Case Study with Frederic Smart

Project Objectives

The incumbent WMS (Warehouse Management System) at Virgin Wines was more than 15 years old and no longer supported the operational requirements and growth ambitions. The company experienced rapid growth since early 2020, and it became critical to replace the WMS and have both sites running on a single, robust system.

Project Objectives

Frederic Smart were using two legacy WMS to manage their operations and fulfil customer orders. The main site in Papworth used Access Delta WMS and the other two sites in Warrington and Peterborough used Chess Emperica.

Both legacy WMS were lacking quality support and key functionality to keep up with the changes in operations, growth and volumes. The business required a modern, functionally suitable WMS which could support growth and fulfil user requirements with the reduction of manual input and duplicated effort.

BoxLogic’s expertise was needed to:

• Undertake a comprehensive requirements gathering study for a new or upgraded WMS
• Recommend suitable WMS vendors that could match these requirements

Project Approach

• Familiarised ourselves with the business via site tours and interviews with key stakeholders across the business
• Multiple follow-on interviews and workshops with the wider team captured the requirements in each of warehouse location
• Recorded and assessed operational processes to document the ideal future demands of a system
• Rationalised and prioritised requirements in a series of workshops with gap analysis
• Developed high-level process maps and requirements that were signed off by Frederic Smart team
• Approached reputable Tier 1 and Tier 2 WMS providers to gauge interest and assess suitability with a shortlist agreed

Project Results

• Full documentation of requirements was provided relating to Frederic Smarts specific warehouse operations, including fulfilment and 3PL billing.
• Categorisation of each functionality as ‘standard’ or ‘non-standard’; ‘must-have’ or ‘nice-to-have’ and ‘short’ or ‘future’ to prioritise and rationalise solution requirements.
• Provision of a report documenting our findings and recommendations along with a suggested roadmap and next steps.

Client Feedback

We engaged BoxLogic to conduct a high-level review of our WMS capabilities, in particular to identify gaps in the existing provision, and to suggest potential replacement.

Following an initial familiarisation process, they identified requirements and existing resource and then proceeded to review and recommend potential update options.

At all times, the BoxLogic team were easy to work with, and maintained a professional approach with a clear deep knowledge and understanding of the sector. We would certainly consider using their services again in the future as the project progresses.

Douglas Smart
Director