Kinnunen’s business model is complex; it sells, rents, and repairs construction supplies and products, and offers these services both in stores and online. An ERP system helps manage the scope of the company’s product offerings across multiple locations, including its main campus.
from the system. When paired with mobile devices, the new system also enables a paper-free warehouse. In the past, employees would use “stacks and reams of paper to take notes and write down orders,” Andrews adds. The new system has also slashed training time. Previously, it could take from six months to one year to train new employees to efficiently pick products. Not only did they have to learn where each item was located, but they also needed to know the products’ idiosyncrasies. For example, some products are sold as a box of 12 and others as a single unit, but the previous system wouldn’t indicate this difference. Not surprisingly, it could take months before new employees became familiar with the products and their locations. “Now I can train a worker in a day or two,” Andrews says. BOOSTING FULFILLMENT EFFICIENCY In the warehouse, Kinnunen added rigor to its receiving process. As each item is received, it’s scanned and put into a virtual bin. A team then moves the items out of the bin, using information from the system to determine where each item is to be placed. While the receiving process takes a bit more time than it previously did, it’s also more effective. As a result, picking items for customer orders is more streamlined. Now, a large order can be picked in about
45 minutes with a high degree of accuracy. Before, this would have taken about 90 minutes. In addition, more accurate cycle counts have helped Kinnunen reduce stockouts. CONTINUAL CYCLE COUNTS Cycle counts are also more efficient. Kinnunen used to stop operations once a year on a Friday and start counting inventory across its locations throughout the weekend. Finally, on Sunday evening, employees would begin entering corrected inventory counts into the old ERP system. Now, Kinnunen continually completes cycle and bin counts, and its inventory records are more accurate, Andrews says. The customer portal on the VAI system enables clients to work more efficiently with Kinnunen. Among other capabilities, they can access and review their accounts and print invoices, Andrews says. And because VAI’s ERP solution uses a single, central database, Kinnunen’s clients no longer need to work with separate databases or multiple spreadsheets to obtain the information they need to guide their decision-making. Along with the technology, the partnership between the two companies has been critical to the implementation’s success, Andrews says. His access to key people helped him gain an in-depth understanding of warehousing and how the system would work. n
go-live. “They helped us get through that learning curve,” Andrews says. The system’s performance continued to improve after that, he adds. EFFECTIVE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT The hard work of the Kinnunen and VAI teams is paying off in multiple ways. The VAI algorithm allows Kinnunen to more intelligently determine how much inventory to purchase and when to do so. “That has helped us play that game a whole lot better,” Andrews says. For example, the reports can highlight slow-moving divisions and classes within Kinnunen’s product lines. “We are now stocking items smarter than we ever have,” Andrews says. S2K’s analytic module also provides information on picker efficiency. This information can help Kinnunen more effectively train its employees. VAI’s warehouse management model was “a game changer,” Andrews says. Previously, Kinnunen relied heavily on tenured employees knowing the location of various products within Kinnunen’s several locations. “We had zones of product, but it was still 40,000 to 50,000 individual items spread out across an acre of property,” he says. In the VAI system, products are scanned when they arrive and assigned to bins. Kinnunen can complete cycle and bin counts daily, leveraging recommendations
November 2024 • Inbound Logistics 55
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