Novensys in Mass Media
Novensys implementation has generated visibility growth for Aquila (MW)
01.02.2008
Apart from direct operational gains, implementing correctly a
complex informatic solution can bring image benefits which are hard to
measure, but essential to the evolution of a business. The
implementation conducted by the Novensys company at Aquila, one of the
most important players on the local market of logistic services,
clearly proves this fact.
With an experience of more than 13
years in active FMCG distribution, Aquila Group is nowadays one of
the most important local players on the international and internal
transportation and logistic services market. With an activity area
covering the Balkans and expansion tendencies towards Europe, Aquila is
the only company with 100% Romanian capital, that provides integrated
logistic services in our country and that has managed to keep a
constant growth rate of the annual turnover (125 million euro in 2006,
150 million euro in 2007) and of the visibility in the market. The
positive evolution of the company was supported by strategic
investments and implementations of competitive informatic solutions
performed with the help of Novensys.
A first step in reaching
this goal was taken two years ago when the decision of implementing a
new application for warehouse activities management was made as a
consequence of the natural growth of the business volume (the decision
was made 14 months after the opening of the first distribution center
in Ploiesti) and of the high demands of Aquila's most important
strategic business partner, the Unilever company. The decision of
making a change was based on the results provided by an internal
analysis merged with data resulting from an audit of processes
conducted by Unilever specialists.
Mircea Vasile, Warehousing Manager at Aquila Part Prod Com explained the reasons for the change: "The
Aquila business expanded quickly because our customers also expanded
quickly. Unilever, the main client of our company developed so much
that rigorous control of operations could no longer be exerted. The
growth of the amount and the increased complexity of goods that
customers started to pass on through Aquila imposed the necessity of
change and the first thing we had to do was to head for a new
informatic solution. The software solution we owned and used at that
point was no longer compatible with the ongoing activities in the
company and could no longer ensure control over certain business
operations. In this field of activity you're lost if you don't have
control and don't master all stages of the operations that take place
in a warehouse, for example."
"The Novensys implementation gives us
confidence and a feeling of security through the more rigorous control
we have over our business. And the further developments will allow even
greater control." - Mircea Vasile, Warehousing Manager, Aquila Part Prod Com.
The choice criteria
The
process of identifying the solution on the market wasn't easy, because
discussions with six companies took place during the stage of
application selection. "An essential criteria was the desire to find a
supplier of the application, that has a branch office in Romania or
that works with a strong partner with great skills, who can offer real
service activities, 100% effective 24/7. We managed to identify several
bids from companies which have branch offices abroad, but we came to
see that it was quite difficult to do an implementation by phone or
email" , explained Mircea Vasile and itemized the functional criteria
sought in the selection:
- The application must allow rigorous control of all operations in the warehouse (in-out)
- The
solution must allow the development of a complex range of reports that
show a real image of the ongoing activity (current reports specific to
logistic companies - inputs, outputs, stock in trade, number of
stationary pallets, but also reports that allow the analysis of the
efficiency of the warehouse personnel by department - reception,
picking, replenishment and of other typical activities).
Yet
another selection criteria was the solution's scalability, which
enables fast adaptation to changes imposed by the market and to
customer requests. (The importance of complying with this criteria was
already highlighted last year - starting June 2007 when another
important client entered Aquila's portfolio, the Swedish company SCA
which also benefits from repacking services besides the logistic
services supplied by Aquila.)
Novensys, a traditional partner
Pursuing
the mentioned criteria, the selection of the supplier of the solution
was naturally bound to identifying its mplementer and the winning
partner for Aquila was Novensys. The complete Novensys for Logistics
portfolio which includes the Logistic Vision Suite solution and
industry-specific equipment represented the optimal choice for Aquila.
Choosing Novensys was eased by the existence of a collaboration history
between the two companies n different other activities.
