Brewers' Distributor Ltd. Credits Productivity Gains to LANSA Software Tools
Distribution Facility Sees Immediate ROI in Warehouse Automation System
Downers Grove, Illinois, USA. — September 12, 2006 — A new warehouse automation system implemented barely six months ago in one of Brewers' Distributor Ltd.’s distribution facilities is demonstrating dramatic cost savings, thanks in part to the use of software productivity tools from LANSA. Brewers' Distributor Ltd. (BDL) is a wholesale distributor of beer and collector of returnable, refillable and recyclable beer containers within the western Canadian provinces for its two shareholders – Molson and Labatt, Canada’s two major breweries. BDL management used the LANSA software tools to improve productivity at its distribution center (DC) in New Westminster, British Columbia. By examining that facility’s product picking and load-out processes, BDL found several areas that could be modified to minimize waste and personnel downtime which is projected to save the company nearly $500,000 per year.
Andrew Hobbs, manager of IT Applications at BDL, explained the project: "We wanted to introduce a greater degree of automation and put control of the workflow into the hands of the DC managers and supervisors and give them better visibility to the amount of work left in the system and better tools to manage that work. In a facility that puts through 1300 – 1700 pallets per day, productivity improvements can make a big difference to the bottom line."
To accomplish these goals, Hobbs returned to LANSA technology, which BDL had used several years previously to build a Web ordering system. Hobbs explained, "We took the process well beyond automated lines by integrating the new production lines with Visual LANSA and LANSA Integrator. We developed and built three major pieces of the system in LANSA: the Dispatch application, the Load Plan and the interface for the Process Control Coordinator (PCC), the individual who oversees the operations of the automated lines and deals with exceptions. Now, pickers drop off a pallet, scan it onto the line and, once it's on the line, they can get the next order. Individual security guards have been eliminated, replaced by three automated lines and one process controller."
The BDL warehouse system runs on the IBM System i5 with multiple PC workstations connected via Citrix servers for use by dispatchers, load planners, process control coordinators as well as managers, supervisors, customer service representatives and company directors.
Brewers began developing its warehouse automation project in December 2005 and rolled out the new automation system in mid-April 2006, phasing out the manual scales over a six-week period. Hobbs explained, "We rolled out in stages because of the high degree of change we were introducing. It would have been too hard for everyone to digest this much change all at one time."
The warehouse automation system is already improving BDL's bottom line. Said Hobbs, "We always had trouble measuring productivity, but the new process can capture the elapsed time between the picker getting the pick slip and dropping off the order on the automated line. BDL will integrate this data with another internal application that provides an engineered standard for a particular assignment. This helps give management a true measure of picker productivity — valuable from a performance management point of view as it provides evidence of our top performers."
John Siniscal, president of LANSA Americas, added, "We were pleased to provide some of the key software components to enable this new warehouse automation project to succeed. LANSA's software tools help eliminate manual processes by enabling systems to communicate directly with each other thereby ensuring faster and more accurate data transfers."
Concluded Hobbs, "The capital required to complete this project was $1.3 million and the annual savings is projected at $450,000. We’ll see payback in about 3 years. Beyond that, the ability to effectively measure picker productivity and manage performance based on data collected in the Warehouse Automation System is something that is not yet fully captured from a hard savings perspective but over time will become evident."
About Brewers' Distributor Ltd. (BDL)
BDL is a private joint venture company owned by Labatt Breweries of Canada and
Molson Breweries for the wholesale distribution of beer and the collection of
returnable, refillable and recyclable beer containers within the four Western
Canadian Provinces, as well as Northwest Territories and the Yukon. The overall
goal of the distribution alliance between the shareholder companies in Western
Canada, is to maximize cost and service performance within the two distinct
business processes — wholesale distribution of beer and the collection of
returnable, recyclable beer containers. BDL operates nine distribution centers
and four cross-dock facilities in the Western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
Alberta, and British Columbia). These facilities serve licensed customers
throughout the West and the northern Territories. The company’s Head Office is
located in Calgary, Alberta. For more information, please visit:
www.bdl.ca