Kays Medical - Customer Story

In 2006 Kays Medical came across Barcode-IT whilst searching on the internet for a warehouse management solution that would integrate into their recently installed Sage MMS system. A need to be able to share information freely and accurately throughout the company coupled with a number of inefficiencies within the warehouse, led Kays Medical to implement Dexterity WMS into their warehouse.

Following careful consideration of the needs and ideas of the Kays Medical team, Barcode-IT integrated their Dexterity WMS solution into Sage MMS using standard Dexterity WMS tools combined with a bespoke order release screen. The Dexterity WMS solution went live at Kays in mid-2007 and has since been a great asset to the business.

A number of benefits of the solution have been appreciated by Kays since the WMS was implemented. The whole ordering system has been streamlined and made more accurate and operators have taken really well to using the terminals to pick and putaway stock resulting in a much less labour intensive process. The Kays Medical year end stock take used to take a whole weekend to complete but with the Dexterity WMS in place the whole process can be completed in around 6 hours.

"The Dexterity WMS solution was ideal to integrate with Sage MMS/200 and Barcode-IT made our barcoding ideas into a reality." says Andy Johnson, Financial Controller at Kays Medical. "The WMS has allowed our operation to be much more efficient and picking accuracy is almost 100%. Staff literally can't pick the wrong items now!"

In April 2008 Kays Medical upgraded to Sage Line 200 (Version 5), which continues to integrate successfully with Dexterity WMS.

Application Overview

The Dexterity WMS solution provided by Barcode-IT links directly into the Sage Line 200 system. Orders are entered into Sage and the information is passed directly into the Dexterity system for picking and eventual despatch. The warehouse manager uses the bespoke Order Management Screen tool created by Barcode-IT to check that stock levels are such that orders can be fulfilled and shipped, plus order picking status can be obtained in real time.

Once the order has been given the green light by the warehouse manager, it is auto-released and a pick note printed. The pick lists are then taken by operators, who are guided by the system to the various pick locations necessary to fulfil the order using the optimum travel route. All this is facilitated by the use of Datalogic Falcon 4420 wireless terminals to scan the individual product barcodes and assist order picking and putaway.

After the order has been completed, it then proceeds to the checking area where a blind check is carried out using the original pick note to double check the accuracy of the picked order. Blind checking helps to eliminate any human error in the picking process. The orders are then packed and sent to despatch, where the Parcel Force despatch label is scanned into the system so that the consignment can easily be tracked to the customer. Now that the Dexterity WMS is in place, orders are usually picked and despatched to the customer site in under 48 hours.

An additional feature of the Kays Medical solution is their showroom system, which allows customers to browse the various parts of the showroom and build their order using one of the Falcon 4420 terminals. The terminals display the price of any given item automatically when scanned, allowing customers to pick their order as they go and then an invoice is automatically produced at the end of their shop. This system has increased the speed of show room purchasing greatly, mainly due to the automatic price check facility.

How it started

Whilst searching the internet for a barcoding solution to integrate with Sage MMS in September 2006, Andy Johnson came across the Barcode-IT website. Following a conversation with our sales manager, a meeting was arranged so that the project could be thoroughly discussed. After a site visit to Supreme Imports in Manchester, Kays Medical chose Barcode-IT to implement their warehouse management system.