IDII Software Newsletter
March 26th, 2002 - Volume 3 Number 6
For professionals dealing with software in Warehousing, Distribution, Logistics, and Supply Chain.
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Phil Obal, consults & researches software solutions. Click for more details. Philip Obal
President of IDII


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Techniques, Vision, & Educational Thoughts

Valuable Idea - "Opportunity Slotting"

Let's skip periodic re-warehousing of the warehouse and save that time! This is possible & feasible by our method called "Opportunity Slotting". The word "Opportunity" indicates a great point in time & position where one can perform an activity at an great advantage. The "Opportunity" is to do a single re-slotting optimization during a putaway, when it makes sense & only if it is needed. When Opportunity Slotting can happen on a ongoing basis, then the perioodic re-warehousing is greatly reduced.

Opportunity Slotting is putting a newly received item into the right velocity based bin and reslotting old inventory of the same item into the same or nearby bin. This is only done when the old inventory is in a bin with a velocity code that no longer reflects the current product velocity code.

An Example - Product: TERMINATE Weed Killer Concentrate 1 Gallon. Velocity code is B on November 2001. Product is slotted correctly in bin A12C33 which has a velocity code B.

On January 2002, sales pick up and product velocity code is now an A, but product is slotted ineffeciently! Current inventory onhand is 14.

New receipt on February 14 2002 has 100 gallons. The WMS bin locator optimally selects bin A10A11 with a velocity code A and a move task is created to empty out bin A12C33, which moves the 14 gallons off the same product into A10A11. This move (1) cleaned out a velocity code B bin and (2) optimized the warehouse for picking this A item!

Requirements to Perform Opportunity Slotting:
  • WMS is currently installed performing directed putaway.
  • Velocity Code on every product that has inventory tracked in the warehouse. Many warehouses use the ABC code for this.
  • Velocity Code is automatically recomputed on a regular basic (Daily, Weekly, or Monthly) and the new value is stored in the database.
  • Every bin, area, or zone can designate a velocity code.
  • The bin locator system within the WMS can determine which bins qualify for a new receipt (based on the velocity code on the new receipt product and other parameters).
  • Random bin locations would be involved in Opportunity Slotting, not fixed locations.
Design Details - During a putaway task generation for a new receipt (the opportunity), the WMS bin locator system will select ONE of the following Slotting Optimization choice below.: Options 3, 4, and 5 are selected based on system configuration.
  • Option 1 - No move task is created. Velocity on received item has not changed. Option 1 will happen the majority of time.
  • Option 2 - No move task is created. Velocity on received item has changed and there is zero onhand inventory of the product in the warehouse.
  • Option 3 - During a new receipt, the WMS creates a move task, to consolidate old product (from prior velocity based bin), to be placed in same bin with the newly received product.
  • Option 4 - During a new receipt, the WMS creates a move task, to position old product (from prior velocity based bin), to be placed near the bin with the newly received product.
  • Option 5 - No move task is created. Leave old product (from prior velocity based bin) in place and pick-to-clean it out! When old bin is cleaned out, change picking allocation method back to designated picking allocation.
Why re-warehouse? Just do Opportunity Slotting! This Opportunity Slotting technique can be leveraged especially for warehouses where racking stays the same or has minor changes. If you are moving your racks and conveyors, then one should consider doing a re-warehouse plan.

Think about your products, how many of them change product velocity in a day or week? Not that many! And how many of those products (where product velocity changed) have current inventory in the warehouse? Even less! Therefore, the overhead of an ongoing "Slotting Opportunity" has minor overhead, rather than the dramatic manual re-warehousing that occurs every N months. And one receives the 'ongoing' optimization savings, rather than waiting for the dramatic manual re-warehousing. Plus the time that management & supervisors save in 're-warehousing'!!

Designer of Opportunity Slotting - Philip Obal, President of IDII

Editor's Note: Our goal is that "Opportunity Slotting" may be adopted throughout the WMS software industry - therefore saving warehouse managers & operations many hours in the current manual re-warehousing chore every N months. Some warehouse managers perform this chore every 3 months! Why do it manually?? We are adding "Opportunity Slotting" into our book "What To Look For In Warehouse Management System Software" for the next edition. IDII will initially classify this as a "DEFICIENCY" as most WMS solutions do not have this functionality today. In 12 months from today, we hope that the WMS & ERP software companies will have this "opportunity slotting" method as an option that one may select to turn on & utilize.



