COFCO Coca-Cola applied Fuller WMS, combined with intelligent terminal equipment such as voice picking, to significantly improve the level of refined inventory management, in-warehouse operation efficiency, supply chain collaboration and efficiency, and to achieve exploration and practice in the field of intelligent, digital, and collaborative warehousing management.

Zhongke Beverage has many product brands. Due to the requirements of market activities and the special needs of customers, there have always been customized (packaging) layouts, joint production, and multiple packaging. With the continuous expansion of business, the original management method that relied heavily on personnel experience can no longer meet the diverse needs of customers for batch management.

In 2019, the Logistics Department of Zhongco Beverage Headquarters introduced the FLUX WMS solution to conduct refined management including the storage, rotation, sending and receiving of finished products, outsourced finished products, and turnover containers (bottle boxes, pallets, etc.). The coverage is centered on the Beijing factory, radiating to distribution center (DC) warehouses in Shanxi, Jinan, Qingdao and other places, as well as temporary rented warehouse factories in other places.

FLUX WMS refines the layout, origin, packaging, etc. from the basic material batch attributes of the product. When a product comes off the production line, it is recorded in the system. When warehousing, the system will put the products on shelves in different locations according to the corresponding shelving rules based on the batch attributes of the products. In subsequent outbound distribution, picking, review, and shipping nodes, the system will automatically determine the product batch attributes based on the customer code and accurately match them. In response to the different management needs of different types of customers for production dates, FLUX WMS adds batch requirement management, and quantitatively sets each customer's batch requirements in the system. After receiving the customer's request for goods, it automatically allocates inventory by retrieving the customer's set batch requirements. Truly "what the customer wants, the warehouse will deliver."

As an important part of the digitalization of Zhongke Logistics, FLUX WMS connects with Zhongke's ERP (SAP ESSS), coding system, transportation and distribution system and other upstream and downstream related systems through FLUX DATAHUB to realize the connection of the entire upstream and downstream chain, seamlessly connect the operations of each link, improve the data accuracy and overall operation efficiency, and reduce the operation error rate.

All incoming and outgoing operation instructions are issued by ERP. After the operation is completed, FLUX WMS will also transmit the incoming and outgoing results back to ERP, so that WMS and ERP can maintain inventory consistency in real time. At the same time, the warehouse entry and exit instructions are also transmitted to the transportation and distribution system. While the warehouse is operating, the dispatcher begins to arrange vehicle transportation. After the product rolls off the production line, the coding system transmits the product coding results to FLUX WMS. WMS no longer needs to bind the pallet to the product twice. When shipping, the WMS will transmit the shipping results to the transportation and distribution system, and the vehicle can be loaded immediately upon arrival.

The original warehouse utilization rate of Zhongco Beijing Factory was very high, and the warehouse location planning was gradually becoming more reasonable, but it all relied on the experience management of the warehouse manager. Warehouse managers are very intensive. In addition to daily management, they need to allocate a lot of time to adjust goods and storage locations, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

During the implementation and research phase of the FLUX WMS project, colleagues from both sides of the project team retrieved half a year's historical data from the Beijing factory, analyzed various data such as inventory turnover, storage space occupancy, average daily order volume, average daily shipment volume, etc., re-planned the storage locations, divided the ABC storage locations according to the product's inventory turnover rate and set the location size, and associated the division results with the system's shelving rules. When products are put into storage, they are automatically assigned to reasonable storage locations based on the shelving rules. In addition, through the storage location sorting function of FLUX WMS, the warehouse supervisor can quickly perform simulated calculations of storage location sorting on the computer. Based on the actual situation, with a smaller amount of movement, more free storage space can be freed up and the warehouse utilization rate can be improved.

The original forklift operation of Zhongke Warehouse relied on the command of the custodian, which was inefficient and the workload was difficult to count. Therefore, FLUX WMS provides a new voice-guided forklift operation and mixed pallet voice picking solution. By integrating wearable voice devices and RF devices, it realizes a historic change in which the system intelligently guides forklift workers during operations such as receiving, picking, replenishing, and moving warehouses.

Instructions such as putting on shelves, picking, picking out, and collecting goods automatically calculated by FLUX WMS are sent to the operators through voice devices. The forklift workers follow the intelligent instructions to the designated warehouse locations to perform operations such as putting on shelves, picking up goods, collecting goods, and shipping goods. They confirm the handling quantity and feedback the location verification code in real time, and return the operation results to the WMS. Pickers wearing voice devices obtain picking tasks according to the picking order, confirm the location information through voice, and transmit it back to the system in real time after the confirmation is completed to complete voice picking of mixed pallets. Voice devices not only free up hands, but also improve the accuracy and efficiency of work. Combined with RF equipment, custodians can also quickly and accurately conduct shipment review and loading handover.

FLUX WMS records and stores all data on warehouse operations. Using these data, you can easily carry out equipment usage statistics, personnel performance statistics, and daily operation busy period statistics, providing a reliable basis for the reasonable allocation of resources. These data provide the basis for more and in-depth data analysis.

At the beginning of WMS selection, Zhongke aimed to promote it to the entire group in the future. The WMS system will be applicable to all factory warehouses of the entire group and form a set of standard warehousing operation processes for the entire group, which can be replicated throughout the group. FLUX WMS's powerful flexibility and functional integrity well support this goal of Zhongke. FLUX WMS first implemented the standardization of operation processes in Zhongke's Beijing warehouse, and then gradually extended it to factory warehouses in Shanxi, Shandong and other places. The system was fine-tuned and quickly copied based on the actual layout, output, supporting equipment, etc. of each warehouse. This not only ensured the standardization of warehouse management of the entire group, but also significantly saved later promotion costs.

The launch of FLUX WMS has significantly improved Zhongke's warehouse management level, operational efficiency, and overall supply chain collaboration and efficiency, and has also achieved successful application results in intelligent equipment applications, big data applications, etc. Warehouse pickers and forklift drivers can quickly and accurately complete picking and shipping through voice commands, and custodians can quickly and accurately conduct shipment review and loading handover through wireless scanning terminals.

• The picking accuracy is as high as 99.98%. FLUX WMS integrates voice equipment to guide operations through intelligent instructions and reduce operation error rates.
• Inventory and picking accuracy are effectively improved ； Fine batch attribute and expiration date management effectively meets the diverse needs of customers.
• The maximum density of warehouses increased by 13.5% compared with the same period last year. ABC warehouse location division, system warehouse location calculation simulation optimization.
• The labor productivity of warehouse personnel increased by 25%. The full integration of voice and RF terminal equipment greatly improves the labor productivity of warehouse personnel and accelerates inventory turnover.
• The number of product inventory days decreased by 2.9 days, and the inventory turnover rate effectively increased.