The implementation of Infor’s WMS has been a success for Coflex. Aaron Gonzalez, project leader, highlighted that after a live go-live that was carried out successfully and without affecting the productivity of the operation, very good results have been achieved.

Coflex is a manufacturer of plumbing products with more than 35 years of experience in the Mexican market. Its operation stands out for having one of the most modern and high-capacity plants in the world. From the beginning, they have focused on working hand in hand with technology to benefit their customers and collaborators. In this way, making a difference in the industry.

Strategies to achieve good results after the implementation of WMS software.

In order to meet the project planning milestones without affecting the billing process, the team adopted a strategy in which the company would operate two systems simultaneously for the first few weeks: the legacy system and the new Infor WMS. First, an implementation was carried out in the finished product CeDi, after which the production area processes were put into operation.

This allowed that, in a short time, the users acquired the necessary knowledge about the operation of the platform thanks to the simplicity of the interface, achieving an autonomy of 90%. Thus, after a few weeks, when the solution stabilized, Coflex eliminated processes that were no longer necessary and achieved a reduction in transactions.

The results of an excellent WMS implementation did not take long to wait.

Aaron Gonzalez, the client’s project leader, noted that one of the short-term benefits was the increase in productivity in the wave picking process. This scenario motivated them to rethink the way in which some indicators were being measured and to build new ones that would adjust to the current needs of the operation.

At this moment, the operation is already optimizing the time in the inventory search and removing the burden of order preparation. Now, the effort that used to go into these activities is focused on making the production line efficient. On the other hand, the quality of the information and visibility of the inventory was also improved. Thanks to the WMS, they now know where and how much inventory they have more accurately. This allows the company to generate more concrete planning.

Differentiating factors during the process and support from the WMS implementer, Cerca Technology

The support and accompaniment of Cerca Technology is something that Coflex team members highlight. They assure that throughout the process they felt support, which helped them to resolve findings and achieve the project’s objectives.

«The consultant assigned to the project worked hand in hand with the Key Users at all times, which ensured that the processes were not left without support. At no time did he limit himself to providing assistance. Continuous support was what we needed most, and we always had it,» said Aaron Gonzalez.

The team is currently taking more ownership of the multiple functionalities that Infor WMS has, and in the future their goal is to generate new reports that allow them to have a 360° view of the operation’s performance and facilitate decision making.

These were the results obtained after the implementation of Infor WMS

• 17% increase in picking productivity by making picking routes more intelligent and reducing search times and total distance traveled in the warehouse.
• Improved customer satisfaction by reducing delivery times by 26%.
• 2% improvement in service level by increasing on-time shipments
• 10% increase in packing and shipping flow productivity by replacing manual processes with electronic and automated processes
• Improved visibility of finished goods inventory by 5% through increased traceability and quality of cycle counts.
• Easier decision making as you have greater visibility into what is happening with more comprehensive data that generates history and improves day-to-day orchestration
• Increased operational intelligence by having different types of data visualization such as the job viewer, which helps to identify patterns more easily.
• Improved personnel management as we can measure performance based on individual tasks, by area, by hour, by shift, etc.

Quote from Cerca Technology

«In Coflex’s finished product CeDi we had a big challenge; we needed to ensure the least possible impact on the dispatches of an operation that runs 24 hours a day. For this we consolidated a cross-functional project team, committed and with a high degree of knowledge in the solution, plus the strategy of doing comprehensive testing in parallel with their old system allowed end users to become proficient in the use of the tool and also to make the configuration adjustments that were required.   Coflex has achieved rapid results in their operation in terms of productivity, traceability, error-free dispatches, inventory accuracy, among others». Wilson Ortiz – Sales Manager Mexico