Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 14 | Page 55

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// FEATURE: IT INTEGRATION Cipla manufactures more than 1,500 products Cipla has a new state-of-the-art warehouse in Bellville Growth and the move to a new facility “A robust facility that allows Cipla to meet its targets for accuracy and speed, and support the business that is growing rapidly,” said Ludorf. The company moved to a new, state- of-the-art warehouse facility in Bellville and Cquential helped ensure that the operations were transferred seamlessly with minimal downtime. Mallaby said this required a balanced approach that A SYSTEM LIKE CQUENTIAL IS ONLY EFFECTIVE IF THE USERS EMBRACE IT AND WE HAVE TO GIVE JOSEPH AND HIS TEAM FULL CREDIT FOR THE IMAGINATIVE AND ULTIMATELY HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME THEY PUT TOGETHER. was cognisant of the need to keep the old warehouse operations and processes going while continuing to service customers, but at the same time setting up the new facility, configuring the system to handle new and different processes and moving stock into the new site. The fact that Cquential was in both facilities and they had intimate knowledge of the business operations was a significant factor in ensuring the success of the move to the new venue. “Moreover, in the month of the move, Cipla SA had its best month ever, so one can understand how this increased volume in sales added additional pressure,” added Mallaby. www.intelligentcio.com Collaboration and strategic planning partnership Cquential was also extensively involved from the early stages of planning, by providing the data which was utilised for the design and layout of the warehouse and racking systems, through to the mapping of the business processes in the new facility Cipla. “The new warehouse has been carefully designed to provide us with the perfect distribution hub but achieving all those efficiencies depends on the warehouse management systems’ ability to control incoming and outgoing stock with pinpoint accuracy, co-ordinate picking with the orders coming out of the ERP system and ensure the right orders reach the courier,” said Ludorf. “All of this has to happen in an area that is as large as three rugby fields and with pallet stacks as high as 15.6 metres.” n INTELLIGENTCIO 55