The company is in the middle of a process of logistical development that started in 1999 and continues today. The aims are set high, and some intermediate goals have been reached - an increase in turnover, efficiency and quality, and a reduction of costs.
In 1999 Onninen AS moved to the Gjelleråsen business park. The company was then the third largest electrical equipment wholesaler in Norway. They had 9000 articles in stock and about 3000 order lines per day. When moving into the new warehouse, the company began its cooperation with Consafe Logistics.
The ongoing change projects begun by Onninen in 1999 have focused on bottlenecks, working actively on improving quality and increasing efficiency. However, the first project was to integrate the software systems, in the course of which the need for a warehouse management system became plainly visible. One reason for investing in Astro were the positive references given by Heidenreich, the Norwegian wholesale firm.
In the summer of 2000, the decision was made to expand. Onninen bought 8 Norwegian electronics wholesalers and began to integrate them in its own operation. At that time there were 6 warehouses in addition to the Gjelleråsen DC. Onninen doubled its capacity in 2001 and today is a full range wholesaler.
Today it has about 18,000 articles in stock, delivering about 6500 order lines per day - more than a 100% increase in a few years. Throughout this process, Astro has been a condition of as well as a support to the doubling achieved by their warehouses starting in 1999.
Reduced Warehousing Costs
Today, there are 34,000 locations in the warehouses. There are around 4250 pallet locations, the electrical wire warehouse has approximately 2800 cable locations, and the paternosters offer 8900 locations.
The paternosters are responsible for around 50-60% of the order lines today. They have 46 forklifts of various types, 40 of which have terminals installed. The terminals communicate with the main computer via access points placed in various locations in the warehouse.
Despite the investment in systems and hardware as well as forklifts etc., the warehousing cost has gone down significantly. In goods reception, around 100 pallets arrive each day. The requirement is that the goods should be stored within 24 hours - on average, this takes about 1 hour.
Onninen dispatches about 1000 packages every day, which are processed through two state-of-the-art packing stations serving the entire warehouse.
The organization is working more efficiently and purchasing costs have gone down thanks to the more reliable information provided by Astro, which creates a firm basis and allows keeping lower stock levels and reducing the amount of tied-up capital.
“During these three years of change our speed has increased while the capacity demand has gone down and the picking mistakes have been reduced by half. We have achieved some of our explicit aims”, says Bjørn Braaten, Manager of Material Administration at Onninen AS.
Focus on Transport Administration Onninen has a high level of service towards its carriers. Each carrier can customize how they want their goods packaged and in what order. Frequently it is the smaller carriers who need special packaging. Onninen uses a letter and number system to identify each carrier, which simplifies things for warehouse employees as well as the carriers. Using the system, Onninen and the customer can track the goods from the moment they leave Onninen until the customer receives the shipment. The monitoring is carried out over the Internet.
Constant Improvement Projects
One of Onninen´s aims is being able to offer customized direct delivery to service vehicles in the field. Each car has its own profile in the system, and information can be fed electronically, using a PDA, directly into their ordering system.The logistical ambitions are high at Onninen, and the lists of new logistical projects are long.
Some examples:
- Increasing the number of order lines to the central warehouse by 5%
- More focus on cross-docking - few suppliers cross-dock today, and the aim is to increase that number
- No increase in the number of employees at the warehouse
- Improving the packing processes and increasing serial picking in the paternosters by 5%
- The above changes will result in a 10% increase in efficiency.
Today, the company has “Express Service Shops” where the customer can buy goods directly from the warehouse. Onninen has several local warehouses due to be transformed into Express Service Shops by 2005. A total of 25 Express Service Shops is planned in Norway. There is a commitment and a drive in the logistics work at Onninen, which helps the company in all its logistical projects. The groups actively pushing the logistical projects forward have a unique commitment and constantly see new goals to be achieved. Employees have a say in what is done, and there is a genuine interest in logistics. The people working on solutions often work according to the motto: try the ideas first and see if it works.
“We have no time to wait for detailed studies; competition is tough and we have to be at the cutting edge all the time”, says Trond Pettersen, Manager of Logistics at Onninen. “We may have run a bit too fast in our change projects at times, but on the other hand we have been able to achieve something really great in a very short time."
Read more at www.onninen.com
2001