WMS Keeps Norish 3PL & Supply Chain Operational

Warehouse Management Software: Supporting Warehousing & Logistics Food Leader Since 1992

Norish plc is a third-party, multi-temperature, warehousing and logistics business headquartered in Bury St Edmunds, UK. The company provides services to importers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and distributors. Founded in 1975, it operates from six strategically located sites across the UK providing more than 56,000 temperature controlled racked pallet spaces.
 
 

Integrated 3PL Supply Chain Solutions

• Trading since 1975 with group turnover in excess of £23m
• Integrated Supply Chain solutions with 56,000 racked pallet spaces
• Cold Storage, Picking, Cross-Docking, De-vanning, Handling & Blast Freezing
• Frozen, Chilled & Ambient storage with capacity to blast freeze over 1,500 pallets of fresh product per week
• HMRC approved to handle & store customs bonded goods

3PL Logistics Warehