QAD, a provider of enterprise solutions for global manufacturers, has announced that Coca-Cola Swaziland will implement the QAD Advanced Inventory Management (AIM) solution to enhance its deployment of QAD`s enterprise application, MFG/PRO, and achieve greater flexibility in warehouse and stock management.
Coca-Cola will use AIM to help optimise warehouse operations at its Swaziland plant by determining warehousing processes and physical aspects of stock management that can be streamlined for greater efficiency.
AIM provides real-time management of warehouse operations, helping extend traditional inventory management capabilities and increase supply chain responsiveness. Users are able to control inventory management processes in more sophisticated ways, utilising technologies such as barcode scanners and radio frequency systems and leveraging user-definable put-away and picking algorithms. Intermec radio frequency equipment supplied by Proscan is being used with this implementation.
"Advanced Inventory Management will help us manage our manufacturing operations," said Roy Shein, logistics manager for Coca-Cola Swaziland. "We expect AIM will provide a system that is information and not material flow driven. A paperless system, enabled via the introduction of bar coding and scanning equipment as elements of the system, will replace manual recording activities.
"As a basis for most data collection that enables total traceability of all products in the warehouse, we envisage bar coding will play a vital role in the total process. Communication to employees will be conveyed via handheld scanning screens. Overall, AIM should interoperate seamlessly with our MFG/PRO deployment, effectively eliminating a layer of hardware, software and labour dedicated to warehousing, for more efficient operations."
Coca-Cola will work closely with QAD to design the AIM implementation and efficient processes to help the company reduce the time lapse from order receipt to shipment of goods. By collecting inventory movement data in real-time, Coca-Cola expects to achieve greater inventory accuracy and reduce the need for periodic manual inventory counts. The manufacturer expects to fully deploy AIM by April 2004.
"QAD Advanced Inventory Management helps manufacturers bring greater efficiency to the warehouse, where real-world business conditions put supply chain initiatives to the test," said Wayne Moore, implementation services manager for QAD South Africa. "Our warehousing solution will help customers drive efficiency at a crucial point in their supply chains."
In 1986, Coca-Cola took the decision to move the concentrate plant from Durban, SA to Swaziland. The first batch of concentrate was manufactured in the current Swaziland plant in 1987. In the first year of operation the plant supplied six countries - SA, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Zambia. Today the plant supplies 437 stock-keeping units to 69 bottlers in 26 countries.
Advanced Inventory Management will help Coca-Cola Swaziland automate and streamline all aspects of warehousing, including inventory control, replenishment, put-away and picking logic, and labour management. User-defined rules ensure inventory stock movement and related processes are configured to minimise time to distribute and replenish goods, so that inventory can be allocated for prioritised shipping, and total inventory holdings can be minimised to reduce cost of operations.
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