Success Story: Fastenal

CHALLENGE

Fastenal’s distribution centers relied on homegrown, highly customized warehouse management solutions that were no longer adequate for their needs. They recognized the necessity of boosting sales revenue across their existing channels, such as store branches and vending machines at customer locations, and ensuring this growth was profitable. The new Local Inventory Fulfillment Terminals (LIFTs) were significantly different in scale from their main distribution centers, making the existing homegrown WMS unsuitable for these facilities.

OBJECTIVES

Fastenal aimed to establish several LIFTs in major metropolitan areas swiftly. These facilities, ranging from 12,000 to 25,000 square feet and managed by 5 full-time employees handling approximately 2,500 SKUs each, were designed to enhance the efficiency of replenishing vending machines at customer locations and reduce overall service costs. Their specific goals included:

• Improving Overall Service: Position inventory in local markets to offer enhanced service levels through online channels, vending machines, and same-day delivery without stocking every branch.
• Increasing Time for Branch Personnel: Free up branch staff from replenishment tasks, allowing them to focus on customer service.
• Reducing the Cost to Serve: Minimize touches throughout the network, localize inventory, and consolidate labor to bring products closer to customers without overcommitting inventory at every branch.
• Rolling Out Multiple Sites: Establish LIFT facilities across North America.

SOLUTION

Fastenal needed a rapidly deployable, cloud-based warehouse management solution to meet these objectives. Oracle Cloud WMS and Intellinum FlexiPro proved to be an ideal fit. Key aspects of the solution included:

• WMS Cloud Small Kitting Functionality: Essential for supporting item traceability for recalls, returns, and special engineering standards.
• Enhanced Inventory Traceability: ERP integration using Mulesoft improved the replenishment process for vending machines.
• Improved Mobile User Interface: FlexiPro facilitated a better mobile user interface for staff and streamlined the picking path, priority, and operational processes within the LIFT facilities.

RESULTS

By implementing Oracle Cloud WMS and Intellinum FlexiPro, Fastenal achieved notable improvements in operational efficiency, accuracy, and overall productivity:

• Reduced Out-of-Stocks: Enabled faster replenishment of vending machines.
• Enhanced Replenishment Efficiency: Streamlined processes resulted in greater efficiency.
• Increased Profitability: Higher labor productivity in replenishment tasks led to better profitability.
• Speed-to-Market: The ability to quickly deploy the WMS Cloud at LIFT facilities accelerated the rollout process.