|
View from the Top - Part 2 |
Part 1
Read Part 1
|
COMPANY FILE
|
 |
|
Lex Auto Logistics (LAL) is a provider
of outsourced logistics services. It runs the spare
parts operations for manufacturers of commercial and
other vehicles – including the Challenger tank. Its
customers include Fleetguard, Vauxhall, Hyundai, Triumph
Motorcycles and the MoD.
LAL is part of the £1.5 billion RAC
Group. Lex itself has a turnover of £220 million and
500 staff. As a logistics specialist, it has a main
500,000 square metre warehouse in Chorley, Lancashire.
This stocks around 309,000 product lines which Lex delivers
to around 2,700 different UK customer locations, as
well as overseas. Lex itself has around 1,300 active
suppliers and 23 UK distribution centres.
It manages this warehousing and distribution
operation using the SSA BPCS enterprise resource planning
(ERP) system integrated with Manhattan Associates’ PkMS
warehouse management system, Manugistics demand forecasting
software and the Sherpa technical database.
|
Q: HOW WAS THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
MANAGED?
A: We signed the commercial contract with Manhattan in late
2002 and went live in November 2003. We agreed we would follow
Manhattan’s implementation methodology and established myself
and Ian Thomson as executive sponsors, with one of Manhattan’s
professional services people as sponsor on their side, who
is now Wilma Randall.
We appointed an operational project manager on each side
and implementation teams. We established monthly project meetings
and Manhattan developed an operational functionality flow
definition, which basically showed how the system would be
deployed.
Another learning point is we should have spent more time
specifying the functional flow in more detail, ensuring that
we had a full understanding of what we were implementing and
that Manhattan fully understood our business. This would have
saved us time in the subsequent stages of the project.
In doing this, we identified around 20 minor modifications,
for example integration with our transport carrier TNT, and
the packaging system needed to interact with BPCS.
Manhattan handed the modifications while we constructed the
interfaces and carried out the configuration. Then we did
the testing with our developers and analysts proving the software,
culminating in a conference room pilot to prove it would work
in the workplace. We drove out about 360 scripts then did
the data preparation and about six weeks of CRP execution
– we exercised the business processes in a logical sequence
to capture any problems.
Alongside that we prepared the training materials and took
two weekends where we exposed the application to a small number
of users. We also did a performance stress test to make sure
of the response times and this went well. We also had to deploy
the RF kit from Symbol.
The strategy is that we are implementing PkMS in the segment
of the warehouse for our customer Fleetguard which makes sense
because they were keen on the system and it’s a self-contained
area of the warehouse.
The project went live on November 24th last year. It’s been
a success though we are still in the stage of benefits realisation.
More...
If you are not registered with the site, please register now to read the rest of this page.
If you are registered, please sign in to read the rest of this page.
Conspectus 2004
|
Copyright © 2004
|
 |
|
