Universal Express Distribution

Implementation of ibcsTiger system supporting warehouse management, delivery and configuration of device for automatic identification and warehouse marking

Universal Express Distribution is a leading company which deals with warehousing and distribution of promotional materials, such as stockers, postcards, samples, promotional stands or billboards. The company provides complex service of elements that support promotion of enterprises in many branches. “We have been performing warehouse and distribution of promotional materials services, so we have unrivalled experience in Poland.” – clams Adam Bieniek, General Director of Distribution Department in UED. The company is a member of international Universal Express Capital Group.

Warehouse management system was coupled with IT infrastructure

As the company is developing in fast pace, the number of customers, hence the amount of assortments were constantly increasing. It made the existing logistic solutions inadequate. It was necessary to introduce a system that would simplify warehouse procedures and deliver fast information about location of goods.

Development of the company extorted the need of investment in automatic identification system. Lack of fast information about location of stored products, as well as constantly increasing amount of paperwork were the main reasons that motivated us to implement a modern WMS

– says Adam Bieniek, General Director of Distribution Department in UED

A very important element of the implementation was invitation of a large groups of Universal Express workers to the project. Fully professional project approach and deep commitment as well as clear expectations from the Customer have not only save time needed for implementation, but allowed to eliminate all problems before they even occurred

– says Maciej Rafałowski, Sales Director in IBCS Poland

The need to meet high requirements

For implementation of the system, a group of experienced specialists from IBCS Poland was hired. The first stage of co-operation was to work out a conception and main assumption of the project, consulting UED workers. The effect of these consultations was creating a list of implementation requirements. It included e.g. providing work efficiency control, error elimination during warehouse release and shortening the process, limiting paperwork.

Our original WMS, ibcsTiger had to be adapted to individual needs of UED. We also had to configure it so that it works with systems used with UED. For efficient operation of the system, it was necessary to implement radio network adapted to work in environment of operating machines and warehouse built of metal sheet and concrete

– says Marek Groszkowski, UED Project Manager from IBCS Poland

Radio network was based on Motorola Spectrum24 technology, using Motorola AP5131 access point. An essential condition to make the network work according to the project was previous wiring. Network in UED was based on category 5 wiring and fibre-coaxial.

For system service, 8 Motorola WT4090 mobile terminals, 4 Zebra ZM400 and RW420 label printers, a few PC computers and WI-FI were used. Range of use of ibcsTiger in ibcsTiger is very wide: starting from goods receipt, picking through delivery, stocktaking and quality control.

Thanks to ibcsTiger, control of warehouse processes was significantly improved, which was translated to operation of the whole company. Motorola WT4090 mobile terminals and Zebra printers used in the project guarantee not only high work ergonomics, but also highest quality and durability whilst keeping reasonable price

– adds Łukasz Pychyński, Sales Specialist from IBCS Poland

Warehouse marking – an essential element of IT system

An essential element of efficient work of operating IT system is correct marking of all target destinations in the warehouse – alleys, gates, etc

– explains Magdalena Zakrzewska, Consumables Specialist in IBCS Poland

Different kinds of labels and boards, fulfilling the latest standards were used.

Warehouse marking was conducted efficiently, it was finished on the assumed date. It should be noted that the task was performed with great precision, using high quality materials

– claims Adam Bieniek from UED

Moreover, IBCS Poland specialists conducted two-stage training for UED workers. Basic training included the whole range of knowledge about ibcsTiger and was directed to key users. The second stage was complementary training directed to end users.

Completed assumptions

The implementation lasted from December 2008 to April 2009 and was successfully completed. Basic benefits include elimination of human error, better warehouse control, picking support as well as lowering work cost through efficiency increase.

Apart from that, we managed to eliminate large part of paperwork. All these factors resulted in higher standards of our services, which is visible also to our customers

– said Przemysław Jędrychowski from UED

Both companies express their satisfaction from co-operation, emphasizing the will to co-operate further in the future.