SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) Customer Success Stories

We have covered many of the benefits of SAP Extended Warehouse management (EWM) over the years in our blogs.

Last year’s blog post, ‘How could you benefit from SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM)?’ does what it says on the tin — outlining the advantages offered by upgrading from SAP Warehouse Management (WM) to SAP EWM.

We also looked at the roles played by SAP HANA in-memory database ('Why HANA is a game-changer for SAP Extended Warehouse Management') and SAP S/4 HANA Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software ('Driving operational excellence with S/4 HANA').

Technology flexibility within the SAP EWM platform has helped many of our long standing customers drive more efficient processes for their supply network, minimise costs, reduce supply chain days and optimise the use of resources. We have had the pleasure of supporting these enhancements over the years and hope to continue to do so into the future.

We've helped many businesses choose and implement the right warehouse management software in line with their own requirements, giving our customers the benefit of standardised and replicated business processes across their organisation that minimise implementation and upgrade costs. With in-depth expertise of the technology available to tackle the challenges faced by organisations in today’s dynamic and digitised world, learn how we have been able to fast-track the ROI of SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) for many of our customers.

Check out our full list of customer case studies here.

Arla Foods – EWM enables its ‘dairy of the future’

Home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands, including Cravendale, Anchor and Lurpack, it was recognised that the landscape within Arla needed to be aligned by reducing the number of WMS to a couple of core applications.

After consideration of the requirements from the business and WMS roadmap inputs, EWM was selected by Arla for the following reasons:

• ERP independence whilst maintaining standard integration
• Flexibility of developing with standard BAdIs
• Integrated material flow system and ITS Mobile
• Scalability
• Future integration with other SAP solutions

Key functionality was needed by Arla to support new sites which included an integrated solution with automated vehicle systems.

This was achieved with:

• Plant connectivity and telegrams from a material flow system.
• Unloading by HU to increase efficiencies for external goods receipt.
• Integration with line management systems to enable real time goods receipts from production and yard management.

Processes have been enhanced to include warehouse monitor changes that make it easier for the workforce to access all required transactions from one place. The extension of the monitor now includes custom reports so all reporting is available in one place. Wave simulation was also added to show the stock picture at that point if wave was released.

The logistics benefits have helped Arla realise approximately 15% weekly cost savings in transport, while receiving goods at pallet level when deliveries are mixed on a trailer has reduced processing time by around 50% and allowed for an increase in inbound profile.

Hallmark Cards – future-proofing its business with EWM

Hallmark Cards is another household name, having operated in the UK for almost 60 years. Its legacy technology was making it difficult to change processes and add features, and the company recognised that it needed a new platform that would help to generate and support new business and drive better returns from its warehouse resources.

Looking in more detail at the SAP SCM EWM Project Scope, it included:

• Distribution centre based on EWM with integration to four non-SAP ERP systems.
• EWM solution providing a single warehouse system for four different businesses in the Hallmark Group in a Logistics Server Provider style operation.

Key business requirements were met easily with EWM, including the extension of interfaces to include custom fields to and from ERP, plus the mapping of products/customers/vendors across multiple ERPs.

Rocket were selected as the SAP Partner for the full project lifecycle and the end result included significantly improved warehouse operator efficiency, as well as an improvement in resource utilisation, with pick rates increased by 26%.

Click below to download our free webinar, presented by Hallmark Cards UK's Mark Donnellan, to find out more about how SAP EWM helped the organisation to future-proof its business.

Global Logistics — Leading Tool-hire business – handling short lead-times with EWM

Our customer, a global logistics company, wanted to create a fulfilment hub and service centre for its own customers, a leading supplier of tool and equipment hire in the UK and Ireland.

The national distribution hub needed to operate efficiently in the face of short lead-times for orders and a large and diverse product range. It was also required to maintain high service levels in a competitive industry for customers that are also under pressure to deliver. Specific challenges included changes to orders being made very late in the fulfilment process and around a third of dispatches needing to be the same day, often in less than four hours from being received.

SAP EWM was implemented to drive warehouse process optimisation, automation and mobilisation. 

exertis Electronics and Technology Distribution — warehousing and logistics solution for the future

In 2017 one of Europe's largest and fastest growing technology distribution and specialist service providers looked to Rocket to give them a warehousing and logistics solution for the future with the implementation of SAP EWM (9.3) and TM (9.3).

As a global distribution organisation with 400+ global technology brands and over 45,000 retailers and resellers offering a range of different services and routes to market, we had to design a flexible solution that supports bulk retail down to parcel deliveries, servicing all sizes of delivery for all types of customers, from EDI orders to internet orders for 3rd party customers. Planning and implementing the solution with this flexibility in mind will also cater for their expected future growth. The flexible solution also maximises picking efficiencies in their narrow aisle and wide aisle storage using the latest RF devices via ITS Mobile.

Not having an SAP landscape previously, the new solution is giving them the flexibility to grow and expand their business for the future. It was integral during blueprinting that gaps were identified and matched to the solutions, allowing us to look at these areas where additional innovation can drive additional value.

These are only a few of the many successful EWM implementations that Rocket has undertaken for clients with diverse challenges across a wide range of business sectors.

From the UK's first SAP EWM project to the latest EWM innovations, our experience includes 11 successfully completed EWM engagements and five in-progress projects. We can help you create a cohesive and robust operating platform built on SAP EWM and other complimentary operational technology such as mobile, automation and track-and-trace.

To find out how Rocket Consulting can help your business conquer the business challenges of the twenty-first century and transform itself with EWM, get in touch.