Beckman Coulter Increases On-Time Shipping Rate to 99% with Warehouse and Transportation Management Solutions
 
 

Beckman Coulter Increases On-Time Shipping Rate to 99% with Warehouse and Transportation Management Solutions

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Beckman Coulter is a leading manufacturer of biomedical-testing-instrument systems, tests, and supplies. From medical research and drug discovery, to clinical trials, to laboratory diagnostics, and point-of-care testing—Beckman Coulter’s 275,000 installed systems operate on seven continents to provide essential biomedical information that enhances healthcare around the world.

Beckman Coulter―continually focused on performance improvement across the enterprise―wanted to develop a new distribution strategy for its North American operations. The company, a long-time Oracle application and technology user, selected Oracle Transportation Management and Oracle Warehouse Management as the IT foundation that would make its new strategy a reality. The applications, which integrate with Beckman Coulter’s Oracle E-Business Suite environment, are delivering powerful benefits. The company has automated core transportation and warehouse management processes to lower shipping costs while optimizing routes. It has also improved order accuracy and on-time delivery, boosted warehouse productivity, and reduced product waste.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Beckman Coulter

  • “With Oracle Transportation Management and Oracle Warehouse Management as the foundation for our distribution operations, customers should be satisfied because we deliver the right products on time and can answer their questions; our users are happy because the system has improved processes; and the company is pleased because we provide better service, better quality, and are saving money. It is a huge win.” – Carl Sandvik, Director, Business Processes, Beckman Coulter

  • Build a robust, scalable, and flexible foundation to support the company’s new North American distribution strategy
  • Reduce shipping costs and improve on-time delivery of the company’s biomedical testing products, which can range from a single o-ring to a multitruckload shipment of laboratory instruments
  • Facilitate compliance with increasingly complex regulatory requirements related to hazardous shipments and cold-chain biomedical products
  • Improve warehouse efficiency and order accuracy to reduce labor, restocking, and supply costs, and to minimize product waste associated with incorrectly shipped cold-chain products
  • Improve customer service and on-time delivery rate through greater visibility into inventory and shipping information

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Implemented Oracle Warehouse Management and Oracle Transportation Management applications at the company’s largest North American distribution center—creating a flexible, integrated, and robust platform for the new distribution strategy
  • Enabled Beckman Coulter to coordinate and optimize resource use and material flows across a global supply chain on a single platform
  • Replaced manual transportation and warehouse management processes, from route and carrier selection to manual pick lists, with automated processes―improving efficiency, accuracy, and visibility
  • Facilitated compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements related to hazardous transport through extended visibility and tracking capabilities
  • Provided customers with up-to-date information on shipment status, delivery dates, and inventory, improving customer relationships
  • Automated core warehouse management processes, including validating shipment contents, to boost distribution center efficiency and employee productivity, and reduce warehouse full-time employee equivalents by 25%
  • Improved lot shipment accuracy by 40%, which significantly reduced restocking costs and cold-chain product waste
  • Enabled a 15% mode shift from parcel carriers to partial-truckload shipments
  • Improved measurement tools and subsequently increased on-time shipping performance from approximately 89% to more than 99%
  • Worked with Deloitte to provide automated decision support for a full range of transportation scenarios, from simple, direct shipments to more complex shipments that require special attention (such as hazardous or temperature-controlled items), enabling consolidated shipments and transportation modes and the ability to determine optimum routes and pricing
  • Gained efficiency in managing order and shipment lifecycles through automated milestone monitoring, as well as the ability to run operational reports approximately five times daily to ensure up-to-date information
  • Created a scalable foundation that the company plans to roll out to five other North American distribution centers

Why Oracle

“As we evaluated Oracle and its competitors, it became clear to us that Oracle had the strongest transportation and warehouse management platform. Ultimately, we chose Oracle for its world-class standing and ready-to-deploy interfaces,” said Carl Sandvik, director, business processes, Beckman Coulter

Partner

Deloitte brought the right players with the right talent and lived up to Beckman Coulter’s requirements. An added bonus was that, during the implementation, Deloitte brought in resources with other areas of expertise, including a trade and regulatory group. Even after go live, Deloitte was highly supportive and provided quick and efficient problem resolution.