Lotus Development Corp.

Lotus Development Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IBM Corp., offers high quality software products and support services that reflect the companies unique understanding of the new way in which individuals and business must work together to achieve success. Lotus' innovative approach is evident in a new class of application that allows information to be accessed and communicated in ways never before possible, both within and beyond organisational boundaries.

Lotus Ireland produce over 8,000 different part numbered software products and export to over 30 countries. Quality specialists are employed in every area of production and the company insists that all suppliers meet international quality standards. Strict process control is implemented at every stage of production to ensure maximum efficiency. Rigid JIT warehouse management means that 50% of goods produced are shipped within two to five days. 50% of Lotus orders are bulk shipments of up to 10,000 units per order, the rest are made up of small customised orders from end users throughout the world.

With up to 500 orders leaving the Lotus warehouse a day, ensuring a strict stock control and order processing system for the factories production is of critical importance. When Colin Fee, Lotus Engineer, was assigned the task of automating product tracking, order processing and stock control he came to ADC BarCode. "We knew that ADC had the experience to produce a full system solution as we had worked closely with them to develop one of the world's first bar code Disk Collating system which subsequently became an industry standard".

The System
ADC provided a fully integrated system solution, which provided Lotus with full product traceability, automated order processing and real time stock control. All products are bar-coded, using Zebra printers, with a unique identifier at each stage of assembly. At the production stage this distinguishes the product as a unit and issues it with a part and serial number. The product then proceeds for packaging where it is again scanned, to verify correct identity, before being packaged. The contents of each box are automatically scanned and a warehouse box label is produced for that particular case. Only when the system has verified the correct identity of each product will a warehouse label be printed. This identifies what each box holds and means that operators know exactly what each box contains. Information on each unit is continuously downloaded to the Lotus mainframe to allow complete product tracking.

Loading to pallets
Prior to conveyance to the warehouse boxes are loaded onto pallets. At this stage operators use Norand RF terminals to scan each box are being collated. A pallet barcode is then produced on the contents of all respective pallets. When this is scanned, the RF terminal send the information, across the LAN, to the ADC server. This updates the Lotus mainframe which controls the companies production and order processing. Once scanned and confirmed the pallets are taken to the warehouse.

Warehouse
On arrival, all pallets are again scanned to confirm delivery. With the older manual system this took up to 20 minutes per pallet, with the ADC system it takes approximately 3 seconds. Each pallet scanned automatically changes the status of its contents from Work in Progress to Finished Goods on the Lotus inventory system.

Any products, which are required immediately for an order, are automatically routed to that particular order. If a product is not immediately needed it is allocated a shelf location. Products are grouped in specific locations facilitating efficient order gathering. The system calculates the volumetric area of each product, optimising warehouse space and minimising the use of shelf space.

Order Picking and Processing
Orders are fed from the mainframe to the ADC server which can be viewed by the warehouse supervisor. Orders, which are 100% available, are delegated to individual operators who pick the orders up on their individual RF terminal screens. When the operator logs onto a particular collection route which minimises the distance to travel for product collection. At each product location the system instructs the operator to take a certain quantity from that location. The operator must scan in both, the location and the product to be taken. Only when this has been scanned for verification will the operator be allowed to continue to the next collection point.

As the product is scanned the system removes it from current listed stock in the warehouse. This means that at all times the Warehouse Supervisor knows exactly how much stock the warehouse contains. All products for a particular order are brought to a consolidation area and scanned once again for verification. Once completed an order labels is generated with the name and address of the customer to which the order is going and the list of product type are confirmed against the lotus mainframe, invoicing and dispatch are automatically generated.

Customised Orders
With the smaller fulfilment orders the ADC system runs a fully automated pick and delivery process. Each product picked is automatically issued with full delivery documentation. The system is directly linked tot he haulier company, dealing with the particular products geographic destination, which allows the system to automatically issue the airway bill number on the haulier's own label and alert the particular company of the products details and destination. This allows Lotus to have full traceability on all products from production to final delivery.

Benefits
Prior to its introduction, all warehouse and product tracking was done on a manual basis. ADC's system has removed human errors and improved the speed and accuracy of order processing. Stock losses have fallen dramatically and shipments to customers are faster and more reliable. Lotus can now tell the exact part numbers which have been shipped with each other. As Colin Fee explains "We now have full control over product traceability which can be used if a customer reports a problem or if a product has not been delivered"

At each part of the manufacturing process the barcode system double checks to ensure total product validity and accuracy. Another major advantage of the system was that it didn't alter the existing warehouse practices allowing the operators t adopt it immediately. The system interfaces with the Lotus mainframe by a server, which means that it can work independently of the mainframe if required.

The customised software running on the sybase server meant that changes to the Lotus mainframe were kept to a minimum reducing costs of implementing the system. The system's flexibility means that it is currently being upgraded to interface with bulk shipment hauliers to allow complete product traceability on all orders. Compared to the older manual method "it's a faster more reliable system" allowing Lotus to process 40% more orders with 20% less staff.

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