Case Study
Prior to implementing CodingControl, the company was experiencing stock discrepancies of around £500,000 a year, but the deployment of the new solution has seen this reduced by 99.7%, as a result of the accurate goods receipt process now in operation.
Drinks Manufacturer CodingControl
When a drinks manufacturer was looking to replace its legacy software solution that controlled its pallet labellers, the business turned to The Config Team to deliver an intelligent, integrated solution. Following a previous successful project, in which The Config Team provided robust solutions to challenges the business was facing with its SAP EWM solution, it was a natural fit to enlist the team again to realise the benefits of EWM for its goods receipt process. The business was utilising a legacy system at its UK site to connect to the pallet labeller and control the goods receipt of pallets from production into the warehouse. With a complex and unsupported set-up, the system was not utilising the power of SAP EWM, which was contributing to a high level of goods receipt errors.The manufacturer was suffering from ghost pallets, in which goods receipt messages were being triggered in error and inputted into the SAP system but there was no physical pallet. With regular errors occurring, it was resulting in inaccurate stock inventory data within SAP, which caused knock-on negative effects throughout the supply chain.
Working with our strategic partners, Markem-Imaje, we implemented our SAP certified CodingControl solution, fully integrated into SAP EWM and Markem-Imaje pallet labellers via CoLOS Pallet software to deliver an end-to-end solution. As an out-of-the-box solution, already configured to work with Markem-Imaje, CodingControl could be deployed quickly into the customer environment. Each of the seven production lines has its own Markem-Imaje printer, that generates and applies the physical label, which includes the creation of an SSCC number. Through scanning the labels to verify the pallet into CoLOS, CodingControl can then send this data direct to SAP for accurate goods receipt. The company experienced occasional network issues in the manufacturing facility so required a robust and reliable solution. CodingControl ensures any goods receipt data from the printers is not lost by queuing the messages until the connection is restored. To further improve accuracy, we also configured CodingControl to send the order details for the label to the Markem-Imaje software to ensure accurate label data is printed. However, the standard set-up in the SAP ERP landscape was for the order data to be generated in ECC and sent back to ECC, with a separate transaction needed to transfer the data into SAP EWM, which was causing delays in the process. Our technical team has modified the process in SAP to enable the order data to be issued from ECC but the goods receipt data is returned directly to SAP EWM, significantly streamlining the process and ensuring that the information is still available in EWM even if there is an issue with the main ECC system.
The manufacturing facility now benefits from a stable system that provides reliable communication between the pallet labellers and SAP EWM. Prior to implementing CodingControl, the company was experiencing stock discrepancies of around £500,000 a year, but the deployment of the new solution has seen this reduced by 99.7%, as a result of the accurate goods receipt process now in operation. The business now has greater traceability of pallets through the supply chain and can process goods receipt postings in real-time. The improvement in the process of receipting finished products into the warehouse has also resulted in quicker dispatch and delivery times, enhancing the customer experience.
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