Harmonising high service levels and profitability at Dee Bee

Improved efficiency and reduced costs

To raise customer service levels, improve efficiency and reduce cost, Dee Bee required a flexible system that would enable it to automate its telesales call centre, warehouse, cash & carry and delivery operations; manage a myriad of customer and supplier trading deals; control stock supply to its sister company which represents around £8 million of business a year.

Paul Hobbs, Dee Bee’s executive director, explains:

"Swords came out on top in an evaluation of suitable products. Sanderson was also a Today's Group ‘preferred supplier’, so by choosing the system we could maintain technical continuity within the group."

“We use Swords to automate all areas of the operation, including the use of radio frequency technology in our picking and dispatch operation. Instantly reducing mistakes to a minimum in this area has left us free to concentrate on improving sales, purchasing, stock control and cashflow."

Making life easier for customers

Fast order entry means less of a chore for customers while staff time processing each order is minimised. Accurate delivery dates are agreed at the time of the call as availability of each item can be checked in real time. Swords will also prompt staff automatically with alternatives to out of stock items so that sales opportunities are not lost.

Once an order is completed, Swords produces a picking list of items automatically sorted into sequential warehouse location order according to which aisle the items are stored in at the warehouse. Heavy goods are at the top so they are picked first and end up on the bottom of the cages. Swords sorts tobacco products from the telesales or electronically transmitted orders to produce a separate picking list for assembly by the staff in that secure area. The system also enables production of the customer invoice in the secure area.

One warehouse picker now does the work of three

Orders are transmitted directly to radio frequency controlled handheld devices used by pickers. Re-keying of information and possible loss of paper picking lists between sales and the warehouse are thus avoided.

As less time is wasted looking for goods or retracing steps to pick up missed items, one warehouse picker can now do the job of three pickers using the previous system. This enables Dee Bee to maintain customer service levels as it can now utilise available resources to support surges in orders i.e. at times of specific promotions, or accommodate sharp increases in business growth.

Looking to the future, Dee Bee intends to roll out the radio frequency software to its goods inwards department, scanning all incoming deliveries, capturing new bar codes and checking that the goods delivered match with orders placed.

The final word from Dee Bee’s Hobbs:

“Using Swords to manage the entire supply chain in real time means we can now provide the right product at the right price at the right time. Customers are confident that orders will be processed quickly and efficiently without mistakes, while Dee Bee can ensure it is trading with the best customers on the best credit terms and with the best suppliers on the best deals. The system’s flexibility means we can continue to improve our business processes in the future.”