Varusteleka Oy, which is known for its original, fun marketing and communication, began using LeanwareWMS at the start of 2014. The company’s goals of expanding abroad could not have been realized using the old ERP, and due to continuous growth, a more efficient warehouse management was needed. Especially during high season, the inefficiency of picking based on the old ERP and paper lists was highlighted.
Varusteleka’s CEO Henri Nyström says that before implementing LeanwareWMS, the efficiency – or rather inefficiency of Varusteleka’s operations was illustrated by the fact that in the Christmas of 2013, last orders had to be made on the 16th for them to reach the customers in time.
“There have been practically no problems with the amount of orders since implementing the LeanwareWMS. We can handle all ordered products during peak seasons during the day they were ordered using the same amount of staff, meaning that we have entirely eliminated any jams or blockages caused by peak seasons.”
Varusteleka, which sends 100,000 parcels per year, used LeanwareWMS to move from paper-based picking to a fully digital system. Along with the new system, the change was made to dynamic warehousing, which significantly improves the use of space in the warehouse and enables continuous inventory taking alongside other warehouse work. The specification difficulties in the beginning were a challenge at the start of cooperation, but these hurdles were passed and Varusteleka has continuously developed the system further in active cooperation.
According to Nyström, the system has proven to be so easy to use that its use can be taught to a new employee in minutes.
“Training seasonal staff for picking can be done in as little as 15 minutes. The warehouse worker’s terminal directly shows the picture of the item to be picked making work even easier. All in all, we are now fully prepared to expand abroad,” states Nyström.
Varusteleka, who was keen to improve its operations, also utilized the benefits of the new WMS internally in the customer service of their store. The salesperson no longer has to visit the warehouse to look for items as the warehouse does the picking, and the sales people can concentrate on serving the customers as well as possible in the store. The focus of the operational developments have been the minimization of errors and the increase of efficiency.
“The amount of human errors has now been minimized to a point where we can be very satisfied with the efficiency and accuracy of the current operation. In a nutshell, you could say that the biggest benefit of the LeanwareWMS has been the scalability of our business: we can now take the next steps in expansion, which would not have been possible using the old operational model,” Nyström says.
LeanwareWMS tripled the efficiency of Varusteleka’s warehouse
Picking training can be done this quickly using the LeanwareWMS
“Training seasonal staff for picking can be done in as little as 15 minutes. The warehouse worker’s terminal directly shows the picture of the item to be picked making work even easier. All in all, we are now fully prepared to expand abroad,” states Nyström.
