When a customer walks into a shop, chances are that they don’t spare a single thought about how all of the products on offer found their way onto the shelves. They just walk in and expect what they need to be available. But behind the scenes there is a lot going on to ensure that all the necessary stock is monitored and that it makes its way from the warehouse to the shop floor as seamlessly as possible.
With 18 stores around the country, Volpes, the linen division of furniture retailer, Coricraft, has to manage a sizable amount of linen. “For us, stock take was always a nightmare. We used to outsource our stock take to a company that handled everything for us but we had endless hassles with that,” says Teresa Snyman, MS Dynamics NAV Specialist at Volpes. Realising that things needed to change, in October this year Volpes opted to handle their stock management in-house. But they soon realised, that they’d need a little help.
And that’s where Newland ID, the sister company to Tactile Technologies, came in.
Volpes contacted Newland ID because it was on the hunt for an inventory scanning solution, explains Steven Baeyens, product manager at Newland ID. “We provided them with an entry level PDA the Newland PT30 as well as with a simple, custom-made software solution developed by a VAR of ours.”
Discussing the software they developed specifically for Volpes, Baeyens stresses that hardware means nothing without the right software. “An off-the-shelf solution that other suppliers may provide is either very basic and it won’t fulfil the customer’s needs or it has too many features and then the solution becomes far too complicated.” He believes that a customised solution is the easiest way for a customer to get the job done because it is made to match their exact requirements.
When it came to the creation of this bespoke solution, Volpes consulted with Newland about what they wanted the software to do and an app was built to address their unique requirements. “They just had a requirement for something basic. Most other providers would either charge a lot of money to develop that or they’d offer them something for free but it wouldn’t be entirely what they wanted. One of our skilled VARs was able to customise something for them at a reasonable price.”
And thus far, everything seems to be running smoothly, says Snyman. “The PT30 PDAs and the app are working like a charm. Everything has been much quicker, more accurate and hassle free. It’s all very user friendly.”
According to Snyman, the Newland team has been extremely accommodating throughout the entire process. Newland offered them scanners on loan so that they could test out different options and find the perfect fit for their stock take needs. “The scanners make stock takes much, much easier. And the app that we had developed prompts you for things like the user ID, item number and bin number. And then all the people need to do is just scan, scan, scan.”
The Newland PT30 is a light design multi-functional and IP54 rugged industrial mobile computer with 2.83″ sunlight readable screen. The PT30 runs Microsoft Windows CE.NET 6.0 on the high-speed Marvell XScale PXA310 806MHz CPU and 2GB large user flash memory for data storage. The unit supports WiFi/Bluetooth/GSM/GPRS and is quite suitable for a variety of applications.
For more than 20 years, Coricraft has been the easy choice for exceptional value on top-quality furniture. From just one store in Cape Town, Coricraft has grown to a chain of 40 stores in South Africa and Botswana. For more info do visit www.coricraft.co.za.