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IDII News - New Website Features

  • Warehouse & Logistics Software Directory (Edition 6) is Published! This expanded edition includes detailed solution information - Solution Description - Type (WMS, ERP, YMS, etc.) - First Installation Date - Number of Installations - Number of Customers - ASP Option - Operating Systems Supported - Databases Supported - Standard Interfaces Supported - Vertical Industries that solution targets and supports - BEST FITS Companies with Revenue & Warehouse Size, and much more! See Sample Pages. Order Directory Now

  • New ERP & ERP Implementation books have been added to our ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning book catalog page. Keep sending us your suggested & recommended book titles! We also updated our warehouse operations book list.

Keep Learning - Free Books - White Paper Index - Book Catalog

Software Company News

  • Ann Arbor Computer (WMS) and SyVox (Voice) form a Strategic Alliance. Ann Arbor will integrate the SyVox Solutions suite of speech-based applications into the Ann Arbor flagship WMS solution, pcAIM. pcAIM is a Windows-based system designed specifically for managing mid-tier warehouse and distribution center operations.

    SyVox SpeechNet. Logistics is a new generation of speech applications announced by SyVox in the fall of 2000 for the warehousing and logistics marketplace. SyVox has made a significant inroad into the speech-based solutions market by securing 20 new corporate partners and customers during the last nine months. SpeechNet Logistics enables warehouse workers to communicate hands- and eyes-free with enterprise data management systems to improve the speed and accuracy of warehouse operations.

  • Clicklogistics, Inc. (TMS) announced new Version 3.0 of its web-native transportation management system, Clicklogistics Online. Major new item is Dynamic Carrier Selection.

    Dynamic Carrier Selection module. Dynamic Carrier Selection allows shippers to proactively manage the load tender and re-tender process. Many shippers have not yet automated their tender function, and those that have often use systems that assume their carriers have capacity and will accept all primary tenders.

  • Delfour Corporation (WMS, 3PL) Introduce e-Vista 1.2 (Visibility). e-Vista Release 1.2 is a web-enabled Supply Chain Execution component that enables third-party customers 24-hour visibility and secured access to their inventory, orders, receipts, items/products and invoices. In addition to tracking inventory, the new features and improvements of e-Vista 1.2 include:
    · Search Inventory, Orders, Receipts, Invoices, as well as all related historical information
    · The ability to print and/or e-mail search results in HTML and CSV formats
    · Enter inbound receipts and outbound orders online from anywhere utilizing the web

  • Delfour Corporation (WMS, 3PL) announce WarehouseLogic 1.2.1 (WMS). Some of the advanced WarehouseLogic 1.2.1 new features and improvements include:
    • Customer Relationship Management, Appointments
    • Carton Adjustments, Allocations, Billing
    • Location Profiles, Pallet Management, Maintain Programs
    • Delfour Active Desktop ("DAD"): An industry leading application for supply chain navigation. This tool supports a single point access to the complete Delfour product suite as well as non-Delfour applications. DAD is also the interface to Delfour's unique system enterprise monitoring, alerts and events management as well as web enabled links, enterprise news and broadcasting
    • Enterprise reporting with Seagate's Crystal Enterprise: empowering users and the Enterprise reporting environment, a scalable solution for delivering interactive reports to end users via email, fax, printing, and interactive scheduling

  • EXE Technologies (WMS, TMS, 3PL, Nasdaq: EXEE) offers three new product suites – addressing the four key areas of supply chain execution.

    • Decision Support - EXceed AIM Suite: Demand forecasting, replenishment planning, order sizing, product allocation and sourcing.
    • Execution - EXceed Fulfill Suite: Order allocation and routing, warehouse management, transportation management, global trade management and activity management. (See today's separate announcement on EXceed Fulfill Suite customer Meiko America.)
    • Collaboration - EXceed Collaborate Suite: Trading partner personalization, supplier process enablement, carrier compliance and communication, global inventory visibility, supply chain event management and quality management. (See today's separate announcements on the EXceed Collaborate Suite and seven EXceed Portals customers.
    • Optimization – Entire EXceed product family: Business intelligence, execution optimization, labor optimization, cost optimization and facility optimization.

