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Smart Distribution System

Agilion Distribution

The Agilion Distribution solution by Agili Group is a full-fledged WMS and
distribution solution for Microsoft Business Central, which includes bar-code
scanning, mobile device support, tote picking, pallet/container management,
packing processes, Deliveries and more.

All integrated in
one package.

None of the below features are part of standard Microsoft Business Central but only our Agilion Distribution solution.

Deliveries

Standard Business Central does not support organizing deliveries. Whether you are a B2C web shop that sends many small packages every day, or a B2B company that sends a few large but complex shipments that require waybills, packing lists, insurance papers and more, you need to be able to organize, manage and consolidate your deliveries. The Delivery functionality helps you add items from different sales orders and organize your picks and packing per Delivery. The Delivery functionality is also the backbone of any integration to a freight platform as well as the management of your large multicolli, international, complex and expensive deliveries.

Bar code scanning and mobile devices

Entry in the warehouse and on the shopfloor fast and error free and can be used to keep processes tight and accurate. Our scanner solution supports both normal barcodes as well as QR codes for all warehouse processes: Receiving, Put-Away, Picking, Packing, Shipping, Moving, Physical inventory counting, Consumption, etc.

Container Picking

A "container" is any box, pallet, cart etc. that can be used to pick, store of put-away goods. A picking cart with 20 picking totes for multiple sales orders can be driven around the warehouse by the warehouse employee with instructions from the handheld scanner. A "container" can also be a pallet or cart that can be used to pick larger items. Our solution helps you keep track of which boxes, pallets, carts, etc. come with which orders.

Colli Packing

Once you have picked your items, you must pack and ship them. Any box or pallet you send out the door is called a colli. Sometimes a shipment contains only a single colli, sometimes several. Our solution helps you scan goods into colli, keep track of how many packages each colli consists of and keep track of the contents of each colli, so you can print waybills, packing lists with weight, volume, etc.

Pallets

Manage and handle the pallets in your warehouse. Many distribution companies work with pallets as a storage unit. They receive full pallets, they store full pallets, they move full pallets around, and they ship full pallets. Our solution helps you handle your pallets.

Cubic based warehouse documents

In order to pick, store and move goods efficiently, it is a great advantage to be able to create picks, put-aways and movements based on cubage. This ensures that each cart or pallet is filled up to its full capacity and reduces the number of operations.

Calculation of reorder points

Companies with many products in stock often want to reorder when the stock falls below a certain reorder point. Our solution can calculate proposals for reorder points based on historical sales data.

Advanced Intercompany

Standard Business Central does not support a fully automated inter-company flow. With our solution, you can fully automate the exchange of all documents that are typically sent between companies in the same group: Sales/purchase orders, invoices, shipments, receipts, etc.

POS Solution. more...

Do you have retail shops from where you sell your products. Our solution includes a basic Point of Sales solution so you can easily service retail customers.

Expanded feature list

Below is a more detailed feature list

The list summarizes the main elements of the solution, but still many smaller enhancements are included.

Mobile Scanning Apps

Mobile scanning apps are used mainly in the warehouse to perform a whole range of processes easily and error free. Although you can use the apps by typing in information, the general idea is that all data entry is done by scanning a bar code. Scan the bar code of the Item, scan the bar code of the pallet, scan the bar code of the bin, and so on. Use these apps for picking, putting away, moving and a number of other warehouse processes.

Pick App

Use bar codes to pick items from the bins in your warehouse. The app will respond to item numbers, different variants, different units of measure and allow you to place each item into a picking tote on the trolley or on the trolley itself for larger items. You can type in the quantity or scan the items multiple times as you see fit.

Pallet picking App

Go to the bin where the pallet is placed and simply scan the pallet bar code to register the pick for all items on the pallet.

Colli packing App

Scan items into the shipping collies/boxes to make sure every item is accounted for before closing the boxes.

Create new
container App

Create a new container in the system by scanning a bar code. For example, when turning a flat cardboard box into a cube in order to place items into.

Move container
content App

Move items from one container (pallet) to another by scanning their bar codes.

Convert container
to colli App

Convert a container, such as a pallet, from one that is used internally to one that can be shipped just by scanning its bar code.

Move child
container App

Place one container into another container by scanning their bar codes. If, for example, you want to place a cardboard box on a pallet or a pallet into a shipping container.

Create container from
item App

Convert an item, such as a box of 20 pieces into a container so it can easily be shipped as a colli.

