ATLANTA – August 4, 2003 – Manhattan Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq: MANH), the global leader in providing supply chain execution (SCE) solutions, today announced that McKesson Corporation, the leading provider of healthcare supply, information and care management products and services, has chosen Manhattan Associates' Warehouse Management System (WMS) slotting optimization technology application for use in its 32 distribution centers (DCs) across the United States.
With Manhattan Associates' WMS slotting technology, McKesson will be able to increase productivity, reduce costs and replenishment needs by determining the most beneficial and ergonomic placement of items in the DC. After a thorough analysis of several different vendor offerings, McKesson chose Manhattan Associates' slotting optimization application to help drive its DC product placement or "slotting" process based on pre-determined and user-defined product attributes such as: movement, product size, storage rack attributes, product grouping and product families. McKesson will use Manhattan Associates' slotting optimization application in new DC facility planning, as well as for expansions or re-arrangements of existing distribution centers.
"McKesson selected Manhattan Associates because of its proven track record, large customer base, and commitment to continually advancing its best-of-breed technology," said Kathleen Sierra, vice president of warehouse management systems at McKesson. "The ease-of-use, rich functionality and flexibility of Manhattan Associates' WMS slotting optimization application will enable us to reduce the costs and time associated with distribution center planning, as well as optimize our picking and replenishment operations, which translates into continued improvements in operational efficiency."
With Manhattan Associates' slotting optimization application, McKesson will be able to better plan the layout of its distribution facilities as well as continually maintain the optimal slotting configuration for its facilities. Currently, McKesson has 32 DCs across the U.S. ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 square feet and stocks 20,000 to 25,000 items per facility. McKesson has already implemented the technology at fourteen facilities and plans to expand the technology to all of its DCs by October 2003.
"We provide our customers with proven, value-added supply chain execution technology that directly impacts the bottom line," said Bruce Eicher, vice president, professional services and customers at Manhattan Associates. "Industry leading companies such as McKesson understand the importance of optimizing supply chain execution processes and the direct connection it has to business success."
Manhattan Associates' slotting optimization application is an intelligent analysis solution that will optimize picking as well as storage rack decisions within a facility. Under the operational standards set in place for a facility, slotting optimization utilizes genetic algorithms to determine the most beneficial and ergonomic placement of products based on the rules and relative importance of those rules, as configured by the user.The slotting optimization application is a stand-alone, easy-to-use application. It can be used in conjunction with Manhattan Associates' other WMS applications for maximum SCE benefits.
