Dorfman Pacific Rolls Out a New Wireless Warehouse

Dorfman Pacific Rolls Out a New Wireless Warehouse

Case Study Questions

1. Compare Dorfman Pacific’s old and new order-picking processes. Diagram the processes.

The old system: The old process relied on paper-based processes and tacit knowledge of the facility and the company’s customers. The company’s IT systems were spread out over various functional areas and did little to support a transparent inventory. The warehouse worker, called a picker, received a paper pick ticket from a supervisor. The picker drove a forklift to the area of the warehouse where he or she expected to find the bin that stored the product on the ticket. The worker manually picked boxes off of the shelf and then brought them to a packing area to be boxed, labeled, and loaded onto a truck. Bins were labeled manually, making them difficult to read. Sometimes the boxes held more than one product. Each picker had his or her own preferred path to performing picking duties. The company’s ERP system did not integrate well with other systems.

The new system: The new system banished paper. The new ERP system and the warehouse management system used software to manage the picking, packing, and shipping processes. Pickers carrying mobile devices receive data telling them where to go, what to pick, and where to bring the merchandise using the most efficient route. Pickers armed with wireless scanning devices were assured that the bar-code-labeled bins contained only one product type each.

2. What role did end users play in developing Dorfman’s wireless warehouse system? What would have happened to the project if users hadn’t been so involved? Explain your answer.

Probably the most important characteristic of this project is that Dorfman approached the change as a business project rather than an IT project. A cross-functional team consisting of an outside consultant as project manager and managers from distribution, purchasing, customer services, and sales worked on the...