Oxford University Press cuts order fulfilment costs by 27%

RedPrairie Corporation, a world leading consumer-driven optimisation company, has boosted performance and cut operational costs at Oxford University Press (OUP), a major academic publishing house and the worlds largest university press.

OUP collaborated with its workforce to implement RedPrairies workforce management solution in its UK warehouse in order to increase its service capacity. In the first week alone, order throughput rose by 19%, with the result that over one year the cost of fulfilling an order fell by 27%.  In addition OUP was also able to save 100,000 from its annual budget for warehouse staff as it was able to handle orders during peak periods using less resource.

Elwyn Roberts, OUP Infrastructure Manager, said, The key to successfully implementing the system was to fully involve staff in the project. We gave them ownership of their productivity and the chance to contribute ideas so that all the changes made were their own. This proved to be a catalyst to re-energise the team and showed them a wealth of new opportunities, what we call light bulb moments, small things that make a big difference. Given the choice, no one would go back to the old way of working.

OUPs 240,000 sq ft UK warehouse handles 24 million books, 40,000 titles and 26,500 pallets a year. It manages 15,000 order lines per day and 3,500 orders are dispatched each day.

The Workforce Management solution integrates with OUPs existing warehouse management solution (WMS), also supplied by RedPrairie - although the solution can be integrated with any third party WMS.

Martin Hiscox, Vice Chairman of the Board, Managing Director and President International, RedPrairie, said, Workforce Management software is a powerful tool for change in the warehouse and OUP has effectively shown that dramatic improvements are possible if the workforce is fully consulted and involved.

About Oxford University Press

OUP is a major academic publishing house, and is the worlds largest University Press. OUP is the oldest company in Britain and was formed in 1478, two years after William Caxton invented the printing press. The Press is a department of the University, is self financing, and has no shareholders. OUP has a presence in more than 50 countries and employs 5000 people across the world. It turns over nearly 500m p.a. and has an operating surplus of 75m p.a.
 

About RedPrairie Corporation

RedPrairie is a world leading consumer driven optimization company. Built on an advanced Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) developed over the past 15 years, the RedPrairie integrated suite of solutions offers on-demand capabilities to over 40,000 sites worldwide for many of the worlds largest companies.

RedPrairies E2e solutions synchronize people and products throughout the customer buying cycle to ensure goods reach the right place at the right time. At the point of sale, this means consumers have access to desired products and that the store is staffed with the right people to help them make their purchases. In the production cycle, it means suppliers and manufacturers time and synchronize shipments and production based on demand signals from the retailer. And in the back room of the store, it means having the least amount of inventory, solving the last yard problem of the retail supply chain.