Hooker Furniture buffs up its delivery operations

Hooker Furniture installed a custom-written WMS to enhance visibility over its inventory and polish its customer service.

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 3/1/2000

A new warehouse management system (WMS) combined with radio-frequency technology has added luster to Hooker Furniture Corp.'s customer-service performance. The custom-built WMS has given the furniture maker real-time visibility over its inventory just when its

retail customers are demanding more complete information on orders and shipments in transit. "It's a real-time operating system," says Talmage Fish, vice president of information services. "Transactions are readily visible at all functional area workstations in the company, and information is updated immediately."

Hooker Furniture, based in Martinsville, Va., manufactures hardwood furniture, commonly referred to as casegoods in the trade. It specializes in products for home offices and entertainment centers. The company's sales last year exceeded $225 million.

Three years ago, Hooker decided that it needed new WMS software in order to manage its inventory better. Instead of purchasing an off-the-shelf software package, the furniture maker hired CMD Systems of Charlotte, N.C., a subsidiary of accounting and consulting firm Deloitte & Touche, to develop a warehouse management system.

Why did Hooker commission custom-written WMS software rather than tailor an off-the-shelf package? The company needed an application using the Windows NT operating system that had cross-docking functionality as well as compatibility with standard retailing electronic data interchange (EDI) transaction formats, answers Fish. "Given all these requirements," he says, "we felt we could implement a brand-new package as quickly as if we had bought a package off the shelf and customized it."

To link the WMS to a bar-code and radio-frequency system, Hooker retained Compsee of Mt. Gilead, N.C., as the project's systems integrator. Compsee also provided hardware such as bar-code label printers and a radio-frequency data communications network.

In 1997, the company installed the WMS and radio-frequency (RF) system in four of its facilities. In November 1998, Hooker purchased a 400,000-square-foot distribution center near its warehouse in the Martinsville, Va., area. The company installed a local area network in that building and Compsee provided the RF network, both of which were interfaced with the company's corporate data center. Because of their experience in implementing the system at the other sites, Hooker and Compsee managed to bring the new DC online in a month.

Computer-Monitored Inventory

The system has given Hooker Furniture a better handle on its inventory. Scanned bar-coded data can be transmitted via radio frequency to the WMS, which now keeps up-to-the-minute tabulations of stock on hand. "The computer tracks every item that comes in and out on a real-time basis," says Fish.

Enhanced inventory visibility also has enabled Hooker to begin exchanging electronic messages, such as purchase orders and invoices, with its trading partners. "That has eliminated an overwhelming volume of paperwork," Fish reports. It has allowed the company to adopt cycle counting to validate inventory as well. "Our inventory accuracy," he says, "is now about 99.5 percent." Furthermore, the system also has improved shipping accuracy, thanks to a feature that doesn't allow a truck filled with product to leave the dock until the picklist and loaded items match.

Hooked on High Tech

By all accounts, computer-generated pick lists and radio-frequency transmission of scanned data have done much to improve operational efficiency in the warehouse. Fish reports that his company has increased its volume of shipments between 25 and 30 percent because of the system. In fact, the technology made it possible for the company to add a second shift at its new DC last year without any extra system changes or hardware additions. Says Fish, "The customer order accuracy, service, and productivity brought about by the RF-based shipping and receiving system has our furniture company hooked on high tech with its speed, accuracy, and increased profits."