Advanced Logistics Solutions for IFS

ALSWorks for Supply Chain Execution

eNSYNC’s Advanced Logistics Solutions for IFS Applications  is a comprehensive collection of Supply Chain Execution (SCE)  solutions for collaborative inventory management, warehouse management, yard management, transportation management, and mobile data collection. Known collectively as ALSWorks, these solutions provide best-of-breed functionality for optimum inventory and order management to put, pick, pack, rate, palletize, load, ship, track, and document.

Warehouse Management plus + Transportation Management

Integrated Execution

ALSWorks integrates warehouse management and transportation management to speed service and reduce order fulfillment costs.  Merging transportation planning/execution with the Distribution Center (DC) planning/execution streamlines operations, yields reduced freight costs, and provides higher customer service levels.

ALSWorks solves the problems associated with last-minute changed and expedited orders, goods that suddenly become damaged or missing, multi-SKU pallet builds/loads, inefficient put/pick path, carrier’s equipment/traffic problems, non-optimized loads, BOL/ASN creation, and customer mandated EDI.

Know before you Load

Transportation data regarding capacities and constraints is integrated with warehouse management information so both operations are optimized eliminating the functional boundaries common between the DC and the transportation department. (i.e. with ALSWorks-Advanced Order Picking you know the size and number of vehicles and pallets required  before any product is handled!)

ALSWorks Applications for IFS

ALSWorks is tightly integrated with IFS applications leveraging IFS’s superior component based architecture featuring open API’s. Real-time integration is achieved with the ERP systems so all inventory transactions are in the native IFS environment. Warehouse and shipping users can query for up-to-the-minute data on inventory status, shipping orders, etc.

ADVANCED ORDER PICKING

OPTIPACK

With Advanced Order Picking’s cartonization tool, OPTIPACK, you can develop an efficient plan to organize the placement of items into shipping cartons. This packing optimization feature saves time, packing material, containers, and shipping expenses in the picking and packing of customer orders.

Companion product, Pack-N-Rate is a carrier-rating module that chooses the lowest cost shipping method. Actual item dimensions, weight & restrictions for packing, along with the minimum shipping service level (ground, 1-day air, 2-day air, 3-day air, etc) per order, are used to determine the lowest cost carton, filler, and shipment method. Shipping weights and rates are calculated in seconds and available at order entry.
 
OPTIPACK and Pack-N-Rate improves efficiency by selecting the number and size of cartons needed to pack orders for shipment based on each item’s dimensional cube, orientation restrictions, stacking factors, weight and compatibility with other items.

The picker can now have the carton as the first item on the pack list and pick the order directly into the carton. The least-experienced packer will now use the most economical carton, bag, or envelope every time.

With OPTIPACK the number of “product” touches decreases. Workers are more productive. Save money by decreasing returned products due to shipping damage.

The manual mode is useful for “what-if” test runs on existing or proposed new carton selections. Running the same set of orders with different carton specifications can quickly generate exact carton costs. By running typical orders with a selection of different cartons, improvement in volume fill, material cost, and labor costs can be achieved.

Mixed Pallet Builder

The ALSWorks Advanced Order Picking Module (AOP) lets you know before you load!  You know size and number of vehicles and pallets before any product is handled. AOP eliminates guesswork and approximations because actual product dimensions and weight are used for palletization and container loading.

AOP provides an intelligent mixed-load pallet builder. AOP generates detailed 3-D pallet loading diagrams which shows a picker how to build mixed-SKU pallets that are stable, follow all product stacking rules and don’t overhang, mushroom, or lean.

Building rules are prioritized to:

• Make whole stock pallets first
• Build whole pallet layers
• Create mixed layers with same-sized items
• Arrange single items

A complete product definition includes actual physical dimensions and weight, plus pallet stacking pattern to show the exact layout of each layer in your stock of commercial pallet.

PICK-BY-LOCATION

Up to 50% of an order picker’s time is spent traveling to, from, and between pick locations. AOP effectively reduces travel time, backtracking, and warehouse tourism. AOP will optimize the picking order of a pallet by finding the shortest picking path through the warehouse. At the same time, all stacking rules, weight limits, contact requirements, and loading heights are enforced.

Quality Inspection

AOP’s 3-D diagrams, pallet placards, and itemized pick lists are the key to boosting picked pallet accuracy while reducing quality inspection time. Mispicks and double picks are virtually eliminated! Stacking rules are defined to eliminate product damage by restricting heavy on fragile items and isolating chemicals from foods, etc.

