Glamox is one of the leading Norwegian industrial conglomerates specializing in the development, production, and sale of professional lighting solutions worldwide. With an annual turnover of approximately 400 million euros and a presence in more than 13 countries around the world, Glamox has an extensive global footprint. The company’s warehouse facility in Molde spans over 8,000 square meters and includes 30 warehouse employees. The warehouse houses over 100,000 active article numbers distributed across 7,000 pallet locations and 7,000 small bins.
Prior to the implementation of Apport WMS, Glamox faced serious challenges. One of the most prominent issues was the lack of accurate data and efficient warehouse management.
Manual tasks such as storage required valuable time and resources, while picking errors were a frequent occurrence (with around 500-600 picking errors per year). This resulted in significant financial losses and administrative headaches.
"Previously, we had about 500-600 picking errors per year. With a WMS system where we now scan the location and confirm by scanning the item number and similar, the only remaining manual errors are actually counting differences. [...] For us, we estimate it costs about 1000 euros per error."
In 2015, Glamox initiated a partnership with Apport with a clear goal of improving their warehouse management and processes. Apport WMS provided Glamox with access to valuable data and efficient management tools, making it easier to identify opportunities for improvement in picking speed and the number of picking errors. This controlled storage allowed for more strategic placement of goods, resulting in faster and more accurate picking.
"With WMS, we gained control over placement, and we could also place more ABC, where we had placed all the A-items, i.e., the turnover rate of the warehouse. The repositioning meant that we spend less time per pick. Therefore, our transactions have increased from four to five transactions per hour to almost eight transactions per hour."
The collaboration between Glamox and Apport has led to significant improvements in warehouse management and productivity. Glamox has gained better control over their inventory, reduced picking errors, and greatly increased efficiency. According to Vidar Andreassen, they now look forward to benefiting from Apport’s new cloud-based solution and plan to upgrade their existing system.