Efficiency increase for the own brand “SPAR meat & more” through paperless order picking
SPAR Switzerland launched “SPAR meat & more”, the new brand for meat, sausages and side dishes, in all SPAR stores in Switzerland in July 2019. To optimise its order picking processes, the retailer decided to carry out these centrally in the future at the distribution center in St. Gallen and not to outsource them to the supplier, who until then had been pre-picking in line with market requirements. For this purpose, we integrated the meat picking processes into the existing SAP LES with pick-by-voice processing, so that they now run paperless.
Our long-standing customer SPAR Switzerland is one of the leading Swiss retail companies with around 2,000 employees and about 200 SPAR neighbourhood stores. In the past, the picking of meat, sausages and side dishes was decentralised. The respective supplier did all the pre-picking for the respective store himself. The goods stored in boxes were delivered to the SPAR Switzerland distribution center and parked at the cross-docking storage location before being delivered to the ordering SPAR stores without repacking. This process had a negative impact on efficiency: it led to inconsistencies and a lack of visibility and transparency.
Pick-by-Voice processing in SAP LES
In phase 1 of the project, the first task was to implement picking via pick-by-voice in the existing warehouse management system SAP LES. In addition, the deliveries to the SPAR stores had to be “married” with the supplier deliveries and a market-driven storage in the cross-docking warehouse types, the cold stores, had to be ensured.
We implemented the pick-by-voice communication in SAP ITS and used LogiPLus’ Add-on LP MobileGRAFIX for UX optimisation. Additionally an effective label printing was integrated.
Optimisation of specific cross-docking and splitting processes
In a subsequent optimisation phase, various fields of action related to cross-docking and goods distribution were identified and addressed. Our experts solved the problem, which is particularly prevalent in the food sector, that the materials used within the entire logistics chain are managed in two independent units of measure – e.g. pieces and kilograms. And this without using the SAP Catch Weight functionality. Further topics in the context of this phase were, for example, the performance optimisation of cross-docking deliveries and the prioritisation of certain markets.
Strategic benefits for SPAR: Flexibility. Transparency. Increased efficiency.
With the project meat & more we have created the necessary flexibility towards suppliers, products and new ideas. This is now fully supported by new logistics processes with IT.
And Thilo Matheis, founder and managing director of LogiPlus adds: “In addition to classic warehouse management with SAP LES, we help SPAR with our tailor-made development services and Add-Ons to map and seamlessly integrate industry- and customer-specific processes. Our long-standing cooperation with SPAR is of course a great advantage: we know the customer and their challenges and they place a high degree of trust in us!”
