Q-LOGISTICS

Q-LOGISTICS© is an advanced industrial RF (radio frequency) processing system for warehouses and logistic operators. It covers all required needs for one or several buildings, no matter if the warehouses belong to one or several manufacturing plants or to logistic operators.

Depending on the nature of the business, the workflow process management of the warehouse of a manufacturing plant and from a logistics operator, according to the logistics point of view, is different:

The warehouse head in a manufacturing company has to supply with RM (raw materials) and WIP (work in process) products the manufacturing area, he has to store the (FG) finished goods, monitor the arrival of new orders, follow the quality control tests and the finished goods shipping, keep and updated registry of the inventory and locations for every reference in the warehouses, etc.

The warehouse head in a logistics operator has to monitor the daily arrival of new orders for the future shipment and distribution to the final clients, control de picking and packing lists, manage the receiving and shipping orders, control the billing for the means of transport, keep and updated registry of the inventory and locations for every reference in the warehouses to avoid product obsolescence, etc.

When implementing Q-LOGISTICS©, the main objectives to achieve are the following:

	Reduction of paperwork by eliminating duplication of documents in every department.
	A higher integration of the client and the supplier in the supply chain management – by using only one software application.
	Ability to communicate with other systems used by some clients to accurately track receiving documents.
	Manage a thorough control over the logistcs process in every moment – picking/packing lists.
	Monitor the traceability of the warehouse locations by reference – real-time data.
	Communication interface with external applications (ERP, finance, etc.).
	Achieve an efficient billing management on shipping costs for every client.
	Track all movements of materials in real-time from the warehouses to the manufacturing area and vice versa.
	Get the right information at the right time.

A prototype of the system architecture for Q-LOGISTICS© consists of the following components:

ERP or Main System in a LAN with PCs or laptops connected to the office network.

Q-LOGISTICS© Server in an independent LAN.

Hardware in the warehouse area (PCs, industrial printers, wireless network, RF (radiofrequency) and wireless terminals, etc.).

	Drill-down: Q-LOGISTICS© lets the office users select a shipping / receiving / order and analyze all related information in depth without leaving the report.
	Clients have the chance to check the situation of their orders, stock and shipments in real-time through the PC with the Q-LOGISTICS© client application.
	All reports can be fully exported to other formats, like Excel or Word, for a deeper data study or simply by using a more commonly known type of report for the users.
	Interface connection (data import-export) with the main system (ERP) or other software packages (finance).
	Keep an accurate track in all relevant documents required during the logistics process (warehouse receivings / shippings from / to the manufacturing area, receiving updates, picking list, packing list, receiving and shipping orders, etc.).
	Real-time updates of stock availability in the picking locations. Q-LOGISTICS© can virtually eliminate replenishment timing problems.
	Ability to create or erase orders manually on the spot.
	Alarm and message control system in case of, for instance, a lack of stock, product obsolescence (FIFO), etc. E-mail messaging to the key users and / or colour identification of the problem in the reports.

Q-LOGISTICS© collects and manages information in real-time from the wharehouses and the manufacturing area. The data collected can be summarised in the following activities:

Receiving Dock

	Receiving good orders forecast – details selected by date / supplier.
	Management of the receiving dock tasks – keep a traceability of the goods as they enter, by lots, pallets, boxes or units, assigning its proper location.
	Quality management – sample quality control tests are implemented in the received goods and they are properly labeled – material OK, material NOK and material hold on.
	Reports (by supplier) – receivings dock, warehouses inventory, locations, references, movement of goods and present capacity of the warehouses.
	Printing labels – for locations, pallets, boxes or units.

Warehouse Management

	Usage ratio by warehouse (% of occupation).
	A record of references by warehouse and supplier.
	A report of all movements (pending and finished) between warehouses, warehouses-plant and plant-warehouses.
	The creation, maintenance and elimination of locations by warehouse (street, side, shelf, heigth, etc.). Holes management (capacity, types of references by dimension, etc.).
	The transfer of goods within the same warehouse or between different warehouses.
	Inventory control measures: daily / weekly sample checking, monthly counting and random counting for a given warehouse in some locations or some references.
	FIFO implementation: from the control criteria settled in the locations definition, every time a new shipping order is created it is possible to know from what locations there is a higher priority to first ship the goods.
	Locations control system through the code bar scanner and labels. It is possible to know, in every moment, by reading the labels of the pallets, if the goods are located in the right spot, according to the inventory.

Shipping

	Shipping orders management – create shipping orders, shipping lists by date / reference, client, etc.
	Picking list and packing list management with the wireless terminal.
	Printing documents (if needed) – invoices, shipping and receiving orders, etc.
	Billing management – creation and maintenance of the transportation costs.

In the case of a warehouse worker from a manufacturing plant, his flow of activities is entirely controlled by Q-LOGISTICS©: it starts with the forecasts of the receiving dock invoices and ends with the delivery of the shipping invoice to the carrier. Q-LOGISTICS©: covers all possible situations that may take place during his routine between warehouses and the manufacturing area: receiving dock tasks, process control and quality assurance upon the receiving goods, goods movement from the receiving dock to the warehouse, from one warehouse location to another, from the warehouse to the manufacturing area, finished or work-in-process goods from the manufacturing area to the warehouse, inventory management and shipping dock tasks.

