Northwood on a roll with SnapFulfil WMS
A manufacturer & supplier of hygienic paper products has made the transition from pen-and-paper driven warehousing to a cloud-based WMS.
THE NORTHWOOD Companies is a fast-growing business in the mid stages of a three-year SaaS deal with SnapFulfil for an initial three UK sites, progressing to between 40-45 users as implementations are phased in.
Its 400,000 sq ft Oldham operation was onboarded as a proof of concept with system training and go-live testing handled remotely, due to Covid-19 social distancing and travel restrictions.
Oldham site manager, Steve Roche, says: “I’m very pleased with the SnapFulfil system which provides significantly improved visibility of exactly where we are with the finished goods area of the site. Stock accuracy is now excellent and I am also using the system to manage part pallets which has always been a difficult part of the operation.”
Phase 2 of the project was Northwood’s 350,000 sq.ft consumer production plant in Birmingham – which handles kitchen and toilet roll lines for the UK retail market – in order to ramp up and pivot to meet the volatile retail demands brought on during the pandemic. Speedy integration and implementation were even more crucial, while part automating the pallet process and full RF output also facilitated little-to-no disruptions.
Northwood IT director Steve Whitehouse, explains: “SnapFulfil works seamlessly with our existing SAP and production recording systems and its configurability and flexibility brings a high tech, yet simple to use and develop platform. Stock location and picking speed for goods out are noticeably better controlled.
“Most recently we have implemented Snapfulfil WMS in our new, state-of-the-art and considerably larger Telford distribution centre at 500,000 sq ft, which will see us utilising more of the SnapFulfil algorithmic functionality for optimising inventory and stock management.
“The platform allows us to progressively phase in the solution to improve workflows and manage productivity. That’s the beauty of the cloud model – the heavy lifting has already been done and we know in advance what’s coming and how best to handle it.”
For more information, visit www.snapfulfil.com
