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Anzac Spirit and a Family Business

24/4/2018

The RIC Group is an Australian run and owned family business. Being a family business means there are great challenges and opportunities at the same time. There is no doubt we have been able to weave our own family values right through the company's culture and this is one of the reasons I believe our employees have a strong loyalty effect as they support our aspirations.

What I also take great pride in is on a day such as Anzac Day which is Australia's most important day, my great grandfather Clifford Arthur Alfred Ellis was a Lieutenant for the Australian Army for the 24th Battalion. He was part of the Battle of Gallipoli. From Gallipoli he then marched into the Western Front and was part of Battle of Le Somme. It is hard to imagine exactly all he experienced but some of it was being gassed multiple times, shot, losing a number of friends and mates on the battlefield, and being away from home for a substantial period.

Wikipedia states that Anzac spirit has perceived qualities which include endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, larrikinism and mateship. For me these are the qualities for the Anzac but also qualities you need in run a family business.

Here is a story from my great grandfather from his diary:

The bully picked on him once... He said OK I'll fight but let's have a drink first... CAA (Clifford Arthur Alfred) made sure the big bloke had plenty so when the fight was on the bully could not fight at all... That is smart, force not the answer but brains. The fight created a bond with the bully as all your mates were like family.

In a way with a family business your team becomes your family. Everyone is aligning themselves to help the company goal.

Below is a photo of my great grandfather Clifford with his battalion. He is the lieutenant in the middle sitting down at the front.

Lest we forget.

Bronson Safety reaping the rewards of using TRG's WMS

16/4/2018

Bronson Safety have been utilising The RIC Group’s WMS for warehouse management with SAP Business One for over 5 years and it has been an integral part to promote growth for the business.

Bronson Safety went to market and wanted to implement an easy to use and cost effective Warehouse Management Solution for SAP Business One. Rob, the Managing Director from Bronson Safety, states that a big advantage of selecting The RIC Group was that you are working with the actual software developers of the WMS. When support or customisations were needed The RIC Group were able to help in a very timely manner.

Since implementation everyone within the business has been very happy with The RIC Group’s WMS solution and it has helped reduce the picking error rate and streamlined customer service.

The solution has been extremely stable and helped with business processes. The great part is that the Warehouse Management Solution is seamlessly integrated with SAP Business One. A great feature of SAP Business One has been the feature of using Reserve Invoices for online orders. As the WMS retrieves released picks from the Pick Pack Manager of SAP Business One, it has kept the business process the same for sales orders or reserve invoices.

For further information contact us on [email protected]

Food for thought - Prior to implementing a WMS

15/4/2018

As a business you would like to select a WMS because you want to implement efficiencies in the warehouse and lower item handling costs. Once you have decided to look at WMS vendors there are variables you will need to consider.

Firstly if the WMS is a real time WMS and needs to query the ERP database then you will need WIFI implemented through the warehouse. Commercial access points would be recommend to use and it is best to have a heat map completed to know if there are any weak or dead spots in the warehouse where there will be no connectivity. When a real time WMS is scanning bin location barcodes or product barcodes the WMS is making an entry back to the database which could be on premise or on cloud.

If you would like to implement a WMS then you will need to define the bin and rack locations in the ERP or WMS. A lot of the time clients will have the Pick Face Location in an extra field kept in the ERP, as when they print a picking slip the items will be to pick will be displayed in bin location order. However, when implementing a multi bin WMS all bin locations will need to be kept in the ERP or WMS depending whether your ERP has the feature of multi bin.

Once you have setup all the bin locations, you will need to get them barcoded. With a WMS solution for multi bin, the operator is constantly scanning bin locations. The user could be scanning the bin locations during bin transfers, or during the picking process or during a stocktake. It is very important to start considering what height the barcodes should be and the position of the operator who will be scanning the barcodes. Will the operator be walking or will they be driving a forklift? You will need to make sure the operator can easily scan the bin location barcodes during the processes of picking, bin transfers, stocktaking e.t.c.

For a lot of customers, not all products will be barcoded. To ensure the efficiency of a WMS, customers will need to consider how to have these products barcoded. Some users will place a barcode on the pick face for the product if they are using static pick face bin locations. Other customers will barcode these items when they come in through the Goods Receiving process.

Lastly, when implementing a WMS you will want to implement a WMS that is going to last you over time. Like an ERP solution, it is very difficult to change WMS solutions once you have implemented. With the ever changing landscape of technology, implementing a WMS which takes advantages of the latest technology should be a big consideration. You will need the choice of having your WMS implemented on cloud servers, being able to use any device with any operating system and ensuring your WMS can take advantage of IOT and being loosely coupled. This will allow users to take advantages of products such as Power BI, freight integration and other API's.

For further information email [email protected]

The RIC Group Blog

Anzac Spirit and a Family Business

Bronson Safety reaping the rewards of using TRG's WMS

Food for thought - Prior to implementing a WMS

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