Top-down movement App

Use this app to replenish items from bulk storage bins from the top rack levels down to the bottom pick levels closer to the floor, by scanning their bar codes.

Distance movement App

Use this app to move a trolley of items from one area of the warehouse to another.

Put-away App

Use this app to put away loose items by scanning their bar codes.

Receiving App

Use this app to register the physical items you’ve received by scanning their bar codes. Compare the scanned items with those on the Delivery note to find discrepancies.

Cross-dock App

Use this app to both register the items you’ve received while marking them for cross-docking.

Container put-away App

Use this app to put away an entire pallet into a bin by simply scanning its bar code.

Inventory Counting

Easily count all items in your stock. Use regular inventory counting or cycle counting.

Container Management

A container is any unit used to store items or other nested containers. A container can be a pallet, a picking tote, a picking trolley, an area on the floor used to consolidate picked items before shipping, and so on. As opposed to the Bin-system (which is part of standard Business Central), containers can be moved around, nested inside each other, stored in a warehouse bin, shipped, etc.

Picking Tote

When picking items for multiple orders at the same time, you need one or several picking totes for each sales order on your pick trolley. Each picking tote is created as containers in the system for easy tracking and bar code scanning. You can use plastic boxes, that are reused, or if you prefer to pick into the cardboard boxes that you will later be shipping in, you can ask the system to create new cardboard box containers in the system.

Trolley

When picking items, moving items or putting them away, this can be done on a trolley. The trolley is created as a container in the system to keep track of which items and smaller containers are kept on it.

Pallets

Pallets can be used to store items in bins in the warehouse racks. But they can also be used to pick items, put away items, move items internally, ship to the customer, etc. In each case, the pallet is created as a container in the system to keep track of the items it contains.

Parking Spots

When returning from your pick trip with your picked items, you might want to park the pick-trolley or pick-pallet on a parking spot, which is a marked area on the warehouse floor close to the packing station. Registering where the pick-trolley is parked will help the dispatch worker easily find the items that have been picked from different zones and consolidate them into one Delivery.

Packing Stations

A dispatch station will be created as a container, so that we can track when all goods of a Delivery has been brought to the dispatch station.

Sell entire pallet

Allow your sales staff to sell specific pallets you currently have in stock. For example, sell a pallet of goods that are all getting close to the expiration date.

Pick Entire Pallet

Ask the system to identify a stored pallet, that contains some or all of the items you need for a sales order and create a Warehouse Pick specifically for that pallet, rather than for each of the items on the pallet.

Pick consolidation

Pick items from different zones in your warehouse, bring them to the pack/ship area and let the system easily guide you to the placement of all items for the Delivery you are preparing to ship.

Assign Pick Containers

When picking items for a Delivery, you can ask the system to find the most appropriate combination of boxes for the cubage of the Delivery. For example, if the Delivery has a total cubage of 0.2m3, then the system will find the best combination of appropriately sized cardboard boxes to pick and ship in.

Pick Tote Labels

All pick totes need to have a bar code so that you can scan it during the pick trip. So, before you start your pick trip, print out labels and stick them on the picking totes. (This is only relevant when you pick into the boxes you will later ship in.)

Check into Pick Trolley

Tell the system which trolley you are picking with, so it can keep track of on which trolley any given picking tote is placed.

Allocate items to Picking
Totes

When your picker is out on a picking trip, would you like the system to tell him exactly what picking totes on the trolley to put the items into? Or would you prefer the warehouse worker makes the decision based on which picking tote the item can fit into? It’s up to you.

Suggest Picking Tote

The mobile app will keep track of which picking tote is being used for any Delivery when picking for multiple Deliveries/orders at once.

Build pallets when
receiving

Build up pallets when you receive items from your supplier for easy put-away and storage.

Pallet Put-Aways

Once you have organized your received items on pallets, the system will create put-aways for each pallet.

Container Hierarchy
Report

View on screen or print out a Container Hierarchy report that tells you where in the warehouse all your items are. For example: The 3 flashlights are in Picking Tote A, which is placed on Pick Trolley B, which is placed on Parking Spot C.

Variants, Units of Measure, Serial Numbers and Lot Numbers

It is often necessary to keep a more detailed record of the items in a container (a trolley, a picking tote, a pallet, etc.). We potentially need to track both Units of Measure, the Variants, the Lot Numbers and the Serial numbers of the items kept in the container. The solution will handle this.

