and no different. - Heinrich Dehn Internationale Spedition GmbH

Heinrich Dehn
Heinrich Dehn Internationale Spedition GmbH
One Hundred Thousand Tons find their way even faster
Without optimized logistics, the rationalization in industry and trade will continue to
be a scrappy business / An example from the forwarding company Heinrich Dehn.
Groß-Gerau, October 2003.
Optimized logistics becomes more and more important in order to be
successful in todays market. Production is rationalized up to the limits.
Powered by reduced commodity management, the trade is limiting
its own stock facilities. Both systems – production on the one side
and the retail business on the other – can only work efficiently and
economically if the delivery chain between themselves is optimized
as well. Goods must flow just in time, but also data flow must be
granted between manufactures and dealers and vice verca. The
international forwarding company Heinrich Dehn is providing a reliable
partnership to both industry and trade since years in order to achieve
this target. Since 1995 many big customers from the consumption
article industry supply their commercial customers through the
warehouse located in Groß-Gerau. It was optimized technically more
than a year ago and is considered to be one of the most sophisticated
logistic centres today.
In order to achieve the shortest possible stopover of the goods at
the warehouse and with that a lower capital commitment in connection
with a short-term supply of the outlets, a highly flexible, transparent
and accurate storage administrative system with connected ITinfrastructure
was introduced. To reach these goals with an outbound
weight of 100.000 tons per year and 10.000 different articles, Heinrich
Dehn decided to introduce an new storage administrative system,
with integrated storage management system on radio data
transmission basis of the N.TEC Company, a supplier of storage
administrative and storage management systems. Since August 2002,
the company is working with the new system in its central warehouse
in Groß-Gerau.
As a provider of logistic services, it was a condition for the company
Heinrich Dehn, to use an utmost flexible system which covers the big
range of many customers and contains the possibility of being able
to act to customers requirements and to market changes in a flexible
manner. Out of this reason, the focus was not set on automatisation.
The handling was based on the highly intelligent storage administrative
system (LFS) though, according to the slogan „Low tech – High
intelligence“
In conjunction between Hardware and Software, 11 Access Points
(Wireless-LAN) have been connected online via fibre optic and copper
cables, switched to the central computer of the storage administrative
system. Furthermore, 6 mobile Caddys with keyboards and scanners
as well as 31 mobile terminals with touch screens and scanners are
used. Based on this, all vehicles are equipped with well readable,
high quality PC´s including color TFT-Displays.
In front of this is an IBM i-Series communication computer for the
data-transfer in EDI-EANCOM format (ORDERS, DESADV, RECADX,
INVRPT) to the trade and industry, which ensures the interactive of
different storage and supply strategies (Cross-Docking- consignment
warehouse – CRP- CPFR-transit store)
Paperless receiving by Caddy (Mobile-PC)
An important point during the introduction of a new storage
administrative system was to prevent information losses from the
papercount to the real receiving count at the warehouse in order to
avoid discrepancies on the article and supply basis. Out of this reason,
the receiving in the central warehouse is handled by mobile Caddys,
with online access to the central computer. The expected supplies
are already present and will be called up directly by the staff at the
gate. Idealvice the DESADV with the NVE 128 (Number of the dispatch
unit) which was transferred from the supplier, is scanned and the
shipment is without doubts identified therefore. On incoming shipments,
where the supplier does not send a NVE code, the orders are present
in the system and the receiving shift can adapt these on the actual
Information of Logistic and IT facts
of the branch office in
Groß-Gerau
• Storage space: 15.000 sq.m.
• Average articles on stock: 10.000
• Yearly truck movements: 10.000
• Turnover of goods: 8.300 tons/month
- 100.000 tons/year
• Monthly data exchange through the
DAKOSY computer centre between
the warehouse in Groß-Gerau,
the industry partners and the trade
group: 100.000 EDI data records
• Among them is the following:
EDIFACT – Information
DESADV – Shipping Advise
INVRPT – Inventory Report
ORDERS – Orderdata
READV – Receiving confirmation
The EDI suppliers of Heinrich Dehn
include amongst others: Henkel,
Procter & Gamble, Dr. Oetker,
Kuehne, Melitta, Berentzen,
Bonduelle, Bacardi, Lever, Xerox.

