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Brown-Forman |
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Founded in 1870, Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide (Louisville, Kentucky)
is one of the largest American-owned companies in the wine and spirits
business. The company produces and markets worldwide such well-known
brands as Jack Daniel’s, Canadian Mist, Southern Comfort, Early Times,
Korbel champagnes and Fetzer and Bolla wines. Its revenues in 2002 were
$2.3 billion.
Brown-Forman Challenge
In May 1999, Brown-Forman implemented SAP 3.1H as its ERP package with
an interface to its legacy WMS. This external WMS, however, did not allow
Brown-Forman to take advantage of SAP’s full capabilities. In addition,
3.1H lacked native RF, which meant that Brown-Forman would have needed
middleware to interface with its RF hardware – an upgrade that would have
added $1 million to the project.
In 2001, Brown-Forman brought in Catalyst Consulting to evaluate their
upgrade of its ERP to SAP 4.6C, which included a new warehouse management
module. They concurred that SAP now had the required WM functionality,
and Brown-Forman selected Catalyst Consulting to oversee all customizations
of the SAPConsole data collection transactions.
This project, which began in July 2001, had
several key objectives:
- Implement a warehouse automation solution with RF capabilities that
would be fully integrated into Brown-Forman’s IT and logistics
systems
- Create a wireless infrastructure, including mobile data entry
transactions customized to Brown-Forman’s business
- Expedite the picking, staging and loading processes for truckloads
with up to 40 different line items using SAP’s standard print
function to output barcode labels.
Key Results
By leveraging Catalyst Consulting’s expertise in SAP R/3 systems
integration and remote data collection using SAPConsole, Brown-Forman was
able to:
- Increase shipping throughput by 50%
- Improve space utilization by 50%
- Decrease shipping errors by 40%
- Improve inventory accuracy and stock rotation
- Improve visibility into customerorders
The Catalyst Solution
As a member of SAP’s LES Partner Network of North America and the first
company in the world to install the SAPConsole ™ mobile computing
solution on release 4.6, Catalyst Consulting was the right choice to move
Brown-Forman into an SAP-centric solution. On the software side, it used
wireless transactions that were a combination of SAP’s own 4.6 mobile
data entry transactions, Catalyst’s library of SAPConsole transactions
and custom transactions created specifically for Brown-Forman. Catalyst
developed 20 custom transactions (including eight from its library), each
of which could be run from the desktop as well as the RF devices.
In addition, it trained Brown-Forman personnel to develop RF transactions
inhouse. After being live with the system for one and a half years,
Brown-Forman engaged Catalyst again to develop new transactions and
enhancements. Even though they were trained to develop on their own, it
was their opinion that Catalyst could do the additional development
faster and more cost effectively for the business.
As a certified Intermec Solution Partner, Catalyst also had the expertise
to help Brown-Forman upgrade its wireless infrastructure and RF devices.
Brown-Forman not only had been using Intermec bar code printers for several
years but also was impressed with its access point technology.
For this project, it selected Intermec’s MobileLAN product line, and
Catalyst was involved in integrating eight access points, 17
vehicle-mounted radios and scanners, two handheld radios and five label
printers.
Product Movement
Brown-Forman’s warehouse operations are designed for SU management within
a bulk storage environment. Product receipts are performed against Process
Orders and Purchase Orders. Finished product is received into the
warehouse from automatic palletizers and putaway into bin locations. The
goods receipt for Process Order can be performed on an RF device or on a
desktop. Externally procured product is received into the warehouse via
a Goods Receipt for Purchase Order. Transfer orders are automatically
created for putaway into the warehouse.
Special Requirements
The Brown-Forman implementation had to overcome two unusual hurdles:
- Automate the process to stage materials for delayed shipments in
order to accommodate labeling and other requirements specific to
alcoholic beverages
- Transition barcode labels from custom printing to SAP’s standard
output method
Since each state has specific labeling requirements
for alcoholic beverages and these products are sold differently
by region, most pallets shipped from Brown-Forman have multiple
products. In fact, one truckload can have as many as 80 different
line items. Because that kind of picking from a docked truck can
be so time-consuming as to cause penalties, Brown-Forman had set up
a process in its legacy system that allowed partial portions to be
picked in advance and set aside to await the truck. Sometimes a
single pallet had as many as 20 different items, but the pallet
itself had a unique barcode, so the operator loading the truck only
had to do one scan. This functionality was incorporated into the new WMS.
When the legacy system was still in use, most Brown-Forman
sites were generating barcode labels using custom code in a custom
transaction. In just three weeks, Brown-Forman researched, designed
and implemented a solution that enabled these sites to use SAP’s
standard print function to output the labels.
Key Facts at a Glance
- 125,000 square foot warehouse
- 800 SKUs
- 25 – 35 trucks/day with typically 10-15 line items/truck
- Annual shipments of 5.5 million cases
- Catalyst implemented the SAP solution with RF capabilities in
six months
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Adobe
Acrobat Reader |
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Installer |
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To properly view the downloadable files
on this page, it is necessary to have a version of Adobe
Acrobat installed onto your computer. If you do not already
have this application, a free version is available for
download above. |
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"We were receiving benefits within the first 20 minutes of using the new system."
- Pat Sellers, Manager of Distribution Operations,
Brown-Forman
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