Mars, Incorporated has announced the launch of a new warehouse management system (WMS) that was developed, tested and implemented across 10 North American warehouse sites in just eight months.
The new system has cloud capabilities that offer cost savings since there's no need to maintain physical data centres. It can also be updated every year as opposed to the industry standard of every five to seven years for physical centres.
Furthermore, the new system has an optimised task interleaving process where all components of the WMS are programmed to complete tasks as they proceed to their next location.
Five Principles
A physical logistics functional expert at Mars, Carlos Miranda realised that equipping the WMS with more capabilities and a user-friendly interface would save money that could be reinvested somewhere else.
Using the company's five principles (quality, responsibility, mutuality, efficiency, and freedom) as their north star, Carlos and his team developed and pitched a plan to their leadership team outlining how to revolutionise the system.
Once approved, Carlos' team connected with vendors to develop the new system and introduce it to Mars warehouse sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico, some as big as 1.5 million square feet.
'Commitment To Excellence'
"Mars is known for delivering its iconic, quality products to our consumers and part of that process includes identifying new and innovative ways to achieve excellence in the warehouses where they're stored and transported," said Erik Owino, senior vice president of supply for Mars Wrigley North America.
"It is because of this novel idea and commitment to excellence from Carlos and his team that this brand-new system came to life."
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