@LOGISTICS REPLY T: …...WLN - Do you provide user training? Yes we do. Typically we encourage a...
Transcript of @LOGISTICS REPLY T: …...WLN - Do you provide user training? Yes we do. Typically we encourage a...
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@logistics Reply, the SupplyChain Execution solution spe-cialist, is rapidly winning a
growing blue chip customer base here andin Europe, drawn to its market leadingproduct suite and the flexibility of its con-sultancy-based approach to clients’evolving business needs. In the UK, Fiat, theauto giant, Kenwood, the electrical appli-ance maker, and a leading UK food groupthat supplies the major supermarkets, andin Europe, Geodis Wilson, the freight for-warding company and Italsempione, theinternational logistics company are amongthose choosing @logistics Reply’s solutionsto run their warehouse operations.
@logistics Reply‘s innovative WMSproduct suite includes WM Analytics,Transportation Management, Co-ManagedInventory and Proof of Delivery (POD). Andas we move further into the era of ondemand cloud computing, @logistics Replyis making news here too with SideUp, itsinnovative ‘software as a service’ (SaaS)solution. SideUp Reply provides completesupply chain visibility from warehouse todelivery, and supports all elements fromideal stock placement through to route andfleet management. Geodis Wilson citedSideUp Reply’s outstanding benefits of costcontainment, extremely fast activation times- the system was activated in two weeks,ease of use and extreme flexibility as themain features influencing this leading com-pany’s selection of this innovative solutionfor their logistics and transport operations.
Jez Tongue, Partner, @logistics Reply,heads up the company’s UK business. Hespoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
WLN - How would you sum up yourbusiness?
We provide flexible warehouse manage-ment solutions, which we see as a majorpoint of difference. Rather than push afixed, ‘off-the-shelf’ product set, we take aconsultancy mindset and work with cus-tomers to understand their operationalneeds and then build the solution to fit. Weoffer our clients the right ‘best of breed’functionality to suit the needs of their ware-house operations at that point in theirdevelopment.
WLN - What does “@logistics Reply”mean and where did the name come from?
@logistics Reply is one of 43 businessesoperating under The Reply Group.Established in Italy in 1996, all the busi-nesses incorporate the Reply brand.
“Logistics” is our business and ”@” mar-ries logistics with the power of the internet.The ampersand also ensures we’re alwayslisted first!
WLN - As the @logistics Reply partnerresponsible for the UK, what does your dayto day role involve?
Whilst I am responsible for P&L and foroverall activity in the UK, my focus is oncustomers, both existing and prospective. Iam driven by talking to people in the busi-ness, analysing their challenges anddeveloping solutions for them.
WLN - As a business, how are youorganised in the UK to serve warehouseand logistics clients?
We’re still very much in start up here:there are three of us in the UK at present,backed by 120 in Italy. We’re focused forthe moment on the SideUp product: the twoother guys, Daniele Vanini and ChrisHannigan, concentrate on the consultancyside, and activation and delivery of thesesolutions.
WLN - Does @logistics Reply operateoutside the UK and Italy?
@logistics has a presence across inter-national markets including Italy, Germany,UK, North and Latin America.
WLN - When was the UK business set-up? Where are you based?
Our central London office was set up lastspring. However, the majority of our time isspent on-site with customers.
WLN - Where do you develop your UKsolutions?
Core R&D is in Milan and refinements aremade in the UK to meet the specific needs ofcustomers as required.
WLN - What makes the UK a goodmarket for @logistics Reply?
The UK has one of the world’s mostcompetitive retail sectors. We develop solu-tions that help suppliers work moreefficiently with retailers and vice versa,which enables retailers to supply con-sumers more competitively.
WLN - Before focusing on SideUp, canyou provide an overview of Click, @logis-tics Reply’s other WMS application?
Click is a traditional - on-premiselicensed - WMS. It is actively used by theautomotive; fashion and apparel and foodand beverage sectors; all reflecting ourItalian heritage. Fiat was one of the firstClick customers and continues to work withus globally, as well as in the UK and Italy.
WLN - What does SideUp offer? SideUp offers market-leading WMS
functionality and hosting/upgrade serv-ices, through to after sales support, ‘allbaked in’ as part of the monthly fee, whichincludes a modest set-up cost but no cap-ital layout. @logistics Reply oversees theproject delivery and managementincluding infrastructure design, capacityplanning and custom solutions develop-ment including the practicalities of deviceintegration e.g. RF, voice recognition andRFID, or integration with ERP or other hostapplications.
