hands-on approach. “We consider our customers our partners, and we’re all there for one goal,” Thompson says. Implementation typically starts with a kick-off meeting in which requirements and pain points are identi ed and used to inform the solution scope, design, and con guration. Generally, the more the solution can be leveraged right out of the box, the shorter the implementation timeline. Prior to working with SnapFul l, Oliver Space hadn’t gone outside to look for a warehouse management system. Company leaders recognized from the outset that they might not nd a purchased solution that met their unique business needs. To determine if that would be the case, Oliver Space employees outlined the key WMS components they felt were critical. Then, they initiated an in-depth request-for-proposal process and began evaluating several dozen externally developed tools. A METICULOUS APPROACH “We took a meticulous approach,” Guckian says. He and his team considered different use cases and then checked how various solutions would handle them, requesting that each provider offer a demonstration or detailed steps outlining how it would handle the challenge. For instance, if an item was received into the warehouse and technicians completed the professional refurbishment work process, Oliver Space would need to assign a condition code and stock status to that product before putting it in a storage location. So, Guckian and his team asked potential vendors how they would assign an item a speci c condition attribute in their WMS and whether Oliver Space would be able to view stock counts by this attribute. They also asked if the vendor could walk them through the process of assigning this attribute on both the web view and radio-frequency (RF) devices. “The process of assigning should be a seamless ow for our team using the RF devices,” Guckian says.
Furniture company Oliver Space had struggled with inventory, picking, and staging accuracy as the refurbishment returns side of the business ramped up. It now benefits from complete inventory visibility since implementing Synergy’s SnapFulfil WMS suite.
over to its production environment, and then to its operational environment. “This allowed us to switch the ip over the weekend. We came in on Monday and were operating at full capacity,” Guckian says. Much of the implementation was handled remotely, due to COVID travel restrictions at the time. The SnapFul l system has increased inventory accuracy during cycle counts and dramatically reduced out- of-stock occurrences during order picking. Another signi cant bene t has been the ability to shift from laptops and spreadsheets and automate the tracking of returned products as they are refurbished, while also increasing accuracy. This is key, given that the warehouse contains both nished goods and those that are actively being refurbished. “We’re constantly changing the statuses of these pieces,” Guckian notes. “Now, it’s all updated in our WMS and ERP, and re ected on our website. It’s been a huge time improvement.” In addition, warehouse workers now can use handheld, touch-screen RF devices, rather than try to juggle laptops. Oliver Space currently uses this system in its San Francisco warehouse and plans to roll it out to its other warehouses. “We’re expanding it meticulously, step- by-step,” Guckian says. n
In addition, as an early-stage company that’s moving rapidly, Oliver Space also was looking for a partner that could ex and grow as it expanded its product lines and markets. Guckian and his team wanted a system that was easy to customize without engaging external parties. They also compared the cost of purchasing a system to building one internally. After these exercises, only a few companies could meet about 90% of the items on the list. “In terms of implementation, scalability, and price, SnapFul l was the best option,” Guckian says. While SnapFul l didn’t necessarily have every feature Guckian and his colleagues identi ed at the outset, the vendor offered to con gure its system to meet Oliver Space’s needs, including a fast speed-to-value implementation. “They didn’t cut corners or create operational challenges for our team,” he says. In addition, Oliver Space’s internal IT team is able to easily build different features into the SnapFul l system. Oliver Space began implementation in spring 2022 and completed integration with its ERP system in about six weeks. User acceptance testing (UAT) was conducted in a non-live environment, although Oliver Space ran through all the scenarios as if it was live. Once testing was complete, Oliver Space cut
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