Cloud WMS for simplehuman

Simplehuman, the designer and manufacturer of “tools for efficient living”, has gone live with the Snapfulfil Cloud WMS.

The company started out making and selling high-end kitchen bins and has since diversified to offer a range of kitchen and bathroom products, including sensor activated bins, soap dispensers and LED mirrors. It set up shop in the UK in 2004 from where it currently fulfils all European B2B and B2C orders.

Simplehuman had previously outsourced its UK-based warehousing and fulfilment operations to a third-party provider, however, it found them unable to meet its requirements for speed and flexibility. As a result, simplehuman took the decision to invest in a purpose-built 103,000 sq ft warehouse in Thrapston, Northants and manage the operation itself.

The company required a best of breed warehouse management system which could be interfaced with its SAGE 200 ERP, implemented quickly without a large capital investment and used to drive productivity improvements. It determined that Snapfulfil was the best system to meet its requirements.

It took occupancy of the new warehouse in May 2016 and went live with Snapfulfil in September. As a result, the company is already shipping 40 per cent more e-commerce orders and also expects to reduce headcount in the operation by around 15 per cent within six months.

James Dowdeswell, director of finance and operations, said: “We’ve found Snapfulfil to be both attentive and flexible – unlike many vendors, they understand that every business is unique and didn’t try to pigeon-hole us as just another wholesale distributor. Allied to this, Snapfulfil’s rules-based approach to configuration allowed our instance of the system to be closely tailored to our specific operational and reporting requirements.”