Customer Journey | Advantage Warehousing & Logistics

Derek Imig, Vice President of Operations and Finance for Advantage Warehousing and Logistics, discusses how partnering with technology provider AIS to build custom warehouse management applications eliminated multi-day paper delays, granting the team instant, real-time access to operational data. 

What operational challenges existed before the new data environment?

Before implementing the new system, paper processes took several days to move through the organization, causing workers to constantly play catch-up when verifying picked items, documented photos, or missing communications.

• Historically, finding specific documentation or answering customer inquiries about sent orders was a slow, manual process.
• Advantage Warehousing and Logistics, a full-service, third-party logistics (3PL) provider that offers an à la carte menu to businesses, needed faster answers.
• With the new technology, a worker can load a truck, submit a photo, and confirm the specific trailer number for a customer within 30 minutes.

How did the custom warehouse management apps impact daily operations?

By collaborating with Jay and the AIS team to build a custom warehouse management system (WMS) bolted onto their current data environment, the company drastically improved real-time operational visibility and efficiency.

• Leadership can now look at the warehouse floor and instantly verify that all tech-enhanced steps have been completed for the 40 to 50 orders picked on any given day.
• The implementation of automated file scanning and auto-indexing alone saved the operation hundreds of hours within the year.
• The system allows the company to enhance the services they provide to all of their 3PL customers.

How responsive was the development process for these custom applications?

The development cycle was highly agile, allowing leadership to submit feedback and receive fully functional feature updates from the AIS team in as little as 48 hours.

• The ability to turn around requested features in just two days created massive buy-in across the organization.
• The partnership accomplished more technological progress in seven months than the leadership team originally thought possible over a couple of years.
• The system also improved internal administration, allowing new employees to be fully onboarded into the system with their own accounts, responsibilities, and assigned PIN numbers in just minutes.

What is the cultural impact of standardizing warehouse procedures?

Digitizing and standardizing the workflow created a calmer, more routinized warehouse environment that significantly reduced employee stress.

• The technology bridges the gap for remote communications, mitigating delays caused by distance, unreturned emails, and differing time zones.
• The standardized platform provides every worker with a clear understanding of their specific responsibilities and what success looks like in their role.

How can companies ensure success when building custom logistics apps?

The success of a custom technology deployment relies entirely on the client's ability to clearly describe their desired outcomes to the development team.

• Clients must provide a highly specific description of what they want the applications to accomplish.
• When given clear instructions, the AIS team can build exact, tailored solutions rapidly, often exceeding the client's initial standards and expectations.
• Implementing these tools ultimately provides businesses with a technological vision that extends far beyond their current operational capabilities.