Load Planning

AOP’s expert Load Planner minimizes staging requirements. Pallets are placed in a truck or inter-modal container based on a 2-level drop location.  How products are separated or mixed on pallets for a location is specified by changeable parameters.  AOP calculates kingpin and axle payload weights to produce accurate “street-legal” loads. Maximizing the payload will be the norm, replacing the current practice of under loading a container to ensure the trailer passes the scales.

AOP’s 3-D Loading Diagram shows a loader where to place each pallet in the container/vehicle, and how it is oriented.

ADVANCED LOADING SYSTEM (ALS)

ALS is the ideal optimization application for loading mixed loads of pallets and loose freight pieces. The ALS module alone has shown to slash freight costs 10 percent!

Pallet Builder

Get more on board with the Advanced Loading System. ALS makes fast work of your most difficult loading plans, cutting planning time down from hours and days to a few seconds.

ALS plans loads and pallets automatically using an expert rule set to:

• Put the most product on the vehicle maximizing it’s cube
• Correctly stack products, to minimize damage
• Orient each item, for easy loading and unloading
• Load in order of drop location
• Balance for correct axle weight

ALS extends the expertise of your planners and loading operators, enforcing complex rules at computational speed and precision on every load you ship. It’s faster, and more accurate, flexible, and consistent than any other planning method.

Vehicle Loader

• Load vehicles, optimizing the use of space. Automatically loads multiple vehicles when capacity is exceeded.
• Select “square” loading to produce loads squared front and rear, for tarping.
• Calculate front and rear axle weights, showing overweight conditions on-line in RED.
• Load railcars, including boxcar, flat rack, center-beam, open-top, and wagons.
• Load angular aircraft containers and flight pallets
• Control the separation and co-mingling of products in palletization and general loading.
• Enforce the maximum weight limit for a vehicle type
• Automatically cut or add products to an order to fill a vehicle.

 
TRANSPORTATION MANAGER

Rate-N-Route

Transportation Manager’s Rate-N-Route Module contains freight contract agreements with the shippers preferred carriers for a fast an accurate calculation of shipping costs and delivery times. Rate-N-Route will recommend the lowest cost carrier, the fastest delivery option, or both. Multi-stop loads can also be rated and routed.

Rate-N-Route is fully integrated with Microsoft’s MapPoint and can quickly generate driving directions and map the route including multi-stop deliveries.

Carrier Select and Dispatch

Freight Requests can be prepared and sent to carriers for confirmation of service and rates.  Once the carrier is selected, 856 ASNs (Advanced Shipping Notices) are automatically generated and sent.

Transportation Manager produces the straight Bill of Lading (BOL) and records the Truck/ PRO# for each shipment. PRO numbers for each shipment dispatched are returned to IFS Order Management/CRM applications for quick access by customer service personnel.

Document Generation for ALSWorks

Supply Chain Execution is not complete until the documentation is delivered. While the “paperless” enterprise is a worthy goal, the very nature of logistics requires documents (paper and electronic) to pack, pick, load and ship. Confirmation of shipments, shipment tracking, and all-important POD (proof of delivery) are mandatory to complete the order to cash cycle.

ALSWorks provides a full featured and flexible Documentation Generator integrated with each ALSWorks Application built to Supply Chain Council Standards.

Documents supported include:

• Packing Lists
• Pick Lists
• As Picked-Pack List
• 3-D Pallet Build Diagrams
• Pallet Placards
• Shipment Sequencing
• 2-D & 3-D Vehicle Load Diagrams
• Freight Request 
• Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs)
• Bill of Lading (BOL)
• VICS BOL
• Customer Configured Bar Code Labels & Templates  
 
Automated Dimensioning and Weighing for ALSWorks

ALSWorks application algorithms depend on accurate weight and dimensional information on each SKU and/or freight piece to be picked, packed, loaded, and shipped. 

Typically, this is a one-time activity as the finished goods warehouse SKU dimensional database is built and stored.

Quantronix’s CubiScan product family provides automated dimensioning and weighing. 
 
The CubiScan 100 is the most popular and versatile dimensioning system offered by Quantronix. It facilitates storage location planning, order picking, re-pack, shipment planning, and freight manifesting activities, and is capable of gathering dimensions on products as small as 0.5 inches and as large as 24 by 24 inches on length and width, and 36 inches on height. With a mobility pack, (which includes a battery and charger) the 100 becomes a completely portable workstation, allowing it to go to the freight rather than bringing freight to it.

The CubiScan 100 is a legal-for-trade certified device that allows shippers and carriers to manifest freight based on volume and weight, always applying the correct and optimal shipping charges.

All CubiScan-collected data is stored in a user-friendly, Windows-based software package called QbitWin™, and is easily transferred to ALSWorks Warehouse Management and Transportation Management Modules.