One, Two, Three: Solvo.WMS Goes Lives at KAPINVEST Warehouse

25 April 2017

The major warehouse of the KAPINVEST company, a supplier of ingredients and components for food production facilities, just started operating under Solvo.WMS. The efficient roll out process made it possible for the warehouse to keep working without suspending operations. 

The distribution warehouse of KAPINVEST is located in Moscow oblast and is part of its large warehouse complex. The warehouse area is 10,000 sq. meters, which is divided into the following zones:

  • pallet storage with capacity for 11,000 euro pallets;

  • unit storage;

  • low-temperature storage with freezing equipment; 

  • controlled temperature storage - refrigeration.

The number of active SKU’s comprises over 4,000 with 90 order per day on average.

The warehouse operates 5 days a week. 

The warehouse is used to store various types of goods for food production facilities. KAPINVEST was looking for a way to consolidate large amounts of assorted goods in one warehouse space; maintain rigorous quality standards for customer service; increase number of shipments to clients; increase speed and efficiency of warehouse operations; minimize order picking errors; track expiration dates; automate putaway; introduce lot compatibility principles and real-time tracking in refrigerated zones.

The company decided to find a modern IT system for managing warehouse operations. The reputation of SOLVO as an expert in warehouse logistics automation with over 20 years experience was part of the reason Solvo.WMS was selected. 

KAPINVEST logistics director Gennady Pleshanov said: “From the beginning, we wanted to organize warehouse processes effectively relying on the latest warehouse logistics technology, our own experience and expert opinion. All of this led to us choosing SOLVO.”

Preparation for implementation was done in four months. However, the Solvo.WMS go live process only took three days. This required to train warehouse personnel, prepare goods for inventory, and receive all goods at the warehouse using data capture terminals. 

Ilya Rubinchik, head of implementation at SOLVO, said: 

“The customer’s implementation team carried out very careful preparations prior to moving the warehouse under Solvo.WMS control. This really helped us with our share of the work. Moreover, KAPINVEST took direct part in moving the warehouse under Solvo.WMS control: it performed inventory using radio terminals.” 

Currently, the warehouse uses address-based storage technology where receiving, putaway, picking, and loading is carried out via radio terminal commands. It is now also possible to assemble orders without assigning personnel: now employees can simultaneously pick various orders while the system creates the most optimal route, minimizing unproductive moves. 

Besides enabling real time tracking in pallet and unit storage zones, SOLVO also managed to set up tracking of a wide range of goods samples. Thanks to Solvo.WMS, the accuracy of lot and expiration date tracking was enhanced. It now possible to also monitor inventory by lot and expiration date in real time. 

Moreover, the system was configured to support so-called “kilometer” goods, enabling the shipping of the exact amount of goods needed to the client, measured in kilometers, in accordance with their order. 

The implementation of Solvo.WMS at the warehouse of KAPINVEST became one of the first projects for SOLVO where it used cloud server technology based on IAAS (Infrastructure as a service) using the Microsoft Azure virtualization service and a VPN channel. The given technology is growing in popularity among small warehouses because it eliminates the need to buy their own servers to significantly reduce the cost of automation projects. 

“We made a thoughtful decision in favor of the latest and at the same time experienced WMS expert as we’re looking confidently into the future,” added Pleshanov. 

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