UK Home Shopping (UKHS) Ltd is an online retailer based in Nottinghamshire, selling power and hand tools, workshop and automotive tools, generators and electrical items. http://www.ukhs.tv/
Already using NetSuite, the company wanted an integrated warehouse management system (WMS) in order to better support current and future operations.
The Detail
UKHS has two warehouses, both located in Nottinghamshire.
The first is the main distribution centre, consisting of pallet racks and shelves for pick faces, with dedicated areas for receiving, packing and despatching.
The second, referred to as the service warehouse, is a physically separate warehouse located within the same site as the main warehouse. It serves several purposes:
- As an overflow location for the main warehouse
- Receiving for customer returns
- Receiving for warranty repairs (all items are sold with a 12 month warranty) which are assessed and repaired or sent to third-party vendors
- Sales of ex-demo or repaired items
- There is a plan to add a sales counter in the foreseeable future.
In both warehouses, the existing paper-based system meant there were issues concerning a lack of inventory visibility and no existing pick-walk sequences, resulting in inefficient operations and limited customer return functionality.
The WAERlinx solution
A number of small adjustments were made to the baseline WAERlinx solution:
UK Home Shopping ships to Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man so these have been incorporated into the project.
Waer provided carrier integration with Royal Mail and Yodel via Net Despatch and for pallet handling, direct integration with TNT.
The transition from paper to handhelds has resulted in huge improvements to pick accuracy and time taken for picking.
A robust inventory-counting solution now allows UK Home Shopping to action regular inventory counts without disruption, rather than shutting the business down for an entire weekend in order to carry out the task.
“Since the implementation of WAERlinx our warehouse staffing levels have reduced by three full time employees.” Paul Strickland, UK Home Shopping Warehouse Manager.