In the company Kovinoplastika Benda, they introduced an advanced system for tracking and monitoring goods in the warehouse and production, which they believe is their best investment.
Kovinoplastika Benda is a family company with a 40-year tradition. The company, which employs around 130 employees, specialized in injection molding and assembly of products and product components in the field of small and light household appliances. Their biggest customer is the company BSH, they are also its system supplier, because in Kovinoplastika Benda they take care of the complete development of technology for the production of an individual product. The company, which is distinguished by its error-free business philosophy, thoroughly renovated its warehouse and production information system last year and reached a new dimension of business.
A storage system without (adequate) data is bare
In the past, the company Kovinoplastika Benda faced challenges in the accuracy of inventory management, the age of the swatch and monitoring the locations of materials or other products. “We had a storage system, but it didn’t have enough data and functionality. Still, we were barefoot in some areas,” recalls Miloš Todorovič, head of production at Kovinoplastika Benda.
Such a situation led to errors, especially with large orders. “We stopped production several times, because the system showed a situation that did not hold up in practice. This led to lower employee productivity and the unnecessary purchase of additional quantities of material,” summarized Todorovič.
The requirements regarding the new storage system were therefore clear – the company wanted to gain transparency over the storage operations, data accuracy and traceability of each product and material. The company therefore checked the offer on the market and decided to test the Trace.WMS solution offered by Kvint d.o.o.. Since they did not want to buy “another” cat in a cage, they first decided to thoroughly test the solution. They set up a test site in the warehouse and for three months carefully checked the operation of the system and its integration with other business solutions.
Then followed the implementation of the storage system in the actual environment and its connection with other software solutions at the company level. The Trace.WMS solution was introduced in the company by area, with each area requiring between 4 and 6 weeks, also at the expense of renovation and optimization of business processes. “The entire implementation of the advanced system in the warehouse and production required just under a year, but that includes the time from idea to production solution,” says Todorovič.
Growth in savings and satisfaction in all areas
Trace.WMS provided significant savings in the company and increased productivity of warehouse employees. The company Kovinoplastika Benda estimates that the advanced storage solution, which is closely connected to production, has brought between 15 and 25 percent higher efficiency of workers in the warehouse. There are fewer employees there now, but they are more satisfied, because they are less burdened than in the past. The greatly improved employee satisfaction is due to the fact that there are no more empty walks and movements, nor is there any loss of time by searching for materials or goods that are (no longer) there. Materials or products are exactly where the system says they are, employees no longer waste time thinking and searching for missing goods. Trace.WMS enabled the company to implement a chaotic storage model.
»We saved a lot of money with Trace.WMS, because thanks to it, there are no more material losses, no more shortages in inventories and no more losses in production. The investment paid off quickly,« the company’s director, Aleš Benda, confided in us. The company’s inventory is also done much faster than in the past.
Absolute assurance of traceability
After the introduction of the Trace.WMS system, the work of the warehouse staff is more transparent – it is known exactly where something is, how old it is and where it comes from. Subsequently, the company Trace Solutions expanded into production with the Trace.MES solution, where it ensures absolute traceability of products, as it manages the entire supply chain from the entry to the exit of the goods and controls the production processes. The mentioned system also takes care of material labeling and material acceptance to the incoming warehouse in various packaging units, as well as management of internal logistics in the delivery of materials to workplaces, workpieces between work centers and finished products to warehouses. The system also handles the delivery and customized marking of products with labels as requested by customers.
»Tracking changes to products is extremely important, not only in cases of possible error correction or the introduction of design changes, but also more broadly. Thanks to Trace Solutions, we know for each grain of granulate in which product it was incorporated and where it was sent,« Todorovič vividly explains.
Trace Solutions at the company Kovinoplastika Benda records on average around 15,000 transactions per day. In the high season, the company’s material flow runs 24/7, as work is organized in four shifts. For us, it goes without saying that the system works flawlessly,« added Benda, who also explained to us that the maintenance of the system, which also has duplicate key components on site, is fully taken care of by the provider.