There are additional options for on-sitesupport including facilities management,product training workshops, outsourcedsecurity, hosting and DBA monitoring andassistance.
WLN - How does SideUp compare withother WMS programs?
Too many warehouse operations run onWMS systems that are essentially all-pur-pose models, with businesses paying forfunctions they don’t need. SideUp aligns thewarehouse’s needs so only those functionsrequired are activated and paid for.
SideUp is ideal for businesses with lim-ited IT budgets. For some it is the onlycost-effective route; it provides the cus-tomisable scalability for users to pay aslittle as they wish for the functions theyneed, with no contractual constraints.
W L N - C a n S i d e U p g r o w w i t h abusiness?
Yes, SideUp is an on-demand platform,so customers can “switch-on or off” in linewith the needs of the business and its sur-rounding economic climate. In addition tothe “pay-as-you-grow” payment model,customers are guaranteed the latestupgrades without the cost and time of man-aging maintenance.
SideUp supports the gradual transitionto a WMS and protects much needed cash-flow and capital.
WLN - Is there a limit on the number ofusers?
SideUp has unlimited scalability. It’s abrowser-based application, hosted onAmazon Web Services (AWS). More userscan be added with a click…
WLN - Who is SideUp aimed at? SideUp is ideal for warehouses requiring
rapid start-up and for those which operatein uncertain scenarios or with very highstock movement. Increasingly, manufac-turers are using it to manage peak demandsor one-off projects. This is because it’s low-risk and contract free.
WLN - How quick is SideUp to set-upand to deliver ROI?
SideUp is quick and low cost to put inplace. It can be fully functional in typically4-6 weeks and paying for itself within 12.This speed-to-benefit is a major differen-tiator from traditional WMS systems thatcan take up to six months, or more, to golive. Additionally, SideUp offers rapid-time-to-value because there’s no capitalpurchase, so initial investment is eliminated.
WLN - Do you provide user training? Yes we do. Typically we encourage a
train-the-trainer approach, as the localoperational teams know the operations,complete with jargon and potential for userworkarounds or “process innovation” (notalways a good thing!) better than @logisticsever can. However, our clients’ success isour success, so we focus on what is best forthe operation to achieve its goals and if thismeans taking on end-user training, this issomething we are willing to do.
WLN - How secure is crucial businessdata in a cloud?
Although many organisations, includingthe financial sector, have become used toentrusting sensitive customer data to hosted,on-demand services like CRM, and even HRon-Demand, the manufacturing world hasbeen slow to embrace cloud computing. Forthose logisticians that have taken advantageof the technology evolution, and require apragmatic and scalable approach in line withthe current business/economic climate - thesomewhat out-dated stigma around SaaSbased platforms has been shaken off.
It is, however, vital to use trusted, prop-erly architected and managed SaaSservices. Like an on-premise solution, secu-rity provision is essential.
WLN - What operational improvementsdoes SideUp offer?
SideUp makes warehouse processesmore efficient, rationalises stock andtherefore storage requirements, reduceserrors, shortens order times and providesreal-time visibility of operations. It alsoautomates operational processes includingautomatic acquisition and transfer of real-time information.
One customer is currently saving between£4,000 and £5,000 each week in supplierfines for one retail customer alone sincedeploying SideUp. This is the result of demon-strably accurate order delivery, backed by afull audit trail and cool chain; improved daterotation and the virtual elimination of costly“special transports”. Inventory control hasalso improved, scrappage been reduced andcustomer service increased.
WLN - What processes does SideUpautomate and what information does ithandle?
SideUp suits both manufacturing envi-ronments (BOM, kitting, assembly andde-assembly) as well as classic distributionoperations, including those looking forsemi-automation.
It manages the key warehouse processesincluding physical and virtual receiving;(delivery notes, unsold items, supplierorder, quality control, received quantitycontrol); put away (labelling, pallet compo-sition, location optimisation); shipping,picking and inventory management(deliver/freight notes, traceability, physicalmaterial handling) through to execution(RFID, barcode, voice terminals).
WLN - Can SideUp be tailored to dif-ferent organisations?
SideUp offers easy customisation and“self-service” personalisation. There arealso vertical market extensions developedfor fashion and apparel, food and beverageand automotive operations.
@logistics Reply provides an integrationtool called Universal Link. This ensuresrobust and sophisticated integration withexisting IT systems, including ERP, OMS,TMS and SCP solutions. We believe we aresetting a precedent with Universal Link.
WLN – At what point in its growthwould you advise a company to move fromSideUp to another of your WMS applica-tions and is this easy to do?
