99.9% Inventory Accuracy Rate Results from Warehouse Management Solution for Large Distributor

The Client

Kendall Hunt Publishing Company

Measurable Result

Warehouse Management Solution brings never before experienced accuracy in inventory cycle count. Kendall Hunt went from a system where individual bin counts were historically not accurate to a new system with proven results. Of the 3000 bins only 2 were not exact, each a single item off, for an overall 99.9% accuracy rate.

The Story

Imagine yourself as a distributer with over 30,000 items in your inventory available for order. The orders are coming in fast and furious from across the country and Canada. Not to mention the orders aren’t simply one item picked and packed and you’re done- the type of item and quantity varies from order to order. Your job...get those orders shipped as quickly, accurately and efficiently as possible while maintaining control of all the associated inventories and maintain the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Welcome to the world of Kendall Hunt Publishing! As a provider of educational products and services, their 160,000 square foot state-of-the-art distribution center is charged with getting the right textbooks and educational products into the hands of their customers as quickly as possible.

As with any distributor, processes and efficiencies are essential when it comes to continued success and meeting the demands of the business. Kendall Hunt turned to the business technology consultants at SVA Consulting to assist them in identifying the appropriate technologies to address specific areas hindering their business in terms of speed, accuracy, efficiency and costs.

“We have had three other vendors try to come in and build us the system that we needed,” commented Chris Reichling, IT Manager at Kendall Hunt Publishing. “The resulting systems had no scalability, minimal integration with our other systems if at all and there was no flexibility or freedom to make adjustments on the fly.”

“We were also hindered because our existing solution wasn’t meant to do what we were asking of it, continued Reichling. “There were too many steps, too much manual entry and system incompatibility issues that needed our constant attention including exporting and massaging data.”

Kendall Hunt’s existing technology was based on batch processing and lacked any real time integration causing significant delays in order processing and shipping. Purchase orders were input once a day, orders sent to the warehouse anywhere from two to four times daily and orders received late in the day had to be held until the next business day.

Another significant hurdle was evident in the auditing process. The highest percentage of Kendall Hunt’s business is done in August, ahead of the starting school year. Their auditors are on site the first day of September to conduct an inventory audit.

“With our old system we had to completely stop distribution and shipping in order to have a full cycle count completed,” added Reichling. “Our entire system had to be shut down during our busiest time of the year. Likewise, our inventory counts weren’t as accurate as we would have liked using the old system.”

Using Solutions to Solve Business Problems

SVA’s business technology consultants closely reviewed their business and current distribution processes. They recommended replacing the homegrown technology system with the Accellos Warehouse Management Solution.

In addition to the Accellos solution, recommendations were given to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. By adding the Dynamics solutions, Kendall Hunt was able to gain better insight into their entire business, including managing their general ledger, payables, receivables, inventory, analytical accounting, fixed assets, and cash flow. All the information was real time and fully reportable. Gone are the days of afternoon order cut-offs and ordering processing limitations. The Microsoft Dynamics – NAV solution fully integrated with the existing shipping solution and the Accellos system, creating a single, automated, streamlined process from the moment the order came in the door complete to shipping and billing.

The Accellos Warehouse Management Solution also alleviated the stress of the busy time of year coupled with the shutdown of services each time a cycle count was conducted.

“We used to have our entire operation shut down for two to three hours every Monday morning during counts,” added Reichling. “It took a significant amount of our workforce and took away from our production time. With the Accellos system we have in place now, we are able to conduct cycle counts on the fly with no interruption or delay.”

The Accellos software allows them to count individual portions of the warehouse and even the carousels at any time. Long physical, laborious cycle counts are no more, doing counts is now possible even during the busiest times. “In fact, we did full cycle counts of our entire inventory twice before the auditors were scheduled to arrive in the peak of our busy time,” confirmed Reichling.

And the results from the auditors? Better than expected. “They were astounded by the accuracy of our system and how far we’d come,” continued Reichling.

Better solutions have lead Kendall Hunt to better processes and optimal results! Kendall Hunt has realized more accuracy in inventory and in return more accuracy in their financial statements. They’ve also gained better use of resources and employees reducing the number of “touches” employees have to make in the process. Automation has led to a reduction in error rates and increased productivity.

“We have worked with a lot of SVA’s technology consultants over the course of our implementation,” added Reichling. “What has impressed me the most is they are well-informed and take the time to understand our business problems. They think everything through, look at the entire picture and only then make better business recommendations whether it’s with a process or a piece of technology.”

Taking the Next Step

Kendall Hunt is taking the next step in their solutions with SVA Consulting as their partner. They are utilizing business intelligence practices and data warehousing to allow for better insight into their data in order to make more strategic business decisions for their company.