THE COMPANY:
Alacer Corp began in 1972 with the goal of creating supplements that increase energy and boost immune systems. Their flagship product, Emergen-C has led them to become one of the leaders in the field of health food supplements and Vitamin C. In 2006, Alacer moved into a newly renovated, state-of-the-art facility in Foothill Ranch, California with the capacity to produce over 300 million packets per year.
THE CHALLENGE:
In the fall of 2004, Alacer Corp was a 40 million dollar company and on the cusp of great growth. Marketing efforts were paying off but with increased volume came increased errors. Najib Niazi, IT Director of Alacer, reached out to their MAS 200 partner, ACS Group for guidance on the growing concern of inventory inefficiencies. ACS Group introduced Alacer to Scanco, Barcode Vendor of Choice for MAS 90/MAS 200 for a complete needs analysis of their current operations.
The needs analysis revealed that the main inefficiencies were due to the extensive tracking of lot controlled inventory. Warehouse employees were required to manually record the lot number of each item they shipped. Picking sheets were covered with handwritten entries and the notes were sometimes difficult to decipher. Once the shipments were complete, accounting created an invoice and validated that pickers recorded a valid lot number. At times, the handwritten notes did not match the records in MAS 200 but the order was already shipped and out of the facility. Errors and delays became unacceptable for this growing organization.
THE SOLUTION:
In the spring of 2005, Alacer began implementing the Scanco solution. The key objectives were to automate the lot tracking process throughout the lifecycle of the product and increase the speed in which invoices were created. A “real-time” solution was deemed necessary so that scanned lot numbers could be validated against the MAS 200 database instanta- neously. Three warehouses would be running the system simultaneously and online communication was a necessity.
The shipping process was automated using Scanco’s Radio Frequency so that warehouse workers would simply select an order number, scan the items and lot numbers as they pick and create an invoice by “committing” the order. If an invalid lot number is scanned, the handheld user is notified immediately and the errors never enter the system. The inventory manager can trust the quantities and lot numbers in MAS 200 to be correct every time. “Because the invoice is created immediately, the human intervention has decreased and efficiency has increased,” explained Najib Niazi, “The increased efficiencies have helped us to handle the growth from a 40 million dollar company to a 70 million dollar company.”
Alacer Corporation’s return on investment on Scanco’s Radio Frequency Solution was realized in under a year and plans are under way to automate their manufacturing process using Scanco’s ShopWatch product. “I would certainly recommend this product for any distribution company that needs to increase efficiency,” says Niazi. “Radio Frequency has surpassed our expectations.”
MAJOR BENEFITS:
Order volume doubled without significant increase in staff
Order accuracy 99+%
R.O.I achieved in under one year
Human intervention virtually eliminated in Invoicing process