With the help of cross-location teamwork, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) has introduced an advanced system called Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) in Pinerolo, Italy, following similar projects in Bischofsheim, Germany, and Langres, France. The SAP system is opening up new prospects for the automation of warehouse and logistical processes.
November 2021: The new barcode scanners and label printers are on order, and they have been for months. The first planned delivery date has long passed, and so has the second. The delays are one more indication of the bottlenecks disrupting world trade. The team for the project would like to finally run tests leading to the introduction of the new EWM system at the Pinerolo distribution center. Time is pressing. So what do you do?
It’s good to have colleagues ready to help when emergencies arise. FST’s two European distribution centers, at Bischofsheim and Langres, and their American counterpart in Milan, Ohio, also work with SAP EWM and use devices of this kind – and they made units available to the Pinerolo team in short order. It was 2022 before eagerly awaited scanners and printers finally arrived at the site “at the very last moment.”
FST naturally wanted to spare its customers similar hassles. So it was important for the migration to the new SAP EWM warehouse administration system to take place on time – and precisely in the timeframe communicated to the customer. “Our colleagues really pitched in and got us out of trouble,” said Project Manager Jannik Ritter, CPIM.
“At the outset, the steering committee gave a clear priority to the project’s most important tasks,” he said. Staying on schedule and reliable communication with customers were key objectives, surpassed only by quality. As the final report stated, the leadership can point to major successes at Pinerolo: establishing high quality standards using efficient processes that maximize added value for customers and companies.
Photo: Jannik Ritter, Project Manager, Corporate Processes and Information Management/CPIM.
Global Cooperation
Unlike the Bischofsheim and Langres sites, where FST had built completely new distribution centers in recent years, the challenge in Italy was to bring the current processes of an existing warehouse into harmony with the new SAP system. Meanwhile, the IT staffs at different FST locations were making important contributions that “successfully met every challenge, no matter how great,” Ritter said. The support was not limited to the devices – not by a long shot. For example, Pinerolo employees were able to familiarize themselves with the new processes ahead of time at Bischofsheim. An employee from Ohio took the opposite tack: She traveled to Pinerolo to pass on her knowledge and experience over a period of several weeks. “There was a great team spirit,” Ritter said. “Everyone involved was solution-oriented and kept their eye on the big picture and business success.”
Aside from the IT experts’ contributions, supply chain management was integrated into the migration from Weinheim. “Our SCM colleagues, especially the respective process owners, have expertise in how FST’s processes have been set up across all the warehouses and how they best function during day-to-day activities,” Ritter said.
This standardization of best practices FST-wide – for all the differences in their details – is one of the many pluses of the software modernization. The main advantage is that automation can be better integrated, and current solutions, such as the existing autonomous transport vehicles, can be used more extensively. “The processes mapped in the system already have the vast majority of functions and features that are needed to make the warehouse highly efficient while taking customer-specific requirements into account,” Ritter said.
One Of Many Examples
During picking, the system directs the staff using the display on the barcode scanner. The automated process control avoids errors and lost time, even as efficiency and the quality of the work improve. One other benefit: Shippers such as UPS and DHL can now be directly integrated into Pinerolo’s system.
“Customers expect a high degree of availability and fast deliveries, and our warehousing and logistical processes have an impact on customer satisfaction. That’s why it is so important to ensure satisfaction with a state-of-the-art warehouse management like SAP’s EWM,” he said.
Sören Schmitz
Vice President | Lead Center Elastomeric Gasket
“SAP EWM offers many advantages, and we added the latest technology like mobile scanners and printers, smart glasses, automation and other elements to the FST template. It guides warehouse workers very precisely, avoiding mistakes and guaranteeing a high-quality process. The processes are fully paperless as well. In my view, the collaboration among the teams was excellent. The project worked out very well, with a very high system and process quality from day one. The key was the fact that a cross-functional steering committee worked hand-in-hand with cross-functional program management. We also set clear priorities for the team.”
Emilio Chiolerio
Vice President Distribution
“My job went smoothly. I would especially like to highlight the strong collaborative leadership that the participating teams demonstrated. All of us had already worked together on the earlier EWM implementation at Distribution Center France. That was much tougher due to the remote project management that COVID procedures required.”
