Aluprof focuses on Agile Project Management

Aluprof S.A. is developing cooperation with the leading European supplier of the WMS system Consafe Logistics. The plant in Opole will join the plant in Bielsko-Biała, which since 2014 uses the system Astro WMS® since 2014. The implementation will be carried out in three stages and its final stage is planned for the beginning of 2020.

The plant in Opole, which produces, among others, components for aluminium roller shutters, garage doors and industrial doors, insect screens, textile roller shutters, not only awaits a big change, but above all many benefits. A switch from paper picking lists will save 7-8 hours a day, and the new system will allow full control of processes and create a clear picture of tasks to be performed in the warehouse. Together with the WMS implementation, the issue of handling solid storage media for goods used inside the warehouse, which has been a big challenge so far, will be streamlined.

Around 95 percent of all production is made up of long elements stored in steel pallets. There are more than 7 thousand such media in total. These media circulate between the Plant and Customers and Partners. The new functionality will give a full control over the media by giving each of them a unique ID.

- Astro WMS® system will support this process in a special Container Unit module. Thanks to the implementation of this functionality in combination with an additional application allowing for recording media during deliveries to customers, we assume a radical improvement in media rotation and savings related to the purchase of new ones – says Arkadiusz Zawadziński, Project Manager at Aluprof S.A. in Opole.

The Slotting module, which is responsible for the analysis and automatic correction of the warehouse location, is an additional functionality that will reduce the workload and improve the efficiency. Another improvement that Aluprof will benefit from is the Performance Manager tool that helps warehouse managers make quick decisions about performance management on the basis of information transmitted to the system in real time, such as workload or average speed calculations of tasks in individual processes.

The implementation method of the Astro WMS® system is also worth noting. Agile project management approach has been applied, which involves iterative delivery of the solution. This requires close cooperation and greater flexibility than in the traditional approach, but it gives employees the opportunity to become more familiar with the system and be fully prepared for the production start stage. The scope of Astro WMS® implementation is very wide and requires a lot of work and time for analysis and configuration of processes.

– Therefore, the system will be delivered to the Customer in three stages, which allows us to focus first on the most important and difficult areas in order to minimize the risk of failure during implementation - explains Michał Chechłacz, Project Manager at Consafe Logistics.

In addition, this type of approach creates opportunities for employee involvement already at the initial stage of implementation. Together with Aluprof, the supplier WMS Consafe Logistics are planning a comprehensive communication action aimed at employees, such as placing a demo station with Astro WMS® system accessible to everyone – so that everyone can learn about how the system works step-by-step.

The implementation of Astro WMS® was preceded by a functional and technical analysis of the requirements of the Opole plant. The second stage of the implementation is currently underway and the first one was completed in September 2019.