Customer presentation
OLYMP Bezner KG from Bietigheim-Bissingen near Stuttgart is an owner-managed family business and was founded in 1951. The product specialist, now managed by the third generation of the founder’s grandson Mark Bezner, stands for uncompromising quality in materials and workmanship, outstanding wearing and care benefits, an optimal price-performance ratio, a convincing fashion statement and responsible action in shirts, knitwear and accessories. The German shirt market leader ships several hundred thousand parcels and thousands of pallets to end customers and retailers every year. Oliver Enderle, Director Logistics & Facility Management at OLYMP, has now been with the company for 15 years and is responsible for various tasks such as procurement logistics, goods handling at the central site in Bietigheim-Bissingen (Ludwigsburg district) and the worldwide delivery of products. In order to meet the dynamic requirements of existing carriers in the future and to be able to implement new carriers quickly and efficiently, OLYMP has decided to work with the HVS32 shipping software from Heidler Strichcode.
Initial situation
Before implementing the HVS32 shipping system, OLYMP’s previous shipping software was a combined solution for customs/export processing, shipping document creation and shipping label printing. Individual applications and a lack of standardization in shipping labels always led to considerable additional work for new carrier requirements, which ultimately no longer met OLYMP’s high standards.
As a medium-sized company, Olymp was therefore looking for a solution that could optimize, standardize and centralize all outbound shipping processes and still have the flexibility to efficiently meet customer requirements. Decisive parameters were taken into account when deciding on a shipping system and the associated selection of a software provider. It was important for OLYMP that Heidler already had a number of reference projects and interfaces to the warehouse management system (WMS) used, so that the new shipping software could be implemented as efficiently and reliably as possible in parallel with the ERP changeover.
Solution
“The HVS32 shipping software proved to be the answer to our logistical and organizational challenges in shipping processing.”
With the help of the automatic polling module, work processes such as shipping label printing are fully automated with a direct connection to the WMS. Network-compatible label printers are used for this purpose, which are controlled via a central server-based shipping software instance. By using the HVS32, it is possible to work with a large number of carriers and to connect new carriers quickly and efficiently. OLYMP currently has six of these in use and plans to take further carriers on board in the near future. By using the Heidler solution, Olymp is thus benefiting from a significant increase in efficiency in the printing of shipping labels as well as in the automatic printing of consignment notes. The HVS32 software also minimized the manual effort involved in the introduction of the UPS carrier.
Implementation
Thanks to Heidler’s expertise, the implementation of the system was uncomplicated, swift and smooth, despite a tight schedule. Individual difficulties in connection with the printed label were quickly resolved during the implementation phase through additional programming work. During the implementation phase, individual requirements for rotated labels were quickly solved and implemented using various special programs.
Shared future
As part of the implementation of a new ERP system (Microsoft Dynamics), an additional connection to the HVS32 was created with Heidler Strichcode in order to be able to handle further special processes outside the warehouse management system in the standard process. According to Oliver Enderle, the collaboration with Heidler Strichcode has enabled OLYMP to “standardize logistics processes with regard to printing shipping labels and creating consignment notes, making them more efficient and future-proof.”