JMPB

Optimize business process with our custom scannerapp for webshops.

The client

JMPB Parts is the specialist in selling moped parts for brands such as Puch, Yamaha and Zundapp. Their assortment consists of over 12,000 products, and their products are shipped all over the world. We were already responsible for the development and maintenance on their Magento platform, and were asked to think about optimizing their order picking and order shipping process as well.

The challenge

The old order picking and shipping process required a lot of manual work, like printing all the packing slips, taking them to the warehouse, manually checking off the products on the packing slip when they were picked, and printing the shipping labels.

With over 300 packing slips per day, this was quite a lot of manual work. What complicated things was that sometimes the inventory was not 100% up to date, which led to some orders with multiple products waiting for one product before it could get shipped.

Most important challenges

• To digitize the picking process (printing packing slips, the picking itself, printing the shipping labels) and make it more efficient,
• To create a solution that updated stock in the Magento environment real-time when products were picked,
• To make sure that it also updated stock in Magento when new products entered the warehouse,
• To make sure it was easy to use for all order pickers, and easy to take with them.
• Something about the place where the product is located in the warehouse?

Our solution

We started by creating a custom Android app that could be installed on Zebra scanners. Why? Was this the easiest solution? Every employee responsible for picking orders now has a Zebra device. With a barcode, they can log in with their own Magento account. New orders are sent to the app in real time and the picker gets to see the full order in the app (with customer details, order number and the products ordered).

Digital picking process

Switching from a manual picking process with pen and paper to a fully digital solution wasn’t easy for the employees. Our role was to first understand what the original picking flow was and translate this to a seamless picking flowing using a Zebra barcode scanner. Many iterations and versions of the app have been developed and tested until the most efficient flow was found and further perfected.

More control

All employees within the company now have more control over what is happening in the warehouse, stock levels are more accurate, less orders are sent out with incorrect products, new stocks are automatically purchased from different suppliers, business owners have more statistics on the quality of the picking process, etc. Thanks to the modularity of the app it is easy to switch functionality on or off based on the person that is using the app.

Direct communication with the e-commerce platform

The app is directly connected to the Magento API allowing us to have realtime data on the mobile app. Orders being processed via the app are realtime updated in Magento to ensure that no mistakes are made as multiple employees using the e-commerce platform at the same time. The app has been developed so that it can easily be connected to a different webshop if necessary.

Result

A fully digital and automated app and flow which involves no printed paper and barely any manual tasks. Due to this system our customer no longer needs many employees in the warehouse, less mistakes are made and new team members are easily onboarded by explaining how the app works. Having over the air updates of the app allows us to easily develop new features and ensure that these improvements are used by the employees within 24 hours. Now our customer can easily process many more orders in less time compared to their original situation.