Grabtree & Evelyn is renowned around the world for beautiful gifts and everyday luxuries - including bath and body care, home fragrance, sleepwear and comestibles, and the company attracts high profile customers from across the globe. Represented in over 40 countries, Crabtree & Evelyn is also expanding rapidly in Australasia and New Zealand. Currently the company employs 150 staff in Australia and sells its products via 21 company owned stores and over 500 wholesale outlets nationally.

But with this success and growth came new logistics headaches for Crabtree & Evelyn’s National Distribution Centre in Melbourne, as operations manager Dean Reid explains. “We had a paper-based system that had worked well for many years. Orders would come in and be printed in the front office and then taken into the warehouse and picked.

However, there was no instructions on where the product was. Of course the pickers all had local knowledge but if a product wasn’t where they expected it to be, they wouldn’t know if it was coming in or was sitting somewhere else in the warehouse, so our fulfillment suffered.”

This would mean a back order would have to be created says Reid, with all the associated staff time and maintenance that required. “Basically we were experiencing phenomenal growth,” he says, “but our paper system was starting to cripple our productivity with inaccurate records and delivery delays. It became clear we needed a new solution to guarantee a high service commitment across our supply chain."

Opting for AWMS
Crabtree & Evelyn evaluated several products on the market but ultimately chose Accpac Warehouse Management System (AWMS) from Sage, installing it on four hand-held RF (Radio Frequency) scanners plus six PCs spread throughout its distribution facility.

Although Reid says the product was competitively priced, he observes that integration was also key component in the decision making process. “We largely selected AWMS because of the added advantage of full integration with our Accpac ERP,” he says. “While most of the warehouse management products we evaluated offered sufficient functionality, only the sage solution provided that really tight integration of the front and back office processes.”

AWMS is a web-based, single-source ‘pick, pack and ship’ solution for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Fully integrated with Sage’s accounting and e-business solutions, it improves inventory control, reduces paperwork, increases stock handling efficiency and accuracy, and provides customer service staff with an up to date window on warehouse operations that significantly improves customer relations.

Rapid implementation & ROI
Reid says he did have some concerns about the cultural impact of the new technology on older staff members, but in fact the opposite was true. “The implementation took a day,” he says, “and then there was about a week of training, but everyone was using the system without any problems within a couple of days.” The impact on efficiency was immediate, he says. “AWMS has already delivered noticeably improved efficiency in the pick / pack / put away and receiving processes of the business.

The hand-held devices have enabled our team to pick the orders in the most efficient way possible – it’s single path. And the accuracy is much improved. It guarantees fulfillment because with the old system if we had stock on hand in the warehouse and it wasn’t in its expected location, staff just wouldn’t pick this item. But now the system tells the picker where the stock is, so they can replenishment, then pick the stock and move on – so it guarantees that fulfillment process to 100 percent.”

The AWMS has also relieved pressure in other areas of the business. “It’s taken away 40 to 50 percent of the processes that were being handled by our customer services staff,” says Reid. “Our pick staff are now fully empowered to take on more tasks. For example, when transferring stock they previously had to come inside and get the customer services staff to manage that, whereas now it’s all done on the hand held.

The new solution is also delivering for Crabtree & Evelyn’s customers says Reid. “We have a guaranteed 24 hour turnaround on all our wholesale orders,” he says, “and the AWMS enables us to deliver on that promise. We’re probably one of the top suppliers in terms of goods getting to market in a timely fashion. Customers place an order one day and it gets delivered the next, which actually surprises a few of them because a lot of other suppliers can’t turn things around that fast.

Looking ahead
Fully integrated with Sage's accounting and e-business solutions, AWMS has improved inventory control, reduced paperwork, increased stock handling efficiency, and provided Crabtree & Evelyn customer services staff with an up to date window on warehouse operations.

Looking to the future Reid says there are exciting developments ahead. “We’re going live with the Crabtree & Evelyn web store soon,” he says, “and the AWMS is a big part of that. One of the key reasons why we opted for the Sage solution was because it had the capacity for online e-commerce, which nicely fits our strategy going forward. It’s a powerful tool across the board and we’re really excited about the opportunities it presents.”

For more information about Crabtree & Evelyn
www.crabtree-evelyn.com.au

For information on Sage Business Solutions
call 0800 904 409 or sales.pacific@sage.com

February 2005

Crabtree & Evelyn’s National Distribution Centre in Melbourne