Accellos announced a new case study on AccellosOne Warehouse Management System and AccellosOne Ship customer, Atlantic Can Company. The New Jersey based distributor of tin products boosted performance, cut inventory loss by 85 percent, and increased reliability and order accuracy by more than 90 percent with the Accellos solutions.
Company
Originally a can manufacturer, Atlantic Can changed its business model and now distributes some 2,500 SKUs – decorative tins, tin accessories and plastic tubs and trays — to more than 4,500 confectionery and food manufacturers across North America. Besides stocking the products, the company also provides customized silk-screening services.
Situation
Atlantic Can operates a 35,000 square foot warehouse facility with a peak user volume of 20during the company’s August-December busy season. When Brian and Maryann LeBlanc assumed control of the company, they quickly realized that the increasing volume and complexity of the business virtually demanded an infusion of technology.
Solution
LeBlanc replaced his initial basic accounting system with ERP. When a warehouse software combination proved difficult to implement, the partner recommended AccellosOne Warehouse Management System (WMS), which integrates directly with Sage for end-to-end financial and inventory management. Outbound orders have been streamlined with AccellosOneShip software.
Product
For inbound product, Atlantic Can selected AccellosOne WMS which facilitates receiving up to full containers and coordinates the breakdown and putaway activities. For picking and shipping, it facilitates order receipt and fulfillment through paper pick tickets or wireless RF terminals, customer compliant label generation, and real-time integration back to the ERP software.
For shipping, Atlantic selected the AccellosOneShip program, which integrates seamlessly with AccellosOne WMS to generate live rates in real time, produce bills of lading, and produce APIs for certain carriers. A unique modification to the software establishes rules to reconcile the disparity between the often high physical volumes of the cases of empty tins with their low weight-to-volume ratio, dramatically simplifying the rating process.
Results
Outbound order shipments have nearly doubled, executed by 25 percent fewer people. Inventory losses are down by 80-85 percent, and directed picking has improved order accuracy by up to 90 percent. And, says LeBlanc, order turnaround related to arriving trailers used to be a two- to tree-day process and now, the company can fulfill and ship those orders within 24 hours.
“We now have an end-to-end integrated, electronic process,” says Atlantic Can CEO Brain LeBlanc, “While some of our employees still like to see paper documentation, it is no longer actually necessary and many now simply enter orders on the fly.”
“We are so pleased to witness Atlantic Can go through the smoothest busy season that the company has ever had,” says Chad Collins, Accellos General Manager and CMO, “We believe in our solutions so we are excited to be able to address their needs and enable them to continue to find ways to use the software to improve the business.”
The full case study is available at: http://www.accellos.com/casestudies/atlantic-can-accellosone-warehouse-case-study/
