A.S. Watson, parent company of Kruidvat and Trekpleister, among others, has recently doubled the capacity of its e-commerce DC in Ede by not only expanding the floor space with mezzanine floors, but also largely mechanizing and automating processes. This is done, among other things, by deploying robots on the move. The Warehouse Management System (WMS) also had to undergo a major "rebuild" because of these major changes. "We rebuilt with the store open. And that store was also busier than ever because of corona," says a proud Aad Ramondt, manager of Supply Chain Development at A.S. Watson. He looks back on a successful project.
A.S. Watson has been working with a customized WMS in its distribution centers for almost thirty years. To be prepared for strong growth in its e-commerce operation, the company decided in 2019 to double the capacity of the existing e-DC in Ede. An additional 8,000 m2 of space was created by building mezzanines. 1.2 kilometers of conveyors were built to move crates of customer orders and packages. And the order pickers received 12 new colleagues in the form of robots that can recognize items with an electronic eye and pick with a robotic arm.
"That we rolled out the system in a five-week period is truly an accomplishment. Especially since this project took place in the middle of corona time, when we had to collaborate remotely."
Aad Ramondt, manager of supply chain development at A.S. Watson
Operations in the DC are controlled by a custom WMS developed by ICT Netherlands and also managed by them for many years. Besides integrating with the ERP system, conveyor system and robots, the WMS also integrates with smart algorithms developed by the company Pipple. These algorithms determine the most efficient walking route and picking order of orders. In view of this rebuild, Pipple has also developed algorithms that continually recalculate which orders should be picked in which bin, minimizing the distance the order pickers need to travel.
"Obviously, the remodel had a big impact on our WMS," says Ramondt. "It had to be changed very significantly." Very briefly, A.S. Watson toyed with the idea of replacing this custom software with standard software. "But that would mean configuring a system from scratch and we would have to work with a party that doesn't know our processes. Our estimation was that this would cause us a lot more work and make the project even more complex, while we have always been satisfied with the existing WMS and with the cooperation with ICT Netherlands," Ramondt explains.
"In a structured way, the newly delivered functionality was always tested as soon as the code was delivered. We managed to free up a small part of the DC to actually run those tests in practice."
For the renewal of the WMS, the existing team on both the ICT Netherlands and A.S. Watson sides expanded considerably. "We developed the software agile," says Ramondt. "In a structured way, the newly delivered functionality was always tested as soon as the code was delivered. We managed to free up a small part of the DC to actually run those tests in practice."
The team was therefore very confident about going live. Nevertheless, to reduce risks, the migration was divided into four phases. Ramondt: "In the first phase, we only picked orders for larger customers, such as nurseries, with items that would remain in the same location in the new setting. When that went well, we also picked consumer orders with products that did not physically move."
After that second phase, the team took an extra week because it turned out that integration with the conveyor system was not working properly in particular cases. "Only when you start operating at scale do such things surface," Ramondt knows. "They are simply too rare to happen during testing." In good cooperation between ICT Netherlands, the supplier of the conveyor system and A.S. Watson, the problem was fixed, after which phase 3 could start: orders from larger customers that included products moved to another location. In the final phase, all orders could be picked.
Ramondt: "The fact that we rolled out the system in a period of five weeks is truly an accomplishment. Especially since this project took place in the middle of the corona era, during which we had to work together remotely. It was a remodel with the store open, and we also received many more customers in that store because of corona who were ordering larger orders than before. On top of that, the extra people ICT Netherlands deployed had never been in our DC before. They learned about our processes by watching videos. They had to work with new parties and with people they had never physically met. Nevertheless, in practice as a customer, we did not suffer any inconvenience from this. The deadline was met without significant impact to our customers. That's a very big kudos to everyone involved in this project."
Source: https://ict.eu/nl/case/hypermodern-e-fulfilment-center-kruidvat-betekent-forse-uitbreiding-van-wms/
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