  • EXE Technologies (WMS, TMS, 3PL, Nasdaq: EXEE) introduced the EXceed™ Collaborate Suite. EXceed Collaborate is an open, scalable and intelligent solution set for supply chain partner collaboration.

    Comprised of EXceed Sentinel, EXceed Portals, and EXceed Insight, the EXceed Collaborate Suite enables a wide range of Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM), including inventory visibility, product state and quality, and shipment track and trace.

    EXceed Sentinel - Manages quality in complex manufacturing and distribution networks and is essential for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, especially the food and beverage and pharmaceutical sectors. EXceed Sentinel provides extensive tracking of products through the manufacturing and distribution network by tracing product down to the lot and individual item levels. This high degree of granularity is critical for the efficient identification and isolation of suspect product in the event of a recall.

    EXceed Portals - Leverages the accessibility of the Internet to provide supply chain partners real-time access to EXceed WMS inventory data, shipment order information, and advanced shipment notice (ASN) information. EXceed Portals reduces operating costs by removing the burden of providing periodic and one-time snapshots of inventory data to supply chain partners. In addition to checking ASN status, EXceed Portals allows suppliers to add, change, and delete ASN information. Customers can perform similar actions on shipment orders. The EXceed security model has been enhanced to ensure that users can view and act upon only their relevant inventory, order, and ASN information. EXceed Portals increases order accuracy and enables vendor managed inventory (VMI) practices. Portals is ideal for 3PL environments where inventory owners need visibility to inventory levels and shipment orders.

    EXceed Insight - Provides the vital supply chain event information needed to effectively monitor and analyze supply network activity. By leveraging EXceed Insight's extensive inventory and order event visibility, companies can gain a comprehensive view of their entire, enterprise-wide supply network.

  • i2 Technologies (TMS, SCEM, APS, Optimization, Nasdaq: ITWO) Added new inventory visibility and exception management capabilities to its i2 Five.Two collaboration solution to give its customers faster and more accurate order, inventory and shipment information across the value chain.

    "Understanding inventory status--from order to final delivery--is critical for HP and our trading partners," said Jeff McKibben, director of worldwide e-procurement for Hewlett-Packard Company. "i2's Collaboration and Inventory Visibility Solution will enable us to take our KeyChain private supply chain hub to the next level, providing key trading partners, such as contract and component manufacturers and logistics service providers with real-time visibility to forecasts, orders, shipments and inventory. As a result, we can further increase the speed of our value chain, reduce inventory levels for all players and improve our customer responsiveness."

    Comprehensive capabilities across planning and execution: The i2 solution includes industry-specific processes like Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) and Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) for retail, RosettaNet for high tech, and just-in-time (JIT) for the automotive industry. i2's solution enables trading partner collaboration spanning long-term planning to near-term execution, and provides visibility into capacity, demand, orders and inventory across the value chain.

    Exception detection and management for effective control: The i2 Collaboration and Inventory Visibility Solution enables users to set alerts that are critical to their business roles. Any critical exceptions pertaining to the status of inventory, orders or shipments will automatically send alerts to appropriate personnel and ensure that they are resolved before they become customer issues. If the inventory for a critical item falls below the minimum level, an alert will automatically be sent to the company buyer and trigger the replenishment process from the supplier to prevent stockouts. This management by exception is key to efficient coordination and control of business processes to drive high customer satisfaction.

  • Made2Manage Systems (ERP, MRP) Launches New Supply Chain Synchronizer (SCM Optimizer). M2M Synchronizer enables small to medium manufacturers to fine-tune their manufacturing operations, utilizing advanced optimization technology to schedule resources and meet commitments to customers. M2M Synchronizer gives manufacturers greater visibility of demand against capacity within their own enterprise and optimizes their use of capacity and material to meet demand due dates. This makes them highly effective collaborators with their customers and suppliers in e-commerce settings.

