Ladies Wear, a large, up-scale clothing designer, is headquartered in Manhattan. Data Capture Institute was involved in designing the Flow-Through Replenishment system which has enabled them to lower inventory costs and dramatically increase timely and precise delivery of product to retailers.
Ladies Wear has three US distribution centers each receiving product from vendors around the world. The Miami Center handles shipments from Central and South America, the Atlanta Center receives from European and domestic vendors, and the Los Angeles Center deals with Asian vendors. Each Center in turn is required to process orders to department and speciality stores throughout the country.
A combination of bar code and electronic data interchange is the key, for only aautomatic identification and data capture can record product flow tracking data with the speed and accuracy required to keep such dynamic activity coordinated. Utilizing a mainframe based environment, with shipping information collected by a client server, continuous records of product flow are uploaded for re-order. EDI 856 advance ship notice/manifest is sent via public communication network to distribution centers and manufacturers around the world.
An example of how this system is adding to the bottom line is in order. (The process is summarized in Exhibit 1 at the end of the text.) Imagine that Ladies Wear receives an order via EDI for 1000 blouses, of a particular style, from Filene's Department Stores, a user of flow-through replenishment. The order specifies that the blouses are to be shipped directly to eight stores. The vendor services required from the retailer include ticketing and special packaging.
The EDI transaction triggers another transaction which will create a new purchase order for raw materials. Meanwhile, the customer service or sales staff completes a manual audit of the stock availability information on the mainframe. When stock availability has been confirmed, the order confirmation is transmitted to the customer by the mainframe which also generates hard copy packing lists. The mainframe then arranges all orders into special batches and releases orders to the automated picking system. (Meanwhile, the cycle of re-manufacture has begun through the raw material orders to the manufacturer's suppliers.)
The automated picking system picks, dispenses, and verifies flow-through orders. Product is diverted from the auto pick system and assembled on pallets for shipment, then transferred to the pack area where it is manually packed, weighed, and labeled with final destination address. Pallets are moved to the dock area where all packing lists and cases are verified for correctness. Verified packing lists are manifested with the following information: ship-from address, ship-to address, total number of cases shipped, total weight shipped, product description, product number, packing list numbers, etc. Next, manifested packing lists are entered into the mainframe and shipped. An advance ship notice is sent to the receiving location. The UCC-128 Serial Shipping Container Code label is applied. Last, the customer is notified and invoiced via EDI.
This process is summarized below in exhibit 1.
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