Garden products firm overhauls warehouse systems

Hozelock turns to RedPrairie to improve efficiency

Garden product manufacturer prepares for future growth

Garden products manufacturer Hozelock has installed a warehouse management system at its distribution centre near Birmingham to improve efficiency and enable future growth.

The Warehouse Management software from RedPrairie supports the variety of storage facilities used at the centre from a single system and manages truck movements to optimise efficiency.

The system meets 95 per cent of Hozelock’s requirements out of a box and integrates with the company’s back-office system.

Terry Bennett, director of logistics at Hozelock, said: ‘We needed to replace our warehouse management solution as the hardware was being de-supported.’

‘RedPrairie’s Warehouse Management solution had no constraints in terms of functionality and reference visits to existing customers convinced us that it was a better fit for our needs than the alternatives we evaluated.’

The system, which controls the movement of all bulk pallet shipments of raw materials or finished goods from arrival to despatch in real time, is now used by up to 60 warehouse managers, operatives and forklift drivers simultaneously, following a 13 week implementation.

Managers can interrogate data on stock levels, throughput and performance at the warehouse and extract reports from the system easily and quickly.

‘Warehouse Management offers us flexibility to make adaptations that will optimise working practices to enhance our efficiency,’ said Bennett.