The new program gives other departments in the company—including customer service—a real-time window into how orders are being shipped. It also helps staff drill down into data on a particular SKU or customer.
It’s still relatively early, but so far the system has been a major driver of efficiency, Arthur reports. “We were able to redeploy one associate to other work, because we only have one shipping station now. Everything moves through one portal instead of several.
“It’s given us some pretty good data on what we’re actually shipping that we weren’t capturing—things like the cube and weight. We were relying on our partners to tell us what we were shipping. Now we know.”
Shifting into reverse
Returns are a big part of Deeley’s business. Each retailer is given an allowance for how much they can return, based on quarterly purchases. For many reasons—usually a desire to liquidate—some take full advantage.
In the past, the stores would submit returns information using an array of media, including spreadsheets and fax. Deeley would often find itself in the dark about what was coming back until the item re-entered the DC. And since the process tended to be managed on an ad-hoc basis, it created a good deal of disorganization.
Today, retailers submit their lists of returned items as an inbound shipment document via the web. This has created a second receiving stream at the DC. “The intention is that the product is returned to us to resell,” explains Draves. “We can now see what’s coming back…and we can consider our purchasing decisions against that.”
Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of this change are the stores. The new returns system lessens the time and bureaucracy involved in sending back stock. “It used to take three months from the time the retailers submitted their claims until we actually paid them. We’ve reduced that down to a month, at the most, which creates huge savings for them,” Arthur says.
“We don’t want them spending their time on administrative tasks. We want to make their backroom easy.”
The open road ahead
It’s been three years since Deeley started its DC overhaul, and the company’s improvement efforts are far from over.
Currently, it is working to change the way it slots its SKUs to improve order-picking. “We’re re-profiling,” explains Christine Davey, senior manager, DC operations. “Right now, the slotting is random. We see a bit of a lag in the putaway process, so we’re changing that to increase productivity…We’re going to have high-velocity zones within each aisle.” Items will be grouped by size and type, with fast movers placed at easy-to-access locations.
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