NAS Case Study

Background

Established in 1982, NAS Australia (NAS) is a Queensland-family owned and operated wholesaler of cutting-edge TV reception, custom installation and security products. With almost four decades of industry experience, NAS are the leading experts in the TV reception industry with a diversified business that offers solutions across CCTV, security, access control, home theatre, home automation, enterprise Wi-Fi and data industries. As its business has grown and its range of products has diversified, NAS realised it needed to upgrade its warehouse and supply chain technologies to enhance operational efficiency and ensure customer needs were being met. NAS also had a legacy system in place to assist with warehouse activity, but the technologies were no longer being supported in the market. “The primary limitation of the old platform was the Windows Mobile based operating system, which was coming to its end of life. We knew that was going to get harder and harder to support over time. And as the scanner hardware reached its end of service life, it was getting more and more difficult to replace,” Mark Roemermann, IT Manager of NAS, said.

The Solution

To deliver greater warehouse accuracy and efficiency, NAS required an advanced solution that would empower staff, enable mobility and improve the customer experience. The company also required a Warehouse Management System (WMS) that would integrate seamlessly with NAS’ existing ERP system. Mark Roemermann, IT Manager for NAS added “We decided to go with the Cloud Coders’ WMS, as we saw that it was a platform that could serve us well for the next 10 years. What we liked was the stable operating system and the Android-based, off-the-shelf technology that we knew would give us the flexibility to continuously upgrade as features became available.” In addition to deploying a new WMS, NAS also required a mobile scanning and computing solution that would enable warehouse staff to efficiently pick orders and ensure customer deliveries were being met. The Honeywell CT60 handheld computer was chosen to help improve warehouse accuracy and speed up supply chain processes. “From an IT perspective, one of the things that I really liked about the CT60 is the speed and responsiveness of the user interface. Everything feels like it is happening instantly. You never feel like you’re having to wait for the scanner software when you’re conducting a pick, or a sale, or a transfer or any sort of inventory or stock movement,” Roemermann said. In upgrading warehouse technology, NAS has experienced an improvement in the overall purchase fulfilment process. Today a customer might phone, email or place an order via NAS’ online ecommerce platform, which then comes into the ERP as a sales order. A sales representative then pushes that into the WMS to be picked, automatically distributing the product information to the CT60 scanners. The warehouse staff then locate the asset to be picked and place that onto a trolley, before taking it through to the packing bench where the scanners are used to pack the order and prepare it for shipment.

Benefits

“The Cloud Coders’ WMS and Honeywell CT60 have significantly improved our warehouse processes. Tasks are completed in the warehouse more efficiently with higher rates of accuracy. Our new technology platform means that receiving of goods and putting items away occurs much more quickly. And when it comes to picking, because we’re no longer limited to picking from one area, we can pick from wherever that stock is within the warehouse. It’s meant that bulk orders are now able to be processed faster,” Keith Griffin, Warehouse Operations from NAS, said. For warehouse staff, working with the new solutions has also helped improve common picking activities, saving staff time in looking for items and enhancing overall worker efficiency. “The Honeywell CT60 handheld computer has made life much easier, and the scan engine is far superior to anything that we’ve had before. One of my favourite things about the solution is that it gives me the ability to find items using either the item code itself or even just the location that it may be in. I can scan that location; it will tell me the items that are within it. If it’s not actually the item that I’m looking for, I can scan an item code and it’s going to tell me all the places that it is held within the warehouse,” Griffin said. As a result of deploying new solutions to support its warehouse and order fulfillment processes, NAS has realised direct business benefits that allows the company to run leaner and more effectively.“The improvements we have seen in our business from the Cloud Coders’ WMS and Honeywell CT60 have been immense. Realistically in our branch locations, we believe that the combined technologies save us one staff member per location given the accuracy and efficiency gains we have realised,” John Kimbell, Managing Director of NAS, said. Beyond directly benefiting actual warehouse processes, NAS has also experienced remote support from the new solution. “One of my favourite things about the overall solution is the remote support possibilities that I have for our staff internally. I can bring up the scanner software remotely from my office here in Brisbane, and I can support our staff in our branch offices regionally without having to go to the expense of traveling to site,” Roemermann said.
 

Looking to the Future

As its business continues to grow and adapt to new challenges, adoption of technology that supports customer order fulfilment and effective warehouse operations is critical for NAS. “With Cloud Coders and Honeywell, we are confident that we have technology partners who can support our business over the long-term. The benefits we have realised from their solutions to date have exceeded expectations, and we know that we can evolve our systems further as new upgrades come to market,” Kimbell said.