ANHAM Kuwait Installs EXceed Warehouse Management System

ANHAM Kuwait Installs EXceed Warehouse Management System

ANHAM has installed the EXceed Warehouse Management System to support their Prime Vendor operations based in Kuwait. ANHAM FZCO (A Dubai based Company), initially completed a successful implementation in Afghanistan, supporting 2 major warehouse facilities and have now followed by the implementation to 3 warehouses in Kuwait.

Bradley Dunn, Program Manager Kuwait, describes the solution and installation of the software –

“Beginning in September 2015, we began to plan for the implementation of the EXceed Warehouse Management system.   The planning stages included critical operational flow mapping, defining gaps, developing a realistic project plan, and selecting key project participants. Once the processes were defined, and the team was selected, the ANHAM application engineers, under the Project Management of Charles Kumar (ANHAM’s Exceed Architect), began formatting the application to best utilize and optimize our operations. This was supported by the Kuwait Operations Team led by, Ralph Chaloub, as the Project Manager and was assisted in the detail planning by Rami Chouman, our Quality Manager, Roshan Rodriquez, our Operations Planning Manager, and Susan Cruz, our CSR Manager among many other very important participants.

The goals of the implementation were very clear from the outset:

• Supply chain integration across each program from Afghanistan to Kuwait
• Optimization of warehouse space
• Scalability as we continue to grow and utilize additional warehouses
• Improvement in overall productivity of the operation
• No downtime in the implementation schedule
• All requested orders process within the requested time per the customer

All while still maintaining a very high fill rate and high on time performance that our customers demand and we have come to expect. The operation had used a legacy warehouse software for the first 4 years of the project and we used it to the maximum capability achieving very good results in terms of operation performance but our lack of integrated data synchronization held our operations back from achieving the optimum performance that a paper based system versus an automated real time solution provides.

Beginning in March 2016, after all the process requirements were mapped to the new software, a very intensive training program began on site on multiple shifts for the next 6 weeks. Each user was specifically trained in a classroom style training setting and also floor training soon followed with live data. Training a staff, where we have over 28 different nationalities, can be extremely difficult and problematic, but the staff was very well versed in the software, in fact many used the exact software before and end user understanding was much higher than I have ever seen before on any installation of this magnitude. It’s a true testimony to the level of skill of the warehouse team that they not only grasped the training easily but helped solve issues as they arose during the Go-Live.

The actual work before Go-Live is very intensive and requires careful planning. We determined to prepack orders as far as 4 days ahead of the ship dates, and received as many containers from the port as possible to get ahead of the switch over. The switch over requires a thorough move of all open sales and purchase orders from the legacy system to the new system and also requires integration from the customer ordering system and our local purchasing software. These integrations are critical to the success of the project and these were thoroughly tested and already used in our Afghanistan operation, which greatly reduced the risk. Additionally, and as important, is the inventory accuracy at the time of the switch. We spent a lot of time determining the best method to get the inventory properly set by location, so when the switch occurred, warehouse operators would be minimally affected due to bad counts or locations that were not correctly identified. This was a major effort and it proved extremely important and very successful during the Go-Live. We did not shut the entire operations down for lengthy wall-to-wall inventories, instead a very rigorous cycle count and effective data migration was made from the legacy to the new software the evening before the Go-Live.

The actual Go-Live occurred on Sunday May 8, 2016 and the results are very much above my expectations. There were a few issues, but this being my 7^th actual WMS installation, it has been the best and least disruptive implementation I have been associated. I think one of the most encouraging parts of the implementation was to see how quickly our floor associates grasped the solution and processes which is a true testimony to the high degree of capability and skill that they have. We have changed many things over the years and each time, the challenges are met without fail.

The key success factors include:

• A well designed project plan
• Dedicated project managers
• A very talented, skilled, and driven end-user staff on ground
• Rigorous training – Over 28 different nationalities work for ANHAM in Kuwait
• Well scripted and proven interfaces
• Systemic conversion versus a wall to wall physical inventory
• Highly driven departmental mangers who worked tirelessly to implement the solution without fail.
• Excellent infrastructure of equipment

The WMS is the heart of our operation touching each and every department and stakeholder. We could not fail in the implementation and could not risk a long and difficult installation as our customers depend on us for timely and accurate shipments into some of the most difficult places in the world to deliver.   Our supply line to the customer is vital and minimizing disruptions was the mantra from the start and as of today, the implementation has been installed successfully and more importantly seamlessly to our customer. We now have a robust and proven platform to scale our operations efficiently as our growth continues.”