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ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH is a specialist company for libraries, whose product range covers the complete needs of libraries. This includes:
- Furniture
- Accessories/Material
- Library technology
- Media
A fundamental reorganisation of the flow of goods in the area of media - especially books, games and sound carriers - had become necessary in order to meet the demands of the market. The demand for faster delivery with simultaneous reduction of process costs was one of the main challenges to the project.
The main conceptual tasks were:
- Reduction of lead times by 20
- Waiver of a stock
- Optimisation of procurement channels
- direct pick and pack process
- Increase transparency at all levels
The consistent solution approaches are defined by measures in the entire supply chain:
- Procurement
- Warehousing
- Incoming goods
- Production
- Order picking
- Shipping
Procurement
The procurement of media on the basis of existing customer orders is fundamentally new. This requires an exact preparation of the customer orders, but also a fast and reliable delivery by the suppliers, which was ensured by corresponding contracts with the publishers and bar suppliers.
Warehousing
Customer-based procurement has almost completely eliminated the required inventory and thus the warehousing costs.
Incoming goods
In connection with the reduction of process steps, an exact assignment of the titles and each copy to the corresponding customer orders must be carried out. This important task is already carried out in goods receipt processing. There, in addition to checking and recording master data, the individual copies are marked with a 2D barcode. This already explicitly defines the individual copy for the customer. The copies for the customer-specific requested production processes are prepared in goods receipt.
Production
Production includes different types of production and thus also different production lines. Here, a distinction is made essentially:
- foiled
- sewn and foiled
- hardcover with and without dust jacket
The production lines were converted in such a way that a continuous, straight material flow was created from incoming goods to the finished product. At the same time, production facilities were replaced or supplemented to meet the requirements for quality and delivery speed.
Sorting
Afterproduction, all specimens are fed to a sorting technique. In the first step, the copies are automatically presorted. A distinction is made between large and normal orders. The second step of sorting for normal orders is done manually, but supported by the system. Scanners are installed at the end of the outfeed lanes and each copy is scanned in again. The system then displays a customer carton for the employee to pack the copy into. The customer cartons are stored in shelving racks equipped with a pick-by-light system. The putaway process is supported by the display of lamps on the compartments. Each putaway is acknowledged.
Special machining
Thespecial service of ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH lies in the ready-to-loan processing (ALB), which gives libraries the opportunity to borrow all media without further processing. This is done on a carton-by-carton basis and is directly integrated into the process. As an additional service, the option of RFID labeling is integrated here.
Goods issue
All shipping cartons are labeled via central processing, provided with an exact delivery bill and sealed. IWL AG, a planning and consulting company from Ulm, supported the ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH project group from the development of the idea to the detailing of the processes and operational use.
S&P Computersysteme GmbH supplied the application software linked to the host system for sorting and storing the books, Linux-based server systems, the pick-to-light system, and the complete workstation equipment consisting of touch screen PCs and 2D digital scanners. Additional MC9060 mobile radio data terminals with wireless LAN, also equipped with 2D scanners, were installed for the overflow areas.
