From Excel to real-time dashboards: Flamingo Pet Products optimizes warehouse processes

Flamingo Pet Products is an established name in the pet industry with a rich history of developing and distributing high-quality products, and has become a reliable partner for both individuals and professional customers over the years. With a significant workforce, the company works on a wide range of products, ranging from toys and food to accessories and care products. Through constant growth in turnover and market share, combined with customer focus and fast delivery, Flamingo Pet Products stands out from the competition with a strong focus on innovation and expansion of its offerings. The result is a solid reputation at home and abroad, supported by a loyal customer base consisting of specialty stores, pet stores and garden centers.

Situation of the problem

Picking performance:

• A lot of manual work was done in Excel to monitor the picking performance (order picking productivity) per employee.
• Every month, an overview was sent via e-mail with the performance of the employees, linked to a bonus scheme.
• There was no direct link between the pick data and the tap times in the GPS system (time recording system).

Operations:

• There was no live overview of the 'todo' picking work in the warehouse. It was not possible to see at all times how much work was left and how progress was going.

Team leader: The team leader missed a handy dashboard to see at a glance:

• Who in the team is absent or ill (and until when).
• The real-time performance of employees throughout the day.
• Any skipped pick lines.
• Employee check-in and check-out times.
• Where there are inefficiencies in the warehouse process.

Preferred situation

• Picking performance: Automatic calculation of picking performance based on pick data and tick-clock data (GPS), with weekly automatic e-mail reports to employees.

• Operations: A live overview of the status of pick lines (completed, in progress, scheduled) by route group. Based on the current picking performance and the number of active pickers, it should be possible to predict how much time the remaining picking activities will take.

• Team leader: One comprehensive overview per picking team, where the team leader has all the necessary information to efficiently manage the team and arrange replacement if necessary.

Solution Description

When selecting the solution, the focus was on affordability and a clear return on investment, compatibility with the existing RAW ERP system, system reliability and stability, and an implementation partner with the right supply chain expertise to quickly understand business processes.

For the technical realization, the choice was made for the InsightData Operations App. Communication and coordination was mainly through Flamingo Pet Products' IT department.

“Thanks to automation and clear dashboards, we can now focus on analyzing results instead of wasting time collecting data.” Kevin Schellens — Warehouse Manager

Phased approach

In the first phase, an in-depth analysis of pick data and GPS data was carried out, allowing them to get to know the business processes at a detailed level and laid the basis for further optimizations. A team leader dashboard was then configured to provide real-time insight into attendance, performance, and anomalies. Subsequently, this dashboard was expanded with a live overview of future picking work and a forecast of the time required. Thanks to an iterative approach and regular physical meetings with employees, team leaders and the IT department, progress could be continuously evaluated and the solution gradually refined.

Comparison between old and current situation

• Less manual work: Where Excel sheets and e-mails used to be the basis, there is now an automated reporting system. This not only saves manual hours, but also reduces the risk of errors.

• Focus on decisions instead of collecting data: Because the figures are generated automatically, attention shifts to analyzing trends and taking proactive measures.

• Real-time insight: The dashboards provide immediate insight into trends and operational bottlenecks, allowing team leaders and managers to make better and faster adjustments.

• Data quality and integrity: Incorrect tap data (e.g. incorrect clocks in or out) are detected and corrected much more quickly.

Benefits: time savings, efficiency and cost reduction

• Save time: The automation of reports and real-time dashboards significantly reduces manual processing time.

• Efficiency: By responding quickly and appropriately to operational data, inefficiencies in the picking processes are reduced.

• Cost reduction: Higher productivity and fewer errors ultimately lead to lower operational costs and higher customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

The implementation of the InsightData Operations App at Flamingo Pet Products has led to a significant improvement in picking performance, operational overview and managing employees. By combining data from different sources (pick data and GPS clock) into one integrated dashboard, Flamingo Pet Products now benefits from greater efficiency, lower costs and improved decision making at all levels of the organization.

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