The new warehouse management system (WarehouseManagerTM) supplied first to Jelly Belly Candy Company's headquarters facility at Fairfield, California, and later to the company's other distribution center in North Chicago was installed by Swisslog in March 2000.
Inventory problems
Jelly Belly Candy Company was facing mounting challenges prior to the arrival of the new WMS. "We had inventory problems," admits David Moody, Distribution Manager for the company. "We had difficulties finding raw materials and finished goods within our multiple ware-houses and were frequently short-shipping customer orders. Everything
was manual, labor-intensive and not cost-effective," adds Dave Willis, Capital Projects Engineer for the confectionary firm.
Clear objectives
Jelly Belly had very clear objectives for its two production facilities in Fairfield and North Chicago and four warehouses, two close to each production location. "We wanted to control the warehouse operations better and utilize resources more efficiently," Moody says. "We needed tighter inventory control, and improved allocation of orders, no short-shipping, real-time visibility and automated data collection. Rather than having three people manually entering data, we could have them pursuing customer-service related tasks that would be far more beneficial." Jelly Belly Candy Company, maker of the world-famous little jelly bean with the big taste, is keeping control of its inventory with a new warehouse management system. It greatly increases the customer service level through transparent and up-to-date order and stock information. In addition, warehouse operations are controlled better and resources are utilized more efficiently.
Barcode technology
The new WMS has streamlined the logistics at both facilities. Once the jelly beans are made, an operator creates the inventory record and produces a finished goods label, termed a license plate. The license plate on each pallet contains information about every case on the pallet, as well as the attributes associated with each case. For finished goods the data includes, item number, lot number, date of manufacture, whether the batch was made in Fairfield or North Chicago and quality assurance tracking information. Barcode license plates are also created for raw materials. This barcode
information includes date of manufacture, vendor's lot number, date of arrival and item number. The barcodes also track when the product was put-away and by whom. Besides providing real-time visibility into the inventory and ensuring first-in first-out shipping, the data is invaluable in case of a product recall. The barcoding is a major improvement over the paper-based system, where each pallet had a carbon tag written out by hand in triplicate.
Real-time control
"The ability to see things in real-time is an incredible benefit," says Willis. "It lets us be more efficient internally. We're able to provide answers to our customers faster. We can let them know the status of their orders down to the pick level. We can tell someone, "I'm sorry, Bob is still picking now, but the order will be on the delivery vehicle at 6:30 pm so you should be fine. " When orders are downloaded in preparation of the next days' picking, any shortages are now reported immediately to the customer service department, which decides if incomplete orders should be sent short, or if the entire order should wait. Before the new WMS was in place, warehouse workers were making these important decisions without fill information."
"Employee reaction to the WMS has been generally positive," Willis says, " and some of their suggestions have been incorporated in the software."
Performance indicators of Jelly Belly Candy Company solution
- tighter inventory control
- real-time visibility
- automated data collection
- enhanced customer service with increased service levels
- no short shipping
- improved allocation of orders
- Internet-enabled with track & trace function
- shorter response times
- hand-held Radio Frequency Terminals
Barcode technology provides real-time inventory control
Pick and pack areas are also controlled by the WMS
"We chose Swisslog's WarehouseManagerTM for the system flexibility and because we were confident Swisslog would rapidly install and efficiently implement the system to meet our schedule and operational requirement" states David Moody, Company Distribution Manager
Swisslog is a leading provider of conventional and e-business supply chain solutions
with 3800 employees in 25 countries. Swisslog's software solutions include supply chain simulation, warehouse management and automation management systems. Swisslog boasts a qualified team of specialists comprised of software engineers, consultants, customer support experts and operational managers.
Swisslog
