ShipHawk Case Studies Kalalou Case Study

Edit This Case Study Record

	Kalalou Case Study ShipHawk

Kalalou Case Study

ShipHawk

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Retail
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases	Inventory Management Warehouse Automation
Services	System Integration Training
Challenge	In 2008, Kalalou, like many wholesale companies at the time, was manually receiving and processing inventory with paper-based systems. It needed a better way to allocate inventory and work with back orders and releases. In addition, the company was looking to improve how it dealt with containers with multiple purchase orders, receiving, and to better manage overall warehouse operations, including cube utilization, efficient rack positioning, stock rotation, and inventory placement. The company has four onsite warehouses and one offsite, and routinely maintains approximately 80 trailers of merchandise onsite. Because it has so many yard-based trailers in addition to its main warehouses, the company faced issues with replenishment to and from offsite facilities and yard-based trailers. Manual cycle counting also affected the accuracy of inventory quantities. Read More
About Customer	Kalalou is a leading designer and supplier of home accents, garden decor, and gifts. For more than 30 years, the company has brought international products to the U.S. market. It is committed to working with recycled/sustainable materials and dedicated to improving the lives of those with whom it works through its Doug and Susan’s Kid Foundation. Kalalou delivers its products via three channels: Wholesale to big home décor companies and brick-and-mortar boutiques & gift shops, Direct-to-consumers via its eCommerce store, At West End, Drop-shipping for D2C customers. Read More
Solution	Since implementing ShipHawk WMS (formerly SuiteWM) in 2009, Kalalou has achieved a wide variety of efficiencies and improved productivity outcomes. As it replaced manual processes with automation, Kalalou now uses handheld wireless devices to effortlessly receive goods against multiple purchase order (PO) advanced shipping notices (ASNs). Using ShipHawk WMS, the company now has visibility into the entire process, meaning they can utilize the real-time data and make decisions throughout the day. Once their inventory is offloaded, the team uses handheld devices for efficient directed-put away to consolidate inventory in storage and maximize cube utilization and placement. Most of Kalalou’s POs aren’t single orders or for single suppliers, so the warehouse team often makes consolidations and being able to track them in the system is instrumental in staying on top of inventory. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Retail

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Warehouse Automation

Services

System Integration

Training

Challenge

In 2008, Kalalou, like many wholesale companies at the time, was manually receiving and processing inventory with paper-based systems. It needed a better way to allocate inventory and work with back orders and releases. In addition, the company was looking to improve how it dealt with containers with multiple purchase orders, receiving, and to better manage overall warehouse operations, including cube utilization, efficient rack positioning, stock rotation, and inventory placement. The company has four onsite warehouses and one offsite, and routinely maintains approximately 80 trailers of merchandise onsite. Because it has so many yard-based trailers in addition to its main warehouses, the company faced issues with replenishment to and from offsite facilities and yard-based trailers. Manual cycle counting also affected the accuracy of inventory quantities.

About Customer

Kalalou is a leading designer and supplier of home accents, garden decor, and gifts. For more than 30 years, the company has brought international products to the U.S. market. It is committed to working with recycled/sustainable materials and dedicated to improving the lives of those with whom it works through its Doug and Susan’s Kid Foundation. Kalalou delivers its products via three channels: Wholesale to big home décor companies and brick-and-mortar boutiques & gift shops, Direct-to-consumers via its eCommerce store, At West End, Drop-shipping for D2C customers.

Solution

Since implementing ShipHawk WMS (formerly SuiteWM) in 2009, Kalalou has achieved a wide variety of efficiencies and improved productivity outcomes. As it replaced manual processes with automation, Kalalou now uses handheld wireless devices to effortlessly receive goods against multiple purchase order (PO) advanced shipping notices (ASNs). Using ShipHawk WMS, the company now has visibility into the entire process, meaning they can utilize the real-time data and make decisions throughout the day. Once their inventory is offloaded, the team uses handheld devices for efficient directed-put away to consolidate inventory in storage and maximize cube utilization and placement. Most of Kalalou’s POs aren’t single orders or for single suppliers, so the warehouse team often makes consolidations and being able to track them in the system is instrumental in staying on top of inventory.

Impact #1	Doubled employee productivity from 11 boxes packed per hour to 22 boxes
Impact #2	System that scales with eCommerce growth - increased order processing from 300-400 orders per day 10 years ago to 1700+ orders
Impact #3	Improved inventory accuracy due to real-time data on hand-held devices while containers are unloaded

Impact #1

Doubled employee productivity from 11 boxes packed per hour to 22 boxes

Impact #2

System that scales with eCommerce growth - increased order processing from 300-400 orders per day 10 years ago to 1700+ orders

Impact #3

Improved inventory accuracy due to real-time data on hand-held devices while containers are unloaded

Benefit #1	Doubled employee productivity from 11 boxes packed per hour to 22 boxes
Benefit #2	Increased order processing from 300-400 orders per day 10 years ago to 1700+ orders
Benefit #3	Reduced pack lists from six pages to one

Benefit #1

Doubled employee productivity from 11 boxes packed per hour to 22 boxes

Benefit #2

Increased order processing from 300-400 orders per day 10 years ago to 1700+ orders

Benefit #3

Reduced pack lists from six pages to one

Download PDF Version

Overview

Kalalou Case Study

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit