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Increasing competition coupled with the complexity of a rapidly globalizing supply chain, has made the business environment a great deal more demanding and has highlighted the industry's need for integrated and flexible supply chain management solutions that will reduce logistics costs while at the same time improving customer service. Mantis, recognizing the market demand and the lack of high-quality world-wide established supply chain management solutions, undertook a huge investment in designing and developing Logistics Vision, an integrated state-of-the-art supply chain management information system that was first announced in late 1997 and is continuously expanded and enhanced until today. Logistics Vision employs supply chain management best practices from leading multinational corporations along with advanced optimization techniques and the latest RF, Barcode and Automated Material Handling [AMHS] technologies. It is a modular system including among else Warehouse Management System, Vehicle Management, Order Dispatching and Vehicle Routing, Billing, Demand Forecasting and Replenishment Planning, etc. Logistics Vision besides covering the consumer product goods market needs, comes with a number of special releases for vertical markets such as retail, manufacturing, 3rd party logistics, car (depos and spare parts), etc. Its open architecture allows for easy integration with external IT systems such as ERP, MRP, etc. including among else leading international ERP vendors such as SAP and DCW. To respond to market's demand for a fast return of investment, Logistics Vision has been designed as a flexible information system that allows easy customization to a company's needs. Mantis' extensive experience in supply chain management and multi-channel (internet / telephone / fax / mobile) customer interaction applications, allows the implementation of unique e-logistics solutions. These solutions combine the e-business and supply chain worlds to provide customers with high-quality e-fulfilment services such as multi-channel order receiving / confirmation / tracking, automated selection of the optimum distribution center to ship the goods to the customer, fast and flawless order picking / packing and dispatching, etc.Increasing competition coupled with the complexity of a rapidly globalizing supply chain, has made the business environment a great deal more demanding and has highlighted the industry's need for integrated and flexible supply chain management solutions that will reduce logistics costs while at the same time improving customer service. Mantis, recognizing the market demand and the lack of high-quality world-wide established supply chain management solutions, undertook a huge investment in designing and developing Logistics Vision, an integrated state-of-the-art supply chain management information system that was first announced in late 1997 and is continuously expanded and enhanced until today. Logistics Vision employs supply chain management best practices from leading multinational corporations along with advanced optimization techniques and the latest RF, Barcode and Automated Material Handling [AMHS] technologies. It is a modular system including among else Warehouse Management System, Vehicle Management, Order Dispatching and Vehicle Routing, Billing, Demand Forecasting and Replenishment Planning, etc. Logistics Vision besides covering the consumer product goods market needs, comes with a number of special releases for vertical markets such as retail, manufacturing, 3rd party logistics, car (depos and spare parts), etc. Its open architecture allows for easy integration with external IT systems such as ERP, MRP, etc. including among else leading international ERP vendors such as SAP and DCW. To respond to market's demand for a fast return of investment, Logistics Vision has been designed as a flexible information system that allows easy customization to a company's needs. Mantis' extensive experience in supply chain management and multi-channel (internet / telephone / fax / mobile) customer interaction applications, allows the implementation of unique e-logistics solutions. These solutions combine the e-business and supply chain worlds to provide customers with high-quality e-fulfilment services such as multi-channel order receiving / confirmation / tracking, automated selection of the optimum distribution center to ship the goods to the customer, fast and flawless order picking / packing and dispatching, etc.
The WMS Core System is the heart of the Logistics Vision product suite, seamlessly integrating with all other modules. Barcoding along with modern RF and material handling technologies are utilized to manage and optimize all major warehousing activities such as merchandise reception, cross docking and put-away, inventory management, order fulfilment along with picking and packing, general and cycle counting, quality management, interfacing with external systems such as ERP/MRP, etc.
The system monitors all vehicle and employee / visitor arrivals and departures to/from the warehouse. Special control procedures are supported such as vvehicle weighing up, checking of actual against expected vehicle weight, etc. The merchandise reception takes place on the docks where the goods are checked against the relative manifests and/or the Advanced Shipping Notices - ASN (if any). The system supports management of purchase orders and returns.
System directed palletization and repalletization is supported based on predefined packing standards. Barcode labelling on the pallet and box levels is supported in case it is required. The put-away process is usually executed by RF-users who after scanning the relative barcode labels (e.g. pallet EAN 128 label) follow system's directions (ie. location to store the goods) displayed on their RF screen. Users always confirm the location they moved the specific goods usually by scanning or keying the relative location id. Single-phase and multi-phase put-away processes are supported.
Unified centralized support of multiple distribution centers and buildings along with a multi-level location code (Distribution Center, Building, Storage System, Sector, Column, Level, Dynamic Width and Depth). Support of various storage systems (e.g. Back to Back, Drive In, Live Storage, Block Stacking, Bins etc.) and temperature / humidity conditions. Management of multiple storage (container, pallet, layer, box, item, etc) and measurement units (piece, m, m², kg, etc.). Advanced storage location capacity calculation. Storage location reservation rules based on product code, product category and subcategory, lot number, specific depositor, dimensions and weight of goods, etc. Warehouse Management 04 Support of all known barcode standards such as EAN8, EAN13, EAN128, ITF, etc. Support of many barcode ids per product. Support of bonded and non bonded warehouses along with the required customs clearing process (if any). Support of homogeneous and mixed pallets along with SKU properties such as color, style, size, etc. Stock designation for predefined reasons such as picking, price change, scrap, other reasons. Product velocity (ABC) analysis and automatic / manual maintenance. Management and tracking of serial and lot numbers. Low stock alert (alarms when inventory drops below a given level). Pallet and location history.
Orders can be manually entered in the system or downloaded from an external ERP/MRP system after a typical stock / credit control process. All known 'order' types are supported such as typical customer orders, van replenishment requests, production orders, donations, stock designated for scrap, orders requiring specific pallets and/or lot numbers, returns to suppliers, duty-free related orders. Orders are then checked against the existing stock which in turn is rotated according to FIFO/FEFO standards or according to special order requirements. The stock control process is followed by automatic generation of picking lists. Pallet / layer / case / split-case / item picking is supported based on any of the following picking optimization strategies: Discrete (order) picking, Zone Picking, Batch Picking, Wave Picking, Combination of the above. Picking can be performed by RFs and/or by printed lists. A picking list can be assigned to an individual picker or a group of pickers. Picking is usually followed by checking. For box picking processes the system includes Mantis' SmartChecker methodology that greatly increases picking accuracy while at the same time reduces the required checking resources. The system can generate shipping labels where required to facilitate the truck loading and delivery process. Finally the system directs the users to load the orders assembled at the docks onto the trucks. The truck loading process can be checked with RFs or printed lists. The system supports truck unloading and load re-assigning to another truck (in case of truck failure) and the return of goods to picking and stock areas.
Quality manager is responsible for all quality checking related warehousing activities such as quality control and quarantine during merchandise reception, checking of picked goods, checking of the truck loading process, etc.
Advanced cross-docking procedures are supported. Cross docking applies especially for the management of fresh goods in supermarkets and for performing value added services such as labelling and kitting while receiving the goods.
The following packing facilities are offered: Sequential picking and packing where the packing process is performed independently from the picking process. Simultaneous picking and packing. In this case a pre-cubing process selects the proper box types and sizes to satisfy each order. Printing of packing lists and shipping labels.
Cycle counting allows periodic counting in a very flexible and sophisticated way. It maximizes the productivity of the available personnel by generating statistical samples for counting according to various criteria such as staff available to perform counting, product value and velocity, user defined counting periods per SKU or product categories, etc.
This engine optimizes put-away, picking and replenishment activities. It allows authorized users to define specific put-away, picking and replenishment scenarios per product, product category and depositor.
RF Manager is a unique systems software engine that has been developed by Mantis especially optimized for the Microsoft NT server environment. It is responsible for all communications between Logistics Vision applications and the RF terminals. It is a multithreaded native NT process supporting all major RF manufacturers and models such as Symbol, Teklogix, Intermec / Norand and LXE. RF Manager optimizes Logistics Vision's interactions with RFs allowing the support of hundreds of RFs while at the same time preserving excellent (fast) responses.
Barcode printer manager is a standard systems software tool developed by Mantis that allows users to design and print their own barcode labels for the various warehousing activities. It supports all known barcode standards and all major barcode printer manufacturers such as Zebra, Datamax, etc.
Link manager is a customization tool that allows properly trained IT personnel to setup and maintain WDMS-related Electronic Data Interchange between Logistics Vision and external systems such as ERP and MRP.
Work Force Supervisor [WFS] is a visual userfriendly tool that enables warehouse managers to monitor the various warehousing activities of its work force in real time. An indicative list of WFS's capabilities is given bellow: Real time monitoring of any tasks that are executed by a user on a PC workstation or RF station. Schematic and color representation of task type along with transaction details such as user id, task type (e.g. receiving, put-away, picking, etc.), warehouse areas involved in the specific task, etc. Ability to monitor one or more active users simultaneously. User performance indicators and productivity statistics. Ability to send messages to one or more RF or PC users simultaneously. Color representation of user violations against recommended by the system tasks.
This module is helpful for 3rd party logistics service providers because it allows the design, issuing and administration of all appropriate statements and manifests.
Applies to 3rd party logistics providers. It undertakes the full control, calculation, issuing and maintenance of all invoice data related to the depositors. It issues pro-forma invoices and detail statements for each supported price driver. An indicative list of its capabilities is given bellow: Incoming / outgoing / balance stock monitoring. Define and select the invoice time period. Maintenance of depositor contract data such as price per depositor, item, item category, etc. Monitoring of primary price drivers and their combinations such as value, pieces, cases, pallets, kgr, m³, etc. Monitoring of optional price drivers such as freight, insurance, labour, warehousing per m² and m³, delivery costs, fixed charges, non scheduled tasks, etc.
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