    The new M2M Synchronizer offering is a theory-of-constraints-based scheduling tool that features powerful optimization technology and an easy-to-use Gantt chart facility for viewing and editing schedules. Using a drum-buffer-rope scheduling approach, the Synchronizer helps identify a shop's bottleneck resource (the critical constrained resource), exploit that resource, buffer it to protect it and keep it running, and subordinate other resource schedules to that bottleneck.

    A key feature of the new M2M Synchronizer is its support for combined make-to-order and make-to-stock scheduling, making it an effective tool for a broad range of manufacturing styles and industries. In addition, the embedded automatic planning capabilities of M2M Synchronizer enable automatic job creation as well as finite scheduling, lessening the need for human intervention at any stage of the SCM process. Utilizing the M2M Synchronizer, Made2Manage can automatically generate new jobs at all levels of the bill of material directly from a sales order or forecast, and schedule those jobs against available materials, resources and capacity, all in a single step.

  • Manhattan Associates (WMS, TMS, Unix, NT, AS/400, Nasdaq: MANH) announced the release of Logistics PRO® 7.0 (TMS). Logistics PRO 7.0, a component of Manhattan Associates' MA Deliver, features enhanced carrier support to address many of the latest requirements for major carriers like UPS, Airborne, FedEx Home, FedEx Ground and the addition of support for Canadian carriers like Canada Post and UPS Canada.

    For smaller carriers that operate both domestically and internationally, Logistics PRO 7.0 provides a Carrier Compliance Toolkit that enables companies to establish carrier profiles, reducing the amount of time spent adapting to individual carriers' needs. For each of these profiles, users can design labels and electronic manifests to help meet the carrier's compliance guidelines.
    "In addition to the need for large carrier compliance, we recognized that our customers required the ability to interact with the smaller carriers," said Raghavan. "We developed Logistics PRO 7.0 to offer our customers the flexibility to easily move between large and small carriers, domestic and international."

    Logistics PRO 7.0 can be used as a stand-alone product or in conjunction with Manhattan Associates' PkMS, a component of MA Fulfill. With seamless integration between the two products, users can expand the amount of control they have over the costs and processes of their extended supply chain, further enabling them to improve overall operations.

  • MRO Software (ERP, MRP, Nasdaq: MROI) expands support for application servers and the Oracle and Microsoft SQL server databases. MRO Software's MAXIMO's 5.1 design strategy is to support leading commercial application server platforms, providing customers' IT departments with scalable, global, centralised or de-centralised deployment options across multiple organisations, sites, currencies, languages and time zones. MAXIMO 5.1 initially offers the option of BEA's WebLogic application server platform to enable customers to capitalise on the advantages provided by this J2EE standards-based architecture. With BEA WebLogic, customers gain the inherent performance and cost benefits of a commercial application server platform including a unified, standards-based environment with built-in clustering for fail-over, load balancing and scalability.

    Many industries, particularly the pharmaceutical, are now required to provide a means to electronically authenticate and audit communications and work flow. MAXIMO 5.1's core functionality supports secure authentication and audit tracking as defined by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's electronic record and signature regulations, called 21 CFR Part 11. (This regulation is also known as the e-signature, e-authentication standard.)

  • SAP AG (ERP, NYSE:SAP) announced new release of SAP Portals Enterprise Portal.

    New features of the Enterprise Portal include automatic content synchronization, an open knowledge management platform and the industry's first set of complete business packages. The SAP Portals Enterprise Portal transcends the basic information aggregation and Web-enabled access to applications provided by other portal solutions and unifies business processes across the enterprise. Appropriate information is delivered to the right person at the right time, intelligent decisions are supported, and, therefore, business throughput is accelerated.

Quotes to Ponder - List of Quotes to Ponder from prior issues.

  • "He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself;
    for every man has need to be forgiven."
    -Thomas Fuller

Scripture to Ponder - List of Quotes to Ponder from prior issues.
  • "Do not merely look out for your own personal interests,
    but also for the interests of others.."

