Lees of Scotland, a leading manufacturer of a variety of confectionery, biscuit and meringue products to the major UK supermarkets, has partnered with Indigo Software, a leading provider of warehouse management systems software, to implement a solution from Indigo's RealTime suite of modules.
Lees of Scotland signed the agreement to implement the Indigo RealTime Finished Item Receipts and Warehouse Relocator modules in December 2013 and the installation is expected to be completed by the end of Spring. Lees of Scotland use Infor's System21 ERP and have been a customer of Indigo's for over two years.
Steven Purves, Supply Chain Director at Lees of Scotland said: "This is a significant commitment by Lees to implement the RealTime modules in our warehouse management system throughout our facility in order to support our strategic growth plans."
Indigo's RealTime Finished Item Receipts will be used to record the receipt of inventory into the finished goods stockroom and backflush this information to System21's manufacturing works order. This will ensure real time, up to date information is fed into the Company's Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) and Master Production Schedule (MPS). This up to the minute data will drive control in the planning and purchasing teams and will put the accurate stock records right at the heart of the decision-making process.
Once the goods have been recorded as being palletised, Indigo's Warehouse Relocator will be used to move stock from the inbound production location into the most suitable strategic location for each individual product in the warehouse.
Using this technology, Lees will be able to have sight of data in real time and utilise the put-away logic available in RealTime to ensure stock is located based around its unique 'velocity metric' - a measurement determining product location according to customer demand.
"We have been experiencing significant growth year on year caused by an increase in customer demand," continues Steven. "A broader mix of our product range is featuring in many leading supermarkets and our business is rapidly adapting to changing customer needs. The solution from Indigo provides us with competitive advantage and a basis for continued growth without the need to recruit additional resources,"
Overseeing and project managing the implementation, Mark Wilkinson, Consultant from Indigo Software commented: "We are thrilled to be working with Lees and playing such a pivotal role in improving their warehousing operations. By deploying the Indigo RealTime modules, Lees will benefit from injecting real time information into their system providing complete visibility of the manufacturing process in finished items. The stock will be marked as received and updated into a storage location within seconds of its actual production where previously this would have taken an extend period of time."
"Once you can effectively capture the receipt of goods and put this stock away, this helps improve stock traceability and resource efficiency. In order to make the best use of any process, time is critical therefore the implementation of Indigo RealTime in these areas will add to the Lees business by improving operating costs."
Steven Purves of Lees concluded: "Indigo's long standing reputation for integration into System21 made them the natural and ideal partner for us in this project. We are looking to reap the benefits of our investment within the next 12 months and we look forward to continuing to work with Indigo through further phases in our strategic growth."