Volkswagen - Spare Parts Division
Spare Parts Division Cuts Costs And Improves Efficiency With Wireless Stock Management System
"The new data transfer solution has increased our productivity tremendously. The enormously time-consuming and costly process of reporting back to the central system has been eliminated. The system is now far more accurate, efficient and, crucially, flexible." – Stefan Boshold, Chief Operator at the Kassel-Baunatal, Original Parts Center, Volkswagen
The Challenge:
Volkswagen's Original Parts Center (OTC) in Kassel-Baunatal is at the center of its spare parts division – the OTC prepares and dispatches 45,000 orders every day to locations across the globe. It has 130,000 square meters of floor space, storing 60,000 of the most commonly needed spare parts.
- Volkswagen wished to improve operational efficiency through better inventory management
- Required system to track the real-time progress of orders through the various divisions of the OTC
- Needed to have compatibility with, and could report back to central SAP® R/3® management system in Wolfsburg.
The Solution:
- To avoid cabling entire OTC site, which would be massively impractical and enormously expensive, Volkswagen chose Psion Teklogix to implement a wireless solution.
- Psion Teklogix implemented an RF-based system that incorporated handheld and vehicle mount terminals at the user level, and TekRF middleware at the management level.
- Over 800 handheld and vehicle mount terminals are now in use - recording, tracking and handling more than 900 tons of spare parts every day.
- Handhelds and vehicle mounts are designed with functionality and ruggedness to handle tough environment.
- All information gathered during the warehouse processes is fed back to the management system via the TekRF middleware to update the stock data, and order more parts as necessary.
- Staff members can communicate directly to SAP® system when stock is insufficient
- Terminals deliver functionality and ease-of-use – even telling the operator the location of the items to be collected and the best route to them.
The Benefits:
- A fully integrated, real-time, electronic stock management system
- Stock management system is fully transparent at all levels enabling better decision making due to access to real-time, up-to-the-second data
- Lengthy checking procedures are now completed immediately with a full record of each procedure.
- Functionality of system provides greater flexibility in such ways as:
- allowing for urgent orders to be prioritized, without the need to go through needless administrative bureaucracy, and
- heavy items are automatically allocated special transportation containers when being loaded
- Reduction of the overall operating cost and greater all round speed and efficiency - which in turn benefits the customer enhancing Volkswagen's good name and reputation.
