Myers Tire Supply

RFgen made an immediate impact on inventory management, increasing both efficiency and visibility. Both sales and operational teams gained an accurate view of inventory status at any given time because RFgen made inventory data available more quickly in JDE than before. Implementing mobile devices and barcodes put critical information into the hands of frontline team members, making it much easier for warehouse personnel to receive product in parcel or bulk at multiple locations, put away new inventory, transfer inventory between locations, and fulfill orders more precisely during the picking and packing process.

Inventory tracking became more accurate with the ability to transact materials as they flowed through the facility–a critical factor in inventory control. A secondary location could be utilized for overflow with a quick scan. The addition of RFgen License Plating enabled a two-way flow of product into and out of the warehouse as well. “Before RFgen, inventory came in one door, and it didn’t transact within JDE again until it went out the other door,” said Nonno. “Now, I have tracking and traceability within my distribution centers to provide not only better inventory visibility, but also to drive improved order accuracy.”

Nonno went on to add: “One of the places RFgen was the biggest game-changer was on our receiving dock. JDE’s receiving is a manual, paper-driven and lengthy process. It would take up to four days from when something hit our dock until it was actually available in JDE. If it’s not in the system, it can’t be ordered. So reducing that time by 50% with RFgen is a huge leap forward for us.”

Automating the receiving process ultimately helped make new inventory available for sale more quickly. In addition, it provided the receiving team with additional easy-to-access data points, such as cross-reference and manufacture part numbers, item descriptions and product photos, driving “Quality at the Source” during receiving and improving overall order accuracy.

Since Myers’ customers placed frequent small orders, support for intelligent small parcel batch picking was ideal to improve the speed and accuracy of order fulfillment and ensure same-day shipping. Previously, picking a single order was inefficient while manually routing a multi-order pick proved difficult.

With Warehouse Director, we gained real efficiency through directed travel and the ability to pick multiple orders at once, said Nonno.

The Warehouse Director app combines orders into batches through the License Plating app, intelligently batching sales order picks by order type, weight and carrier into manageable cartloads for each picker. Then the app routes pickers through the warehouse along a single pick path optimized for maximum speed and efficiency. Traversing the warehouse in a serpentine fashion, pickers collect inventory for multiple orders without having to backtrack.

Additional efficiencies were gained by implementing reusable license plates on picking carts and introducing task numbers to eliminate the need for a consolidation zone to complete orders–an extra step.

Before RFgen, the Myers Tire Supply sales team would batch orders at the end of each day while in the field. Now, using the tailor-made mobile sales app, the sales team could easily and quickly enter new sales orders while in the field. The app also enabled users to look up items directly from their mobile tablets, including details like descriptions and photographs, cross-referenced items for promotions, and whether an order will be charged the freight. Additionally, sales professionals could show customers their invoices online, review 12 months of order and Accounts Receivable history, or capture signatures–all directly from their mobile device.

“The big opportunity with the sales app is to make placing orders easy,” commented Nonno. “If a customer places an order by 5:00 p.m., we pledge to ship it that same day. The sooner I can get that order, the better I can meet customer commitments. You can see the impact that has on my operations.”

RFgen had automated everything from the initial sales order through order fulfillment and ship confirmation, but at the Southern California distribution center, Nonno wanted to take the automation one step further. In this location, some orders were delivered directly to customers, so Nonno asked RFgen to develop a made-to-order mobile app for the Direct Store Delivery (DSD) drivers.

For DSD, orders were picked, packed and staged on pallets, then loaded onto a company truck for delivery. The driver would use the DSD mobile app on a semi-ruggedized tablet as GPS features facilitated the truck’s delivery route. Then, in front of the customer, the driver could change item quantities, cancel line entries on the order, verify deliveries, capture signatures for proof of delivery and release the inventory from JD Edwards at the time of sale. If an item was canceled, an email would be automatically sent to the warehouse to inform them of that item’s return.

Following implementation, Myers was highly satisfied with RFgen. Nonno summed up the overall experience, saying, “At the end of the day, it comes down to this: JDE World is a menu-driven, green-screen application, and most organizations have made a leap forward to get more nimble applications. We took that leap with RFgen, and it really drove automation in every corner of our organization. It is a night and day difference.”