Deliveries

Standard Microsoft Business Central does not support the concept of Deliveries. A Delivery is different from a Sales Order. A Delivery can consist of only part of the items on a Sales Order in the case where we do not have all items in stock. In this case, you’ll end up with multiple Deliveries for a single Sales Order. But a Delivery can also include items from multiple Sales Orders, which is very common in a B2B scenario where a big customer will place multiple sales orders at the same time but would like to have them consolidated into fewer Deliveries.

Our Delivery module helps manage exactly such scenarios and can integrate to any shipping platform you use to order freight with, whether you are a B2B company with relatively few, but complex Deliveries or a B2C company with many small and simple orders.

Create Deliveries

Have the system run through all outstanding sales order lines and create today’s Deliveries based on shipping dates and inventory availability.

Combine Sales Orders

Add Sales Order lines from multiple Sales Orders to a single Delivery to avoid sending multiple Deliveries to the same customer.

Delivery Progress Overview

Get an overview of how far each Delivery has come. Has picking started for a Delivery? Has the Delivery been packed?

Add Deliveries to Warehouse Shipmentа

Organize today’s Deliveries by courier by adding them to the Warehouse Shipments. For example, you might want to organize the picking and preparation of all Deliveries going out with UPS as the first thing in the morning because UPS picks up early.

Waybill and Packing list

Print out Waybills and Packing lists with weight and dimensions for each colli in the Delivery.

Archive Deliveries

Archive Deliveries when they have been picked up by the delivery company.

Reserve from Delivery

Reserve all items on a Delivery before going out to pick them to ensure there will be no picking conflicts.

Complete Ship for Deliveries

Avoid shipping Deliveries that are only allowed to go out when all items are available to ship.

Ship and Invoice Delivery

Ship and invoice all items on a single Delivery even if they come from many different Sales Orders.

Prevent Combined Deliveries

Some companies do not want items from multiple Sales Orders consolidated in one Delivery although it would be more efficient.

Receiving Enhancements

We have enhanced the receiving and put away processes by allowing the user to establish a Physical Receipt list – a list of what has actually been received in contrast to the supplier’s Delivery note. In addition, we’ve improved the cross-dock functionality and developed a number of mobile scanning apps, as described in the section on Mobile Scanning Apps.

Create Put-Aways by
Cubage and Zone

Produce warehouse put-aways by cubage, so you can fit all items on one put-away trolley or pallet. Send out one warehouse worker to put-away in one zone and another in a different zone.

Supplier Delivery
Note Qty

Keep a record of the quantity that was actually received vs. the quantity according to the supplier Delivery note, so that you can later contact your supplier and inform them that you only received 9 boxes – not 10 boxes as the Delivery note suggested.

Physical Receipt List

Build up a list of the physical items you’ve received and have the system automatically compare it to the items on the Delivery note from your supplier. Are there any discrepancies?

Verify Physical Receipt
List

Before you can post the Warehouse Receipt, the system will check for discrepancies between what the supplier has delivered as per the Delivery note vs. what you have actually received as per the physical receipt list.

Verify Cross Dock

Before posting the Warehouse Receipt, the system will check, for a match between the cross-docked items as per the Warehouse Receipt vs. the Physical Receipt List.

Enhanced Cross Docking

The standard Cross Dock functionality has a number of short comings. You cannot effectively control how many cross-dock quantities to put away. You cannot separate cross-dock quantities out on a separate Warehouse Put-Away. These and other inconveniences have been addressed.

Mobile Apps

A number of mobile scanning apps have been developed to support the receiving function as described in the section “Mobile Scanning Apps”.

Various Enhancements

Below is a list of various enhancements, that did not fit in with the sections listed above.

Create Warehouse Picks
By Cubage

Produce Warehouse Picks by cubage, so that you can fit all items on one picking trolley or pallet.

Movements by Cubage
and Zone

Produce Warehouse Movements by cubage, so you can fit all items on one movement trolley or pallet.

Calculate Reorder Points

In standard Business Central, you can set up the system to suggest replenishment orders Purchase Orders, Transfer Orders, etc.) when your inventory drops below a certain level, called the Reorder Point. Since such Reorder Point are based on historic demand patterns, they continuously need updating.

With our solution, the system can calculate and suggest such reorder points based on historic demand data keeping them continuously up-to-date.

Contact Us

For more information about our Agilion Distribution solution as well as our Agilion Production solution, please contact us.

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