New warehouse management system supports improvement initiatives at distribution centres

HealthShare Victoria’s new warehouse management system (WMS) is supporting the development of improvement initiatives at both Derrimut and Dandenong South distribution centres (DCs).

The availability of enhanced data through the system is enabling the team to better identify opportunities for improvements across the network.

HSV’s Acting Senior Operations Manager at Derrimut DC Scott Matthews says his team is already seeing the benefits.

“We are seeing improvements, but it’s still early days. Looking ahead, we can see that we’ll be able to scale efficiencies across the network.”

One feature of the WMS that’s already improved operations at Derrimut is the order tracking.

Prior to the WMS implementation, it was difficult for the Derrimut DC team to track orders once they had been packed and shipped.

“One of the biggest benefits is the improved visibility and traceability we now have,” says Scott.

“We can track goods from the moment they arrive at the warehouse until they’re delivered to health services. This has helped our operations to run more smoothly.”

Senior Operations Manager at Dandenong South DC Corey Johnson says his team now has greater visibility of DC productivity during each shift.

“We get updates each hour from the system and I can let the team know how they’re tracking in terms of their productivity which has been very helpful.”

HSV’s Logistics team has introduced a suite of enhancements to the WMS since it was implemented, including documentation that’s sent with each order.

Instead of receiving one set of paperwork per delivery, health services now receive paperwork for each pallet or roll cage, giving them greater visibility and oversight of the goods delivered.

Corey says the picking team’s workflow is also more efficient because they have access to better data on the radio frequency (RF) scanners.

“At Dandenong South DC we have multiple unit load devices including pallets, roll cages and tubs.

“Prior to the new system going live, the team had to check which load device to use before they could print the labels. Now they receive this information instantly on the RF scanner. It saves a lot of time,” he says.

The WMS also enables more data sharing between Dandenong South and Derrimut.

“If we make an improvement at Dandenong, we can share that with Derrimut. It cuts down on duplication of effort and it means we can implement improvements across the network. Previously this was more of a manual process,” says Corey.

“We can also easily transfer stock between the two sites. If Dandenong is low on a shared SKU (stockkeeping unit or product), I can check if Derrimut has it and get it transferred across. This cuts down on wait times for certain products,” he says.