18/06/2014 | Hardis Group
The homeopathic pharmaceutical preparations specialist chooses Hardis' solution to manage the logistical flows at its four production sites.
Hardis Group, a digital services company and business software publisher, announces that Boiron, a manufacturer and distributor of homeopathic medicines, has decided to implement Reflex WMS to manage the logistical flows of its four production sites. Following the analysis, parameterization and testing phases, roll-out of Reflex is planned for mid-2015.
Boiron: in-house logistics management
Boiron currently employs nearly 4,000 people, 3,000 of them in France. It has four manufacturing sites, as well as some thirty local establishments responsible for distributing the medicines to the 22,000 client dispensaries throughout France.
From the reception of the raw materials needed to make the medicines right through to delivery, including internationally, passing through storage, feeding of production lines and preparation of packaging, all the company's logistical flows are managed entirely in-house by the company. For its four manufacturing sites, Boiron had been relying on a WMS system developed in-house around its ERP system. "The tool no longer met our needs," explains Philippe Posa, Supply Chain Manager with Boiron. "The cost and the lead-times for developing it were becoming excessive".
An off-the-shelf business application without having to change the organization
To replace it, Boiron's logistics management decided to equip itself with an off-the-shelf warehouse management application. After eight months of research, tests and meetings with the five publishers consulted, Reflex WMS was chosen at the end of 2013. Boiron's logistics teams were attracted by the Hardis solution's functional coverage and ease of use, as well as by its ability to adapt to existing processes. But above all it was the exchanges with Hardis' teams that ultimately proved decisive: "We found a company that we could talk to, with employees who we could sense were committed to supporting us, and what's more with a presence here in the Rhône-Alpes region," Philippe Posa continues.
Following the functional analysis phase and then the parameterization phase, Reflex should be rolled out in mid-2015. "Initially, the solution will be configured to deal with the current processes. But in a subsequent phase we plan to take advantage of its implementation to optimize order preparation and exchanges with our suppliers, transporters and customers", Philippe Posa concludes.