DC Velocity - May 2010

technologyreview VISIBILITY & CONTROL Tracking shape shifters

Although tracking goods through a supply chain may never be easy, it becomes particularly challenging when the products are undergoing changes along the way. Kozenski of RedPrairie offers the example of a shipper that sends pallets of goods to a co-packer to prepare store-ready displays. When those goods are depalletized and mixed on the displays, it can be difficult to connect the dots between what was shipped initially and the items on the displays. “The goods have to be re-identified at the receiving DC, and that slows them down,” Kozenski says.

To address that problem, developers like RedPrairie now
offer Web-based tools that enable the two parties’ systems
to exchange inventory data in sufficient detail to track
those goods. “If a product is not transformed into a differ-
ent selling unit, we can track it with the license plate num-
ber that goes with the pallet. If they break it down and
build something like a kit or a store-ready pallet, our sys-
tem supports a multi-level bill of material,” Kozenski
explains. “With a new finished good, we can trace it down
to its component parts.”
Kozenski says that sort of detail has become increasing-
ly important as companies in industries like pharmaceuti-
cals, food and beverage, and toys have had to deal with
recalls. The ability to find the precise goods targeted by a
recall is crucial, he says.

Triple play

As for what kind of returns shippers can expect from an
investment in visibility tools, Kozenski says the payback
comes in three areas. Most obvious is the ability to reduce
inventory systemwide, he says. “You have one version of the
truth. You know what you have and where it is, so you can
eliminate safety stock and inventory buffers.”
Less obvious, but still significant, is that improved visibil-
ity translates into labor savings. “The fact that you can elim-
inate re-identifying inventory saves warehouse labor,”
Kozenski says. “We have done studies that show ASN
(advance shipping notice) receiving versus manual receiv-
ing results in an uptick of about 30 percent [in productivi-
ty]. You manage exceptions only, and throughput of the
facility is maximized.” (Timmer, however, argues that
greater gains can be achieved if a DC has visibility further
back, to when a good is ready to ship. “If you want to plan,
you have to know when the goods are ready,” he says.)

A third benefit, Kozenski says, goes back to the ability to better manage recalls. That is, by allowing shippers to know where the targeted goods are located, visibility provides a means of protecting one of the shipper’s most important assets, its brand. ;

A Quick Solution to Unexpected Weight Gains.

iForks will let you know when something weighs too much. The instant a load is picked up it’s weight is displayed on the driver’s display. Cascade iForks make overloading freight trucks a thing of the past.