Completed WMS projects

REWE Dortmund eG

Selecting a Warehouse Management System

Branch

  • Food industry
  • Frozen goods industry
  • Retail industry

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (Fraunhofer IML) was asked by REWE-Dortmund eG (REWE DORTMUND) to plan and realise a central distribution centre. The Team warehouse logistics supported REWE DORTMUND in selecting a Warehouse Manage-ment System (WMS) for their new distribution centre. REWE DORTMUND is an independent regional company and part of the national REWE group. REWE DORTMUND consists of 300 independent retailers with 520 shops. Sales area is North Rhine-Westphalia, the main focus lying on the Ruhr Basin and the Lower Rhine Area.

Aims and Objectives
A continuously growing number of branches led to an increase in the demand on goods. This made it advisable to adjust the storage ca-pacity and the information and material flow of the central distribution centre. The Fraunhofer IML was charged with restructuring this distribution centre. The restructuring process resulted in a long term logistics concept, part of which was to optimise the material and information flow and to build and the central warehouse. For this project the Team warehouse logistics identified suitable WMS suppliers.

The aim was to develop a shortlist of potential WMS suppliers that fulfilled not only the present requirements but could also adapt to future developments.

Defining the requirements
The demands on the future WMS were defined based on the long term logistics concept for the central distribution warehouse. The main aspects to be considered included the functional support of best-before dates and the integration of different types of online paperless order picking (by scanner for example).

International Market Study WMS
As a first step the Team warehouse logistics identified suitable WMS suppliers. Minimum requirements included the support of bestbefore dates, integration of scanners and the availability of an industryspecific package for retail companies. Suitable candidates were identified with the help of the International Market Study Warehouse Management Systems. This study is carried out by the Fraunhofer IML and offers a comprehensive overview of the WMS market. It includes the performance profiles of more than 70 WMS suppliers and covers over 2,500 individual aspects.

The evaluation of the data identified ten potential WMS suppliers that fulfilled all requirements.

Workshop WMS Selection
Detailed Analysis of the ten WMS was carried out using the Online WMS Selection. Together with employees a Userprofile for REWE Dortmund was developed and the various WMS features prioritised. The refined User Profile was then compared suppliers WMS performane profiles. The result was an individuel ranking of suitable WMS suppliers from which REWE Dortmundmade their choice.

Result
The result of the process is a personitised list of potenial WMS suppliers who

  • fully meet and surpass the current REWE Userprofile
  • conform to the longterm Rewe logistics concept.

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