Heinrich Dehn
supply and take in the goods. As soon as this is assigned in the stacker
control system, an order for transportation is produced automatically
and a vehicle gets the order for the storage of the pallet under
consideration of best track. The staff is given the possibility of switching
with each article to the deposited item stock. Over scanning the
cardboard–EAN, or also the consumer EAN, the staff also finds an
exact article allocation here. The correct packing manner of the pallets
on „Cardboards per layer“ and also „Layer per Pallet“ likewise will be
indicated to the staff and examines by it v.v. If an article does not
match up with the „best before use date“, the staff in the receiving
dock is requested by the system to enter the minimum consumption
date of a particular article. If the „best before use date“ does not live
up to a given reminder time, the pallet is marked as rejection.
Appropriate claims (transportation damage/shortages etc.) can be
entered by the staff and printed on a receiving confirmation bill. From
this computer, communication takes place to the industry and to the
trade. Those partners which are not tied up by EDI, can take a look at
item transactions, inventory accounts and supplies over an integrated
web server at any time. They are also able to download these data
for processing also in Excel format.
Paperless storage management
Warehouse forklifts are guided by the system
The order for transport is shown on the screen on the vehicles. The
staff enters the check digit of the shelf place by touch screen, scans
the number of the dispatch unit (NVE 128) and gets the actual storage
place shown on the display. At the destination, he enters the check
digit by touch screen again and discharges the pallet at the place and
keeps assigned with consideration of the way optimization the next
order for transportation in the receiving, shipping or in the staging
area.
Handling staff is led across the warehouse by the system
The dataflow is over the host into the storage management system
and can be released for every receiver. During commissioning,
different types of storage are combined. For example suppliers, who
make a CPFR supported supply chain of the trade, flow over special
programs also into the normal commissioning course, so that these
articles can be combined together with articles of other suppliers
from the same category of commodities and by so doing avoiding a
second run to the packing station. Before the introduction of the new
system about 1000 pages of commissioning lists were printed daily.
The activating of the commissioning now takes place by pushing the
button. The handling staff is signed up over his PIN with the system
and gets shown a packing information immediately. First he is
requested to assign this commissioning instruction a NVE 128. This
becomes scanned again with changing the pallets and for controlling
purposes at the end of the packing transition. Commissioning is done
strictly by commodity the best track and separated by package and
layer. Each place is reconfirmed over touch screen-input over the
check digit. At any time, the handling staff can switch on a detail
display out to the article data. At any time, an already started
commissioning order can be splitted on several handling staff, for
example in the case of a crucial delivery time. Likewise, the priority
control in the order of commissioning is possible. At any time, when
changing the pallets, the goods on the packing station are assigned a
so called zero-crossover inventory. Discrepancies are directly counted
and over experienced automatically, lighting up messages in the
system the largest differences can be proofed immediately by the
responsible staff and it can be communicated directly with that staff
who carried out this counting.
After completion of each pallet, the NVE will be linked with the dispatch
place (postal code of the receiver) and is ready for dispatch on the
defined surface. By scanning the NVE of the commissioning pallet by
the mobile Caddys, each article is shown and a sample control takes
place.
Intelligent supply control
The system generates the supply automatically, so the forklift drivers
and handling staff meet each other at the commissioning place. Thus
it is ensured that in no case waiting periods are resulting from missing
supply.

Heinrich Dehn
Truck arrangements
Commissioning and initialisation of the individual transmissions are
only a part of the work. Due to the close dates of delivery the arranging
of truck space must take place at the same time, althoug still no
accurate statistics are available for the arrangement.The truck
arrangement is assisted by the storage management system, in so
far as it can prepare because of past and experience data a prediction
about the expected storing space - result from the commissionings
and Cross-Docking receiving amounts - any time.
Based on this informations it is dispatched one day before loading.
After completion of the commissioning in the night before the loading,
a compression of the pallets for the loading space optimization will
be made, so that accurate figures of the necessary loading space are
present in the morning of the shipping day and another correction in
loading space planning can be made.
Shipping
During the loading process the Caddy is also used. The pallet numbers
(NVE 128) will be scanned and with completion of a truck, a waybill
with indication of the NVE and the appropriate article and supplier
details will be produced. The data will be transfered to the host and
the consignee receives a DESADV and the shipper (industry) a copy
of the DESADV for the updating of these quantities or for invoicing.
Historical data
Because of an efficient data base all movements are preserved, so
later on transactions can be reconstructed e.g.:
- Number of the dispatch unit: history about storage/stock
removal/stock movements
- Performance data in the field commissioning/forklift travels
- Conclusions on users on incorrect commissionings, wrong
inputs at the zero crossover stocktaking inventory etc.
Successes after approximately 1 year in action
Due to the LVS/LFS, the following was completed successfully:
- Higher transparency with all storage procedures
- Higher flexibility
- Faster reaction possible on distribution
- Due to the complex data base – many evaluation possibilities
- Possibility of performance-oriented salaries
- Better realisation possibilities of customers wishes
- Less errors in the commissioning
- Minimizing errors in receiving
- Smaller inventory differences
- Approx. 12% less personnel costs
- Approx. 10% increase in output in the commissioning
Due to our experiences in managing a central storage with this size
according to the guidelines of QM, we know about the combined high
personal and fixed costs if the handlings on the side of the system
are not optimized. In review of it we can say, that the radio data
transmission was exactly the correct decision for the location in Groß-
Gerau under the point of view of optimizing the flows and also in
consideration to future prospects. Management without these „Low
tech – High Intellegence“ solution would not be conceivable today.
Berndt Huismann, General Manager
Gross-Gerau, 13. September 2003
Heinrich Dehn
Internationale Spedition GmbH
Wasserweg 21
D-64521 Groß-Gerau
Telefon: 06152-9305-10
Telefax: 06152-9305-64
Berndt.Huismann@Heinrich-Dehn.de

Heinrich Dehn
Heinrich Dehn Internationale Spedition GmbH