The ProSKU cloud-hosted WMS system commenced live operation at Diamond Logistics to manage fulfilment operations within its fast growing, franchised network across the UK.
Diamond Logistics began as a local courier company and recently entered the Virgin ‘Fast Track 100’ list of rapidly growing businesses. They now operate from over 20 UK sites and provide a range of logistics services including same day courier, overnight and international delivery. Increasingly they now also offer storage and fulfilment facilities as part of a total managed client service.
Diamond HQ is based in Guildford, Surrey where as well as delivery services it supports a storage and fulfilment operation for around a dozen clients. Its existing franchisee network is progressively introducing fulfilment services to their existing client base, to extend the group’s overall capability.
The ProSKU system was initially trialled by Diamond at their Guildford site before going live. Diamond was looking for a capable WMS system to meet a range of needs, but especially one that would be easy to use in their fast moving environment. To achieve a close fit to their process, they worked closely with the ProSKU technical team during the trial period to identify a number of enhancements that were then added to the standard system.
The system is successfully in use at Guildford and handles a growing volume of fulfilment orders, mostly involving item-picked products. Orders are imported directly into ProSKU using the system’s standard API functionality. This functionality allows Diamond to integrate their online trading customers’ shopping cart and e-commerce solutions with ProSKU so that orders can be transferred directly for picking and despatch.
To achieve optimum efficiency Diamond uses handheld scanning devices in the picking process in order to verify products and capture serial numbers when required. Then, after orders are assembled for despatch a simple barcode scan allows ProSKU to send a message to Diamond’s delivery management system via API. This returns an instant instruction for ProSKU to generate consignment labels for the selected carrier.
Having proved its worth in their busiest site, ProSKU is now being rolled out for use by existing franchisees. New franchisee branches will automatically have access to the ProSKU system as part of the Diamond IT suite. This will enable them to attract and successfully manage fulfilment customer business, helping them to expand and prosper as part of a successful group.
At the rate of expansion Diamond are currently showing this will see the ProSKU system used by fulfilment operations nationwide within a couple of years.
