Retail store chain

E-Commerce Fulfillment Solution for Omnichannel Retailer

For a leading retail chain, we developed a state-of-the-art, fully integrated warehouse management system based on SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM). The new solution handles up to 30,000 orders daily through largely automated process execution.

The intelligent system precisely differentiates between single-item and multi-item orders while considering different priority levels and specific lead times in goods supply. Through seamless integration with a fully automatic bag sorter, a modern shuttle system, and an efficient package shipping facility, consistently optimal throughput times are achieved.

Our Service Portfolio: Blohm Consulting designed all manual and automated e-commerce fulfillment processes, developed the interfaces to the automation components, and implemented the warehouse management processes based on SAP EWM. The result: A future-proof, scalable solution that significantly increases efficiency and throughput.

• Process design
• Rough and detailed concept
• Interface design to automation componenets
• SAP project planning and tracking
• Iterative implementation and testing
• Implementation and hypercare/go-live support

The Challenge The project was characterized by the large breadth and depth of the typical department store assortment as well as the processing of many small-scale customer orders. Particular complexity arose from the required integration between SAP EWM and SAP Retail and a very tight project timeline of one year, driven by external factors. To address this time pressure, the implementation was divided into 4 releases with overlapping implementation in waves.

The Solution The concept included complex notification, cross-docking, and consolidation processes for the efficient fulfillment of customer orders from inventory at other warehouse locations - entirely in line with modern omnichannel-capable fulfillment. Ergonomic and efficient web-based dialogs at workstations based on our warehouse dialog templates ensured user-friendliness. For mobile RF devices, the EWM Mobile GUI (EWM MOBGUI) was deployed and screens were adapted as needed using SAP Screen Personas - the latest mobile frontend technology in SAP EWM. Through seamless integration of bag sorter and shuttle system, consistently high-availability, fast processing of goods for the e-commerce shop is ensured.

All processes were implemented close to standard in SAP EWM, ensuring complete system upgradeability. This architecture enables a future-proof and low-maintenance solution that can flexibly respond to changing business requirements.

Integrations

• Bag sorter (blackbox approach)
• Shuttle system (blackbox approach), similar to Autostore
• KHT devices for automatic capture of morphological article data
• Shipping system
• Returns portal for online returns
• Cloud with article data, including product images to support returns processes
• Cloud service for decision-making on returns utilization
• Full integration between SAP EWM and SAP Retail for all processes

Process Scope

• Cross-docking receipt with manual or automatic consolidation via bag sorter (multi-item orders)
• Cross-docking without consolidation (direct movement to packing station for single-item orders)
• Goods receipt with putaway to warehouse
• Non-advised returns (e-commerce returns) with integration into SAP Retail
• Order picking: Wave management with two-stage picking due to many small-scale shipments

Special Functions

• Material master derivation: automatic determination of warehouse product attributes based on morphological data
• Optimized packing proposal in goods receipt through simulation of putaway strategy using product data
• Optimized packing proposal in goods issue through case calculation
• Standard-compliant use of e-commerce returns with classification of returns (utilization decision) via web-based returns dialog and follow-up actions: re-storage, scrapping, diversion to stores

Ergonomics

• Modern, web-based dialogs in goods receipt
• Modern, web-based dialogs in goods issue (shipping packing station) with express carrier integration
• Modern, web-based clearing dialogs
• Modern RF dialogs based on EWM MOBGUI and Screen Personas