Warehouse and Inventory Management

Warehouse and Inventory Management
Situation

Our client, a leading IT outsourcing specialist, engaged Apple Express to improve its supply chain outcomes by providing a scalable warehousing solution throughout Canada. The solution required competence in managing diverse, consistent work flows in forward logistics, inventory management, reverse logistics and warranty processing throughout the distribution network.

Challenges

The client’s goals included scalability, diversity of work, inventory accuracy and consistency in execution throughout the distribution network. To achieve these objectives we needed to evaluate the current capabilities of our distribution network, identify areas where additional investment was needed and implement the required changes.

Actions

We tasked our experienced pool of logistics professionals with developing and executing a disciplined operational business plan. A cross-functional project plan guided the sequence of implementation tasks for the supply chain solution, including logistics plans, operating system enhancements, process and system training for all sites and operational metrics to ensure the client’s goals were consistently met. Our extensive distribution centre network provided the required scalability of distribution space, mitigating unnecessary costs and inconsistency in services.

Results

The disciplined project planning, investment in technology and careful execution resulted in a successful implementation and continued operations. The supply chain solution we developed delivers consistent results and exceeds our client’s high standards for inventory accuracy and service performance.

Key Performance Actions and Statistics:
  • National inventory management for 50,000 parts.
  • National volume of 4,000 monthly inventory transactions.
  • National inventory accuracy of 99.87%.
  • Consistently exceeds the four-hour transportation service levels of 95%.