Several members of the WiSys Management team (Bruce Hollinger – President, Bob Hawk – Director of Sales and John Nicol -Lead Developer) visited with Michael Smith, IT Director of Faber-Castell USA in Cleveland, Ohio to see their operation and to learn how they are benefiting from the investment they made in WiSys Agility. What we found was that Agility WMS had turned a paper-based computer system into a real-time Macola inventory control environment.
How It Works
WiSys Agility works with their existing Macola ERP Software. Faber-Castell USA uses WiSys Agility as their Warehouse Management System for several business areas, including streamlining the process of receiving inventory against open purchase orders and label printing. When items are received, they are immediately palletized and labeled all in one seamless process. Once the products are palletized and labeled with a unique License Plate Number (LPN), they are moved to the warehouse to be used later.
Real-Time Inventory Management
Agility makes it very simple to track inventory quickly throughout the warehouse and these same labels are used for Cycle Counting of Pallets (a unique module offered by WiSys for Macola customers). WiSys Agility helps track all the small movements of inventory from the receiving dock to the put-away area. No more hand writing and recording later. Instead, by using handheld scanners, Faber-Castell USA is able to know exactly where inventory items are at any moment. The people who pick orders are directed to each bin to get each item until the order is complete. Faber-Castell USA uses the same WiSys Agility Shipping System to pick items for both their large LTL orders and also for small package orders.
Unique Customer Label Printing
WiSys also helped Faber-Castell USA streamline their printing of unique customer labels so that each pallet or carton complies with each customer’s unique requirements. The WiSys team was very impressed with Faber-Castell USA’s commitment and planning process which resulted in implementing this system in 16 weeks.
Michael Smith said, “WiSys will continue to be a valued business partner with applications working along with Macola ES, to help support our commitment to record real-time transactions where ever possible throughout our organization.”