In the case of a warehouse worker from a logistics operator, his flow of activities is entirely controlled by Q-LOGISTICS© as well: it starts with receiving orders in different formats (e-mail, fax, EDI, etc.) and ends with the bar code identification of the picking list about to ship. Q-LOGISTICS©: covers all possible situations that may take place during his routine between warehouses: order reception by e-mail, fax, EDI or proprietary application, receiving dock tasks, printing traceability labels for every lot, goods movement from the receiving dock to the warehouse, from one warehouse location to another, from the warehouse to the shipping dock, inventory management and survey, managing shipping orders by client (picking and packing lists), custom packaging, partial shipment of goods, carrier billing, shipment follow-up and shipping dock tasks.

The data acquisition and management in Q-LOGISTICS© is performed through the manual input from the warehouse workers during his daily activities. The data acquisition and management, with relation to warehouse tasks and procedures, can be split in different stages:

1.-

The warehouse worker unloads the trucks and locates the pallets next to the receiving area, where he scans the pallet labels (in case there is a common use of labelling between the supplier and the manufacturing company). In case the pallets (or boxes, or units) are not properly identified with code bar, labels are printed on the spot with the industrial printed available in the receiving dock area, connected with Q-LOGISTICS©.

2.-

Once the pallets have been moved and identified, the warehouse worker proceeds with the quality control tests according to the Quality Control Plan of the company. All quality data resulted from the tests are introduced in Q-LOGISTICS© by the means of the wireless terminal or a nearby PC. Next, all pallets with the OK approval are located in the warehouse according to the Q-LOGISTICS© criteria, already customised by the client: dimensions (volume) of the pallet, location by references, FIFO, etc. Every time a warehouse worker leaves the pallet in its final location, he has to identify this inner movement in the wireless terminal, so that the traceability is maintained. Q-LOGISTICS© registers who, when and what is moved every time an input data takes place. All logistics information is stored in the Q-LOGISTICS© database and is available in real-time for the administration users.

The data acquisition and management, with relation to the shipping dock tasks and procedures, can be split in different stages:

1.-

The warehouse worker checks the picking list for his shift. The Sales department or Administration issues the shipping invoices and labels for every order.

2.-

The warehouse worker selects references from the picking list and moves them to the shipping dock area. Automatically, Q-LOGISTICS (C) discounts from the inventory all pallets, boxes or units moved from their locations to the shipping dock area.

3.-

Once the warehouse worker has moved the references of the picking list to the shipping dock area, assigns to every group of pallets, boxes or units the right shipping invoice and any additional label required by the client.

Due to the fact that the real-time data collected by the warehouse workers with the wireless terminals in Q-LOGISTICS© is versatile, it is possible to enable an alarm communication system between the warehouse workers, the Logistics department and the manufacturing area. This communication system is automatic and is activated depending on the deviation of the critical parameters of the stock availability. The following are some descriptive examples of diferent situations that may take place:

Set an alarm when a minimum level of stock, customized in Q-LOGISTICS© by the Logistics department, is not covered. For instance: given several orders planned in the next fortnight, Q-LOGISTICS© checks one day before the shipping date (customizable) the inventory availability to cope with the demand. If this is not possible, then Q-LOGISTICS© sends an e-mail to the PCs of the logistics head and the warehouse leader and to the wireless terminals of the warehouse workers informing about the fact.

Every period of time (customizable) that the new manufacturing planning is available from the Manufacturing department, Q-LOGISTICS© will send an e-mail to to the logistics head and the warehouse leader informing of the stock availability with regard to the raw materials and work-in-process stored to cope with the periodically needs. With this information in hand for the forthcoming manufacturing period, decisions can be made much easier and with more confidence. Q-LOGISTICS© can also outline the availability of alternative materials.

	Very easy and quick to learn – the learning curve can be measured in days. The training process for the Q-LOGISTICS© users is completed in hours.
	Application integration – Q-LOGISTICS© can easily communicate with ERPs and other software applications more or less related with the logistics environment (finance, HHRR, etc.).
	Q-LOGISTICS© supports SQL Server and Oracle databases – these databases guarantee its scalability when faced with an increasing amount of data throughout time. It also maintains in structured cubes the historical data from older years, so the information is quickly accesible and is kept in a secure place, no matter the years passed.
	The hardware used is able to read any bar code – scanners are ready to perform the reading of any label with the bar code of the clients.
	Customizable user interface – customizable workflow process, completely adaptable to the particular needs of every company. Highly customizable front end upon the user requests.
	Ready to work with any kind of warehouse – Q-LOGISTICS© is able to manage the reception and the shipping of goods with PC, wireless / RFID terminal or other wireless devices.
	Short term results – in a few weeks from the beginning of the project implementation it is possible to see the customer information displayed in the PCs and wireless terminals.