Cloud-ready solutions are not “simplycopy and pastes” of traditional on-premisesolutions. They are architected to run onnumerous machines, virtual or otherwiseand to have multiple processes running inparallel for performance reasons as well asfor redundancy/disaster recovery purposes.All of this means that SaaS solutions arecapable of dealing with more and more dataintensive applications, providing virtuallyunlimited scalability.
There is the possibility for larger organi-sations that want to have more access todata and more control over the timing andfrequency of maintenance and upgradeperiods - when the solution can be tem-porarily unavailable - to move to a “privatecloud” solution.
It’s still SaaS, but more personalised andcustomer-specific. Switching from SaaS toon-premise - as opposed to vice versa – ispossible, but the effort should not be under-estimated. Typically for larger,data-intensive and –sensitive organisations,which want to exercise more control, Iwould recommend a “private cloud”approach rather than move to on-premise.
As a caveat, potential SideUp pur-chasers are encouraged to undertake a datamodelling exercise to ensure current andpotential business volumes can be sup-ported by the SaaS application they areconsidering, as well as any future invest-ment in materials handling equipment(MHE), which may be better driven by anon-premise solution.
WLN - Is it possible that remotelyhosted, on-demand WMS solutions likeSideUp will replace traditional WMSsolutions?
It is vital that warehouse and IT man-agers consider the following features toestablish whether a SaaS solution best suitstheir requirements. These can be groupedinto six categories; speed of deployment; ITresources; business process; budgetingrequirements; company data and externalconnectivity policies, and integration.
Whilst SideUp/SaaS isn’t the answer toevery warehouse problem, I believe that,due to the 15 year R&D heritage upon whichSideUp draws and the virtually unlimitedscalability delivered by a true SaaS solution,we can offer a high degree of functional fitfor most operational scenarios.
I challenge warehouse managers to givethis easy and cost-effective model a try!
WLN - Earlier you highlighted your con-sultancy mind-set. What do you offer thatis different?
At Reply we have a project, rather thanpure product, mentality. We’re focused onmeasurable outcomes and the achievementof planned business benefits, not justwhether the software is installed on time ornot.
We offer services to help deliver a widerange of projects including definition ofoperational process flows, integration withERP or other host systems, field integration,custom solutions development, capacityplanning, infrastructure design and ofcourse, a full project management andsystem implementation service.
We’re willing to work with clients onspecific developments, not just enhance-ments to our WMS products, includingtotally new solutions within our core focusof supply chain execution, of course…
WLN - What industry standards doyour WMS solutions support?
As a new entry to the UK market this issomething we are actively working on.SCOR metrics are supported, but we’re con-stantly looking to align our solutions to thestandards important to our clients.
WLN - Are you promoting SideUp and@logistics Reply at any industry exhibi-tions?
We’re taking part in Logistics Link Live(8-9th June); Warehousing Futures(October); a CILT roundtable (TBC) andLogistics Link North.
WLN - What impact has the recessionhad on demand for your solutions?
Sustainable, low risk solutions likeSideUp, which assure the protection of abusiness’s investment, are increasinglyappealing to manufacturing and IT man-agers where “operating expense” is thephrase of the moment.
The knock-on-effect of consumer cautionhas increased uncertainty in manufacturing;this and the rise in small, temporary logis-tics contracts have boosted interest inapplications which guarantee financial sim-plicity and control and are “ready to go”.
WLN - What is the future for SideUpand @logistics Reply? We’re very enthusi-astic about the impact SideUp will have inthe UK WMS market.
The feedback has been extremely posi-tive, with some organisationscontemplating replacement programmesfor their existing “market leading” WMSsolutions. We will capitalise on this andstart to offer a range of market-specificWMS solutions. We also plan to add relatedsupply chain execution solutions includingCo-Managed Inventory, to address areas ofpain or opportunity currently unaddressedin the market other than by very expensiveERP-type solutions.
Finally, we will use our successes in Italy,the UK and Latin America to create arespected and reliable global supply chainexecution partner for the Cloud generation.
WLN – Where can readers find moreabout SideUp and @logistics Reply?
www.reply.euwww.sideupreply.eu/en/www.clickreply.eu/en
@LOGISTICS REPLY JEZ TONGUE TEL: 01628 481553 EMAIL: [email protected] WWW.SIDEUPREPLY.EU/EN
@LOGISTICS REPLYYOUR WMS PARTNER FOR ALL SEASONS
13www.warehousebuyer.co.ukT: 01923 272 960 I E: [email protected] 15.06.11THE INTERVIEW @LOGISTICS REPLY
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