When Saudi distributor and manufacturer Binzagr decided to implement a warehouse management system (WMS), it had to proceed with caution. After all, the company has 36 sites spread across 21 locations throughout Saudi Arabia—with four supply chains (food, non-food, cold and automotive), as well as partners with prominent brands like Kraft, Tyson Foods and Hershey’s. And, it moves 700,000 to 800,000 cartons per day across that network.
All of the products it handles are first shipped from its flagship location in Jeddah, and then distributed to different locations from there. Due to the scale of the operation, any disruption in business could have a significant financial impact, while also damaging critical relationships with suppliers and customers.
With that in mind, the 181-year-old company spent a lot of time prepping for the WMS implementation. First, it extensively tested the solution to ensure it could handle any potential scenario. Then, a mock go-live occurred at each site to prepare the staff for the roll out. It was a long process that required patience, but it ultimately paid off.
The go-lives had a minimal impact on business. Just three days after Binzagr began using the WMS, its order fulfillment levels were back to pre-go-live norms. In addition, Binzagr has already seen its order fulfillment performance increase by 36%, according to senior vice president Randy Brown, without adding additional resources like employees or new warehouses.
At this point, Binzagr has gone live at about one-third of its 36 sites; it also has a detailed scheduled for the remaining go-lives.
“We took a long time to prepare before our first go-live, as we wanted to make sure that, once we went live, everything was in place and we did not have any significant downturn in business,” Brown explains. “We viewed the prep time as an investment and felt we were better off to make sure we got it right and developed the processes accordingly.”
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