K&M Style is a private Bulgarian 3PL company founded in 1992. It focuses on complex order handling and value-added activities. The company provides a high level of service and targets customers that show great sensitivity to the image of their brands.
The primary customers of K&M Style are L’Oreal (L’Oreal FMCG division — L’Oreal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline, L’Oreal professional division and distribution center for Serbia) and Europapier, one of the largest paper companies in Europe, suppliers of design, graphic, and office papers.
K&M Style operates 3 warehouses (including a newly built facility) with a total capacity of approximately 18,000 pallet places. Its main activities include receiving, picking, delivery, and value-added services.
Company Information
- Industry: Third-party Logistics (3PL)
- Business size: Mid-market
- Solutions implemented: Synapse3PLExpert (3PL WMS)
The K&M Style Challenge
As K&M Style sought a new WMS partner, it had to address several challenges in its warehouse and operation:
- Large range of SKUs with similar appearance which is a high risk for mispicks
- POS materials changing frequently which is another potential risks for errors
- Complicated inventory counts
- Complex orders with a large number of lines
- Different type of orders – detail picking by unit and large orders shipped by truck
- Small picking locations due to space limitations, and a large number of SKUs that require effective replenishment management
- Management of inventory in different warehouses
- Product status is of major importance: some products are received with a status of “Available,” others with “Prelabeled” (require additional labeling before picking)
- Picking method (FIFO, FEFO, etc.) has great impact on operation
- Short life of the order in the warehouse requires quick preparation, within 30 minutes to 4 hours
- Long training period required for new workers
- Need for traceability
- Need to support BOM for some of the products
When it became apparent that the specially adapted ERP system and spreadsheets used by K&M Style were inadequate for running a complex operation that served global customers with strict demands, they started to look for a best-of-breed WMS that supports the highest standards for logistics management. After one year of market research K&M Style selected the SCExpert™ suite from Made4net.
In addition to the operational challenges listed above, K&M Style had to address the following potential implementation difficulties:
- Implementing the system during the most challenging period, the end of the year, when 45% of the annual business is conducted over few weeks and many new products are introduced
- Entering a large stock of products into the system (downloading physically all pallets from the racks, labeling with special load ID label, and then uploading pallets back on the racks)
- Going live without stopping the activity
- Coping with the ambivalent attitude of the staff (especially of older workers) toward technological changes
K&M Style Increased Efficiency and Productivity With Made4net
Made4net met these challenges and successfully implemented the SCExpert™ suite, which provides comprehensive supply chain management functionality from warehouse through distribution and transportation to delivery confirmation at customer destinations.
The solution included the Made4net WMS module, WarehousExpert™ for multi-client and multi-facility support, BillingExpert™, and POD capabilities to support a demand-driven supply chain.
The project included:
- Building interfaces with K&M Style ‘s customers local systems to import orders directly into SCExpert™
- Optimization of all the processes and upgrading of the service level:
- Faster receiving and putaway
- Obtaining a clearer picture of the inventory by location and status
- Easier inventory count and check of customer claims
- Definition of picking policies by type of orders and customers
- Increased picking efficiency (less time and fewer errors)
- Objective traceability
- Improved replenishment
- Real picture of work load in the warehouse and of worker performance
- Shorter training period for new workers
- A variety of management reports
Benefits of Implementing Made4net’s 3PL Warehouse Management System (WMS)
- Managing processes became easier and KPIs improved.
- K&M Style must no longer depend on the specialized knowledge of experienced workers. New employees become operational in a few days owing to the user friendly system.
- K&M Style staff have fully endorsed the new system and refuse to work “the old way.”
- The warehouse is being operated at lower cost and with a higher level of service than before.
“[Made4net] had all the functionality we needed for a reasonable price. And as we found out later, Made4net also has an extraordinary team of professionals—commmitted and reactive.”
— Daniela Ratcheva, CEO, K&M Style
