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applications
Moving to a warehouse management system and
scanners has improved picking speed and accuracy
at Becker Electric Supply.
WMS puts a charge
into electrical
distributor’s operations
Managing a large electric supply company can be a challenge
without the proper software. Not so long ago, that was the prob-
lem facing Becker Electric Supply.
In the past, the company, which distributes electrical components and materials to contractors and industrial customers from
eight locations in Ohio, Indiana, and Georgia, relied strictly on
paper to pick orders, using picking tickets created by an enterprise
system. But that became increasingly difficult as its volumes grew.
So after researching its options, the company installed a warehouse management system (WMS) from PathGuide Technologies
at its Cincinnati location. The Latitude WMS solution is designed
for small and midsized operations with limited budgets. At the
same time, Becker purchased bar-code scanners from Intermec
(now a part of Honeywell) to provide real-time transactional
information.
“Now, we pick, receive, and ship using the WMS and the scan-
ners. The systems allow us to do a much better job of tracking our
inventory,” says Nick Ruscher, Becker’s operations warehouse
manager. Getting workers up to speed is also much easier, he
says. “With the paper-based system, it took us six months to train
a worker well. With scanners, we can train them in a week. When
we ask our long-term employees if they would want to go back to
the way we did things before, they say they absolutely would not
want to go back.”
Based on its success with the system in Cincinnati, the company
installed the WMS at the other large distribution operations in
Dayton and Columbus. Currently, about 20 scanners are used in
Cincinnati, 15 in Dayton, and 10 in Columbus. The combination
of the software and scanners has supported growth, while boost-
ing operating efficiency. Workers can now pick five orders in the
time it took to pick a single order with paper. Ruscher cites an
example from the Cincinnati facility, where 12 people can now
perform picking tasks that previously required 18, while handling
upwards of 50 percent more volume.
Accuracy has improved as well. “Right now, we ship about
15,500 lines per month, and we are averaging only about seven
errors,” says Ruscher. That compares with 20 errors per month
while handling less volume with paper-based picking.
And there’s one more benefit: The ability of the WMS to
manage inventory has eliminated the need to do an annual
count. “Everyone hates inventory time,” says Ruscher. “I can’t
tell you how happy we are not to have to do a physical inventory
anymore.”
