Berner

Berner is one of the main direct sale distributors of attachment products, tools, and technical consumables for the professionals in the building and automobile industries and has for many years now entrusted a-SIS with the management of its warehouse in Saint Julien de Sault (France).


Facts

A well-organised supply chain

In civil engineering Berner covers in particular the fields of carpentry, electricity, sanitary equipment, air conditioning, construction and civil engineering works. In the automobile domain, Berner's customers  are mainly authorized dealers, car and truck workshops, service centres for agricultural machines, and carriers. As direct sale distributor, Berner's advantage is the application of just one customer strategy. The presence in the field added to an effective logistic chain ensures deliveries for 98% of the 20000 products within 24 or 48 hours.

A new information system

In 2004, Berner started looking for software which integrates all the warehouse functions and interfacing with the Level3 SAP. Until then, Level3 and stock management were managed by SUN and the order preparation by  a-SIS' LM^® version 6. After several months a-SIS was chosen again to equip the warehouse. This project necessitated upgrading the order preparation module to version 7 and the installation of the stock management module.

 

Improved processes

Productivity and responsiveness

Berner markets a wide range of heterogeneous products. Most of the orders handled by the WMS are small split case orders to be processed very quickly. Here the WMS has to prove its high productivity and reactivity for the order preparation: indeed, dispatching to to civil engineering or automobile industry professionals are performed within 24 to 48 hours all over France.

Well-regulated goods-in

 

With LM7^®, software for storage and split case picking for large product ranges, it is possible to perform launching operations assisted by a load simulation tool in real time all day. The replenishment of the picking areas is carried out in real time. The chemical products are strictly handled with the strict FIFO strategy.
The warehouse is equipped with an automated Savoye conveyor to transport of boxes with automatic labelling machines to optimize the application of shipping labels onto split case boxes. This allows also the synchronization between the box labels and the delivery notes.

 

 

Dispatch, one goal : quality !
To ensure a high quality customer service, dispatches are checked and in most cases a pallet preparation is performed. The made up pallet is then checked using RF terminals before dispatch to avoid errors and to ensure the homogeneity of the pallets.


Testimony

 

Since the implementation of LM7^®, Berner has optimized its picking and delivery times for the orders.

« With the installation of the LM7 together with the change to SAP we were forced to review our organization.

• On the entry flow (reception and replenishment) which were not handled by LM before, the change to RF validation ensured time saving and a better goods-in quality - fewer computer records and so fewer errors.
• But the output flow was also improved : by direct validation of goods-in this volume became immediately available for customers, even if it is still between goods-in and picking

The LM7 module features new functions compared to the previous version and we made the most of the opportunity to review and further improve the circuit. This version integrates numerous possibilities and therefore hardly needs any or very few specific developments. The version change was carried out without any problem and the teams were operational very quickly. »