A new partnership between Forte Warehouse Solutions and Cquential Solutions aimed at improving warehousing via systems and process optimisation has been established.Shaun O’Brien, CEO of Cquential, says that the shared venture clinched late last year and with an initial client already on board, is all about improving visibility, throughput and efficiencies within warehousing and distribution. According to O’Brien, a few years back, the reluctance of businesses to see the value in warehouse management systems (WMS) changed once companies realised that in order to become more efficient and competitive within the current business climate, they would require a best-of-breed WMS coupled with a strong implementation team to deliver the projects.“We are now at a point to capitalise on this trend and Forte had all the right credentials for us,” said O’Brien. “Forte is an SME that knows supply chain and how warehousing works. That’s where the synergies are.”Forte and Cquential’s first combined project involves a 3rd party logistics service provider in Ekurhuleni responsible for operating around eight warehouses on behalf of a large FMCG company, with the first stages of the new WMS implementation roll-out planned within the next three months.“Our first goal and challenge will be going live successfully,” said Forte COO Renko Bergh.He emphasised that a successful WMS implementation involved consultative decision making and executive buy-in to ensure that methodical planning was done with the client’s best interests at heart.“Clients in the warehousing space,” said Bergh, “deserve focused specialisation.”“It’s about first using optimal processes to get their data within a WMS, then seamless integration with the client’s ERP (enterprise resource planning), followed by dashboards for management and control, and only then can we start doing things with big data and building true value.”He explained that WMS, which essentially meant going paperless and driving warehouse excellence, could be quite disruptive and generally did not take less than three months to implement. However this should not hinder the decision to implement a WMS as the benefits far outweighed the time taken to implement it, he added.All the more reason, Bergh reiterated, to have the right business partner.He added that although the licensing for systems was in the hands of the development house, the first point of contact was with the consulting team on the ground to ensure the correct tool was implemented to meet the business objectives. “We don’t just want to sell a system, install it and move on,” said O’Brien. “We are interested in partnering with our clients to continuously add value to their warehouse operations”“It boils down to focusing on your core competencies, knowing what your focus is and executing. At Forte we don’t recruit developers. Cquential is better equipped to build a competent development team. We recruit industry specialists and project leaders,” said Bergh.One such recruitment involves the appointment of a project leader to solely concentrate on CquentialWMS. This will fast-track the value that can be delivered to the customer, if we have the focus from the start, says O’Brien. “The tool is one thing, but understanding the business and configuring the tool to the customers’ needs is where the true value lies.
INSERT: Each company is on its own roadmap towards digitisation.– Renko Bergh