Websites to Check Out

WeatherBug (www.weatherbug.com) puts live weather conditions from your zip code of choice on your PC desktop. Whenever you are connected to the Internet, the current temperature appears in your Windows system tray (next to the clock); click on the "Temperature Bug" to see forecasts, camera images, radar, storm warnings, and other cool weather information. But wait, here is the best part... IT'S FREE!!! Download the WeatherBug today! FREE Download: http://ww2.weatherbug.com/WAGA/default.asp


Online Book Catalog - Organized In Intuitive Categories

Books on Shipping, Warehousing, Distribution, Operations, WMS, ERP, CRM, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Logistics, Facility Layout & Design, Metrics & Measurements,
"Warehouse Management Handbook"

See Reviews & Order From
Amazon
"Warehouse & Distribution Automation Handbook"

See Reviews & Order From
Amazon

"Warehousing Tips" by Ken Ackerman

See Reviews & Order From
Amazon

"What To Look For In Warehouse Management System Software"


Order From
Amazon
or IDII
Obal, Philip See reviews and more information on this book at Amazon.com

WMS Advanced Search Bundle
"ADVANCED WMS RFI Search Bundle"
Available from IDII only
Obal, Philip
 Advanced Version is available only from IDII


Valuable Future Events - List Your Event or Convention

Logility's Connections 2002: Focus on Supply Chain Value - Webcast Series for 8 consecutive Tuesdays, starting March 12, 2002, exploring business and technology issues that drive measurable results in record time. For more information, visit www.logility.com/conn2002.

2002 Material Handling Show & Conference - NA2002 - April 8 to April 11, 2002 - Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI, USA - 800-232-1537 or visit http://www.na2002.com
Supply Chain Expo - April 16 to 18, 2002 - Rosemont, IL, USA - 800-964-9665 or visit http://www.supplychainexpo.com

National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment - NCOF - April 29 to May 1, 2002 - Nashville, TN, USA, 212-790-1500 or visit http://www.ncof.com

Logistics & e-Supply Chain Forum, May 9 to 12, 2002 - New York, NY, USA - 212-651-8700 or visit http://www.logisticsforum.com

Distribution/Computer Expo - DC Expo 2002- May 21 to May 23, 2002 - Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, USA - 800-338-4112 or visit http://www.logistar.com - GREAT Show For SOFTWARE!

The 20th annual Distribution/Computer EXPO is the largest trade show featuring software and systems for Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Distribution, Transportation and Warehousing. Over 1,000 information management system for those applications will be exhibited. 61 Educational Seminars on using software and systems and the Internet for those applications will take place on May 21-22. The EXPO exhibit is on May 22-23. For complete EXPO and Seminar details go to http://www.logistar2.com/THESHOW.htm

ASRS/AGVS Users' Association 2002 Annual Conference - "Integrating ASRS/AGV's/Carousels Into Facility Operations" - June 9-12, 2002 - Hyatt Newporter, Newport Beach, CA

The ASRS/AGVS Users' Association will host its annual conference in Newport Beach, California in June. Twelve presentations, plant tours, numerous breakout sessions and special interest sessions will offer many opportunities to meet with fellow ASRS – AGVS – Carousel users and system suppliers to hear the latest information regarding technology advances and warehouse management systems, and to see solutions to operational and management problems for your organization. Special features of the 2002 conference are the keynote breakfast, plant tours and lunch that follows, and the annual conference vendors' night. Past attendees have said that the ASRS/AGVS Users' Conference is like no other in that it gives all attendees, both users and vendors, many opportunities to discuss common problems, company system needs, etc., and to hear what other users have done to implement their systems of ASRS – AGV's – Carousels into their operations. More information at www.ASRS.org
www.ASRS.org

19th Annual Catalog Conference, - June 10 to 13, 2002 - McCormick Center - Chicago, IL, USA - 212-790-1500 or visit http://www.catalogconference.com


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About This Newsletter - ISSN 1533-435X

We educate and share news on software for warehousing, transportation, shipping, packing, slotting, loading, optimization, and enterprise wide software solutions. This free newsletter is published twice a month. One may quickly subscribe, view past issues, view FAQ, & our rate card by accessing www.idii.com/esn/index.htm.


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