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Dixons Group plc, (HQ Hemel Hempstead, www.dixons.co.uk ) specialises
in the sale of high technology consumer electronics, personal computers,
domestic appliances, photographic equipment, communications products
and related financial and after sales services. The Dixons Group
operates a combination of high street retail outlets, out-of-town
superstores, on-line businesses and after-sales service operations
across the UK and Europe. The Group's UK brands are Dixons, Currys,
PC World PC World Business, PC Service Call, MasterCare and The Link.
The Group also owns businesses across Europe, including Elkjop, EI
System, Kotsovolos S.A. and European Property.
Dixon’s Group Challenge
As the leading electrical retailer in Europe, Dixons Group has a
huge challenge in meeting the supply demands of its retail outlets
and on-line customers. It operates17 local distribution centres,
ten service centres and three National Distribution Centres (NDCs)
based in Stevanage, Lincoln and Newark. The NDC in Stevenage is
a 270,000sqft warehouse and it is here that the Catalyst WMS
is installed.
The sheer size of the warehouse operation,
together with the heavy seasonal bias leading up to the Christmas
period, creates a huge operational challenge for the Dixons Group.
During the last financial year 13.9 million packs were moved
through the warehouse.
Dixon’s Group Goal
With multi-million pound stock throughput and more than 5,000
SKUs (stock lines) in the warehouse at peak season, the efficient
management of goods is of paramount importance. Goods-in are
taken into specific areas depending on whether they are small
or bulk, fast or slow moving. Additional segmentation is carried
out, depending on whether goods are to be delivered to main storage
areas or the automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS). Once
stored, these goods have to be readily accessible to the 20
different picking zones to prepare them for despatch.
The goal for
Dixons Group is to ensure that inventory is managed throughout
the goods in, storage, picking and despatch processes to ensure
the smooth running of the operations. With deliveries and despatches
occurring continually throughout the day, accuracy and efficiency
are essential.
The Catalyst Solution
Catalyst WMS was first installed in June 1997. The system now
manages all aspects of goods-in, storage, picking and despatch
and is integrated with the ASRS and the VanRiet sortation system.
Stock is generally received on pallets and is booked in the week
prior to arrival, with most suppliers delivering on a weekly
basis. Small items and fast-moving bulk items are scanned and then
transferred to the ASRS. A stand-alone storage area is dedicated
to slow moving bulk goods. These storage areas support the pickfaces
and when they reach a trigger point, replenishment is generated
automatically. These trigger points are flexible parameters,
specified in Catalyst, and vary depending on the size of the
pickface. The ASRS system informs Catalyst WMS of the precise
volume of stock remaining and when the pre-specified number is
reached the WMS requests the ASRS to replenish the stock item.
This is all controlled by the interface between the Catalyst WMS
and the ASRS, developed by Catalyst and CSA. Pickfaces themselves
are divided into 20 zones and picked stock is either placed on a
conveyor or manually taken to the despatch area where pallets are
located in run order before being loaded onto a vehicle.
Conveyorable stock is sorted on a VanRiet Sortation System where
an interface with Catalyst enables the sorter to identify branch
destinations from bar-codes on the carton using 4 Erwin Sick
OMNICLV490 terminals.
All stock is order-picked with Catalyst
generating the pick runs. The whole process is monitored using
more than 250 Telxon RF systems ensuring that Dixons Group always
knows the status of all aspects of its warehouse activity.
Dixon's Group Return on Investment
The Catalyst WMS has enabled Dixons Group to handle the significant
increase in warehouse throughput generated by the growth of the
business and the development of its multi-channel retailing
division, while controlling inventory accuracy. In addition, with
the massive increase in activity over the peak period of October
to December, the company needs a system that has the capability to
handle significant upward shifts in throughput. Catalyst has allowed
Dixons Group to change operating methods, including the addition
of the multichannel sales function, without system re-writes. It
has also allowed control over real-time replenishment, real-time
stock audits, far less administration and increased picking accuracy.
An interface developed by Catalyst from the WMS to the WCS
warehouse control system) has allowed Dixons Group to move a
greater volume of items through to despatch and then to distribute
these equally across the Van Riet sortation chutes allowing for a
more balanced workload. In addition, the interface to the ASRS
has eliminated much duplication of effort and, in turn, improving
goods in accuracy. With the increased volumes of direct business,
Catalyst has allowed for an easier integration of this service
into the standard operation.
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Adobe
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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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“The main benefit of Catalyst can be seen in a reduction in the vast
amounts of administration that was associated with our mainframe system.
Real-time replenishment has reduced the number of cross-offs significantly.
The Catalyst WMS system is now delivering significant payback for Dixons.
We are much better able to monitor stock, carry out regular audits and
we have a much greater understanding of our stock exposure than we have
ever had.”
- Dixons Group
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