been enabled by using Indigo WMS.
“Having a WMS helped us differentiate our offerings and open the door to attracting much higher profile customers. Indigo gives us accurate data for reporting and the ability to offer a suite of business KPIs, which is a very powerful value add,” says Nigel Bradbury, Head of Logistics at Virginia Hayward Logistics.
Guarantee ‘right first time’ order shipments
Too often the emphasis when investing in a WMS is on improving productivity and efficiency. This is critical but so too is keeping the customer happy, by ensuring that goods ordered do actually arrive on time and in full. Jacky Farrington, Global Customer Success Manager at Indigo Software shares how a WMS guarantees things are ‘right first time’.
Regardless of industry sector companies often report that issues they would have experienced relating to missing or incomplete orders drop once they implement a WMS.
Without a WMS it is very difficult to be 100% sure that the right items were shipped on time and this often means having to resend an order. Constantly sending out replacement stock is costly. There’s the cost of the items, labour costs to process the order and the shipping costs, plus lost customer goodwill. After introducing a WMS, these customer issues will drop significantly.
If your company wants to guarantee customer satisfaction and meet service level agreements, using a WMS is an excellent way to ensure this is achieved. It’s the best way to build automatic quality checks into your dispatching process, and you will see a whole host of other benefits too.
Choose a WMS with growing room – Five top tips for success
Investing in a WMS is always a big decision and finding a solution that can scale easily is very important. Eric Carter, Solutions Architect at Indigo Software shares five key scalability features to research:
1. Ensure that solutions will seamlessly integrate with your existing ERP, TMS and financial systems. It’s crucial for automating data input and enhancing prediction and management capabilities. It means the different systems will be able to exchange data in real-time, giving you a single, accurate view of the entire business operation.
2. Look for a system with an intuitive and simple interface as it reduces the need for extensive training, allowing your team to focus on making warehouse operations more efficient from day one.
3. Real-time updates are essential for maintaining an efficient, customer centric operation and introducing perpetual inventory management. This eliminates any need for separate stock counts – reducing shrinkage, improving order throughput rates and saving on resources.
4. Many companies will start with a single warehouse implementation and once the WMS is fully operational, extend it to other sites. If you anticipate expanding to multiple locations, ensure the WMS can cope with managing inventory types and orders across different sites seamlessly.
5. Thoroughly research potential vendors to ensure they have outstanding system reliability and customer support. Look for a clear software roadmap and a record for growth and innovation. This way your WMS will remain relevant and effective as your business continues to grow.
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