To make certain that the hypermarkets' shelves are always stocked, the DC's processes have to be automated. DC personnel set themselves a target of achieving a minimum of a 95 percent fill-rate across all categories for store transfers and also receive goods with minimum vendor vehicle turnaround time.

"It was clear that to ensure on time fulfillment of store transfers, the DC's processes had to be automated. In order to help optimize various processes and reduce the time spent in the DC, we knew that the solution had to run on a mobile device," says Veneeth Purushotaman, head-technology, HyperCity Retail.

Today, when a product arrives at the DC, the receiving team loads its purchase order on a handheld scanner device. This helps reduce manual entry (and its accompanying errors). Once the items are received, the warehouse management system prints out a 'put-away' document. This document is now available on the scanner and guarantees that a DC staffer puts items away correctly. Finally, when it is time for inventory to be moved to a store a 'pick' document is assigned to a 'picker' using a wireless hand-held scanner. This document shows the exact location of a product and the number of pieces to gather. If an item is not on the pick list an error message informs the picker.

Within a month of the implementation, staff costs at the DC fell by 23 percent, and sales rose by 25 percent. As envisioned, turnaround time fell by 12 hours, because errors from misreading data virtually disappeared. Purushotaman's solution also created a unique bond between IT and business processes, creating happier employees. "Attrition is near zero and the enthusiasm and motivation that the DC management system has generated has helped the DC set new benchmarks for retail logistics and warehouse management in India."

The Person Behind It

Veneeth Purushotaman, Head-Technology

HyperCity Retail

"By eliminating errors from misreading data, turnaround time dropped by 12 hours while sales zoomed by 25 percent."