In preparation for the consolidation of their logistic services into a new distribution centre, AZ Nikolaas, a major hospital group in Belgium, turned to SAPSTROOM (in partnership with Partezis) to implement the SAP Warehouse Management module on top of Partezis’s existing ‘AZIS’ Healthcare SAP solution. This implementation is to serve as a pilot project for further WM implementations in partnership with Partezis.

 

The immediate gains from this project were twofold: on the one hand, visibility and traceability of all goods from reception to consumption, and on the other hand a major increase in efficiency and accuracy in the warehouse and during the transport between the distribution centre and the different hospital sites.

 

The traceability of goods stocks in the entire hospital group is guaranteed by keeping the WM system up-to-date of all stock movements in real time. WM’s improved reporting possibilities have enabled an optimization of the stock placement in the warehouse based on box size and fast/slow mover classification. Based on this information, goods are automatically given a suitable place in the warehouse, in order to ensure the optimal order picking round per customer, with a minimized walking distance, and totally paperless. Stock levels have also been optimized: certain goods are stored in large quantities in high pallet racks, while stock levels of slow movers have been minimized. Additionally, the software allows to monitor the workload in the warehouse in real time, in order to enable the warehouse supervisor to direct resources where they are needed most.

 

Finally, in order to prevent transport and delivery errors and to ensure routing of the goods to their destination, a loading and unloading process was put into place which ensures delivery of all goods at the right destination.