Walkers Snack Foods, a subsidiary of Frito-Lay and one of the U.K.’s leading producers of snack foods, has gone live with an upgrade of the IMI supply chain suite. With the upgrade, Walkers will move closer to its customers with best practices for accommodating their needs and improving information availability within its customer service operations.
The integrated order fulfillment solution has enabled Walkers to implement its software in a phased approach while gaining immediate benefits from consolidated operations, improved information management, and maximized visibility into its supply chain operations,” says Jason Richards, customer development director at Walkers Snack Foods.
Previously, the order process was split across a number of legacy applications, leading to duplication, manual activity and the potential for errors. The IMI Order solution enables Walkers to automate customer requirements, orders and changes -- and to consistently deliver complete orders to its customers. By reducing several manual routines, Walkers identified it would save a significant number of paper reports, ultimately leading to an improvement in the order management process. In addition, automation of orders will enable the company to increase invoice accuracy and maximize customer relationships.
The implementation of trading partner management capabilities has enabled Walkers to streamline customer proof of delivery handling, improving the overall invoicing process. Walkers also has the potential to increase order visibility using advance ship notices (ASN).
Walkers also implemented the radio frequency capabilities of IMI Warehouse for real-time picking tasks. Since implementing the new version of IMI Warehouse in January 2004, Walkers has expedited the handling of inbound goods and loading of vehicles, and has seen an improvement in case picking through better location management. The implementation focused on a more accurate reflection of the warehouse locations by taking into account the tube-racking layout, ultimately leading to an increase in pallet movements.
The upgrade to the new version of the IMI suite is part of the larger Darwin Project at Walkers, which is a three-year, phased initiative to re-engineer its supply chain operations. Walkers’ goal with this effort is to rationalize its in-house systems to reduce maintenance costs and improve and streamline processes. The project has enabled the company to build the infrastructure and support required for the long term, while also allowing Walkers to achieve short-term business benefits.
