Completed WMS projects
Spiel und Baby GmbH
Choice of an IT system for an e-commerce warehouse
Branch
- Mail order industry
- Retail industry
Fraunhofer IML was asked by the company Spiel und Baby GmbH (Babymarkt) to develop the concept for an e-commerce warehouse. The team warehouse logistics took over this task. Babymarkt is one of Germany’s leading suppliers of baby equipment and toys. In its Internet shop it offers nearly 10,000 articles – and this range is extended continuously. The articles are distributed from the company’s e-commerce warehouse in Dortmund.
Intention and goal
In the past Babymarkt had been a stationary retailer. Because of a keener competition the company decided to sell its products also in Internet shops (www.baby-markt.de, www.123-markt.de, www.spielzeug-markt.de, www.buecher-portofrei.de, www.ebay.de). A rapid growth, however, lead to bottlenecks in the storage and shipping areas so that the company had to rent a sufficiently large warehouse with the intention to establish an e-commerce warehouse offering all necessary functions.
The team warehouse logistics concentrated on the IT environment consisting of the Internet shop, merchandise management and warehouse management. The main challenge in the scope of this short-timed project was to find a solution which supports all business processes by means of simple and easily scalable work processes.
Requirements profile
After having analysed the actual processes Fraunhofer IML developed a suitable process organisation and equipment for the distribution warehouse. Then the team warehouse logistics prepared a requirements catalogue for Babymarkt’s future IT system. Finally, these requirements were discussed with the company and priorised according to their relevance. In addition to this, all necessary interfaces were specified.
Choice of a provider
Based on the requirements profile the team warehouse logistics selected the suitable IT providers and invited them to present their product. During this presentation the team warehouse logistics acted as moderator. Finally, all providers and their systems were evaluated together with Babymarkt during a workshop.
Result
An IT system for Babymarkt’s new e-commerce warehouse was chosen which meets the company‘s requirements and reacts flexibly to fluctuating demands. Thus, the basis for a smooth organisation with short order leadtimes was set.