"Furthermore,
Novensys specialists scored best in showing us what we wanted to see
and in supporting us unconditionally, especially in the first stages of
the project. For example, we were offered the possibility o see the
application at work in a distribution center in Greece with specialized
assistance throughout the whole visit. This way we obtained the
confirmation of the fact that both the editing company and the software
itself are very «elastic»", pointed out Mircea Vasile.
After
a period of 2-3 months dedicated to the remodeling of business
processes (separate discussions with the client and with the supplier
of the solution, internal analysis - in order to identify the optimal
workflow which will combine the customers, the service suppliers, the
customers' clients and the software supplier etc. in one functional
entity) and a hardware upgrade (to the Logistic Vision Suite solution
were added mobile devices from Motorola and Zebra mobile printers), the
actual implementation process of the application began. It ended in
June 2007 for SCA and in February 2008 for Unilever, while in march it
went live for the second Aquila distribution center opened in Tureni,
Cluj county. The implementation of Logistic Vision Suite was completed
quickly, giving special attention to the customization of specific
functionalities requested by Aquila. (For example, when the composition
of the "mixed" pallets (which contain several products) is done, the
system delivers a list with all products contained in the pallet, the
list containing the product code, its full name and the quantity and
being useful to drivers who deliver the goods, as it prevents issues
with the reception of goods).
"The collaboration with Novensys
during the whole implementation, but also in the «after-go-live» stage,
was and still is very good. Novensys specialists came to meet our
requests, facilitating our access to quality expertise even from the
parent-company, whose specialists advised us in critical phases of the
implementation. The answers to all our requests were prompt and very
efficient. Novensys anticipated our needs and came up fast with
completions and new solutions", specified the Aquila representative.
Double efficiency, double impact
"By
using the new solution we are able to extract from the system a report
about the goods with the lowest circulation. After highlighting this
hard-to-market stock we try to move it in order to create new storage
room. Thus, we manage to obtain double efficiency - for us and for our
customers." Mircea Vasile, Warehousing Manager, Aquila Part Prod Com.
Customer advantage
Even
though it's premature to quantify the efficiency of the application,
because the first stage of reaching an optimal level of usage of the
Logistic Vision Suite application hasn't ended yet, several direct
benefits generated by the application are already visible. Several
operational gains have already been highlighted and are visible in
productivity improvement in the warehouse through:
- operations control in the warehouse;
- managing of the warehouse performance indicators;
- traceability of batches;
- specialization of warehouse operators;
- indentifying and defining several algorithms for storage, picking etc.;
- control of the distribution and warehouse activities from a single command center;
- superior reporting possibilities.
This
last improvement was one of the main goals targeted by the beneficiary
of the implementation - the most complete image of all warehousing and
logistic activities through a large portfolio of reports, which can
offer a good overview of the entire business. Besides a better control
over our operations, we also gained higher speed in data and documents
processing, which is increasing continuously.
"It's premature
to even estimate financial earnings brought by the implementation of
the Logistic Vision Suite solution, but I can already say that its
first effect is the increased visibility on the Romanian market.
Important clients who wish to outsource their logistic activities are
looking out for us more than ever. And this increase of notoriety is
also due to the implementation of Logistic Vision Suite by Novensys. At
the same time, the increase in notoriety is accompanied with an
increase of business volume deployed with our customers. For example,
related to our activities with SCA, after one month of accommodation
and adjustments from both sides, as we constantly managed to improve
the business processes we were carrying on with them - like reducing
reception time, making order closing procedures more effective,
increasing speed of feedback on their new requests etc., the people
from SCA understood that the advantage is on their side. The results
speak for themselves: after four months from the start of the
collaboration with Aquila, SCA doubled its business volume.
Furthermore, starting with this year they have requested the extension
of activities in the repacking area, which we have reconsidered to up
to 70% compared to how it was done 2-3 months ago. We have greatly
improved this area because it contributes significantly to our business", explained the Warehousing Manager of Aquila Part Prod Com.
