FTZ Autodele & Vrktj A/S investing

FTZ Autodele & Vrktj A/S is investing in a major upgrade to its central warehouse in Odense, Denmark. FTZ has engaged Consafe Logistics to supply a Warehouse Management System (WMS) an IT system that will include the use of voice recognition technology.

The new systems advanced computerised control will equip our warehouse to handle future growth without costs increasing, and with better performance than we have today, says Niels K. Skak, Vice Director of FTZ Autodele & Vrktj A/S.

The new WMS will be different to traditional inventory control systems in that picking and inventory management will be based on a combination of picking technologies, including Voice Picking. Voice Picking allows warehouse staff to receive picking instructions and acknowledge processed pick orders online, using only speech and hearing. Communication takes place via a headset, with the advantage that the worker has their eyes and hands free to do work and to improve safety.

FTZ has seen exponential growth in recent years due to a combination of organic growth and mergers and acquisitions, including its recent acquisition of Bak and Uhrenfeldt in 2004. The group expects this growth to continue in the years ahead.

FTZ expects the new SattStore WMS will result in even better utilisation of their warehouse space, and improved warehouse efficiency (number of picks per hour), quality (fewer erroneous picks) and delivery time, without the need to employ more staff. The FTZ warehouse was doubled in size in 2006 to 8,000 m2, and houses more than 50,000 product numbers.

We expect the new WMS will further improve our operational and delivery reliability, so that we can continue to deliver products to our customer 3-4 times a day. The primary motive for the investment is to ensure even better customer satisfaction in the future, explains Niels K. Skak.

We expect the quality and efficiency improvements will result in a payback period on the investment of less than two years.

FTZ is planning to commission the new WMS in September. We chose Consafe Logistics as a supplier because we are confident in the quality of both the SattStore system and the critical implementation of the system, which has to ensure we can quickly get the system to support our daily operations in a robust and efficient manner, says Niels K. Skak.

We are very pleased to have received the order because it confirms our role as a leading supplier of warehouse management systems, says Bjarne Eg, Sales Manager at Consafe Logistics A/S. Consafe Logistics A/S has supplied systems to SAAB Automobile, Volvo, Continental Sweden, Michelin, DAF Trucks, Arla Foods, COOP, Netto, Carlsberg, Ferring, Alpharma, Ferring, Alfa Laval, Radiometer, and many other companies.