NetSuite implementation partner NoBlue introduced Sandpiper Books to WAER to get their warehouse operation in better shape and running more efficiently.
The Detail
Sandpiper Books is a UK based company selling discounted and newly published books through its monthly catalogue and website.
The company purchases end of line and excess stock from publishers and wholesalers, of which there are around 700–800, and sells them, primarily through the catalogue, which is published on a monthly basis and distributed to 125,000 subscribers.
At any one time Sandpiper has around 8,500 titles in the warehouse, rising to 14,500 at peak times. Of these, approximately 2,500 are active in the catalogue/website.
The peaks occur on a monthly basis when the catalogue is published, with the major peak being at Christmas when 4,000 orders/day are handled. A typical order will be for 3–4 books.
The company needed a new warehouse management system to work in partnership with their ERP – NetSuite – and following a detailed selection process, chose WAERlinx.
The Solution
Issues particular to Sandpiper that they needed WAERlinx to address were to:
- Store pallets of received purchase order lines without breaking the pallet so that they could rapidly receive items and only have to manage them at a SKU level when they became due for sale
- Receive items into both stores but primarily perform this activity in the receiving store, in order to separate out the deep storage inventory from the picking inventory
- Separate out inactive titles to locations where they could be picked occasionally until they were removed from the store completely
- Identify obsolete items that should be considered for destruction
- Identify ‘mint’ inventory and segregate it from ‘off-mint’ inventory
- Pick books by ISBN for dropping in packing area to be stored alphabetically for packing.
The Waer team has developed solutions for these niche requirements and the project is ongoing with a scheduled go-live set for July 2017.