VHA supplies mobile phones and accessories to retail businesses across the United States. They are currently operating out of four warehouse locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Diamond Bar and Houston.
Background
VHA has been operating since 2001 and has enjoyed huge growth in the last few years. They were searching for a WMS that could bring their four warehouses in line, using the Houston warehouse as the template, and integrate to their NetSuite ERP.
Each warehouse has an area where customers can come and collect orders raised in advance. This business is referred to as Will Call inside VHA and as a middle-ground between the warehouse and a shopfront, it required the development of additional real-time interfaces in WAERlinx. Will Call makes up a small but significant proportion of the processed orders, however, most are sent out via a carrier.
This was the first project involving Waer partner and NetSuite Solution Provider, Concentrus and has provided a platform for partnership in the US, with Concentrus offering local time-zone support for US based WAERlinx users.
In addition to the standard WAERlinx solution, additional unique developments for the project included:
- A large display in the packing area showing a clear snapshot of the warehouse operation in real-time, with the number of orders waiting to be shipped and shipped in the last hour, allowing staff to keep tabs on their up-coming workload and performance.
- A ‘cash on delivery’ amount calculable for each carton shipped so that carriers can take payment for packages.
- Real time updates to the fulfilment status of the NetSuite order so that invoices can be printed and given to the customer without delays.
- Tote-box handling: barcoded, reusable plastic trays (similar to those you’d find at airport security) are used for picking. The tray stays with the order right through to packing, saving time and resources by negating the need for creating cartons and printing labels and assisting in the drive towards a paperless operation.
- Serial tracking – to speed up picking, serial numbers are assigned to phones via a list which is scanned after This is then recorded in NetSuite against the order.
- Rapid scanning of serial numbers – allowing pickers to scan items one after the other without having to wait for the system to refresh between each one.
“It was WAERlinx’ flexibility and the productivity metrics developed for us that made VHA decide that this was the absolute best product for the project. We look forward to a long and strong relationship with Waer Systems.” Darryl Wooten, Director of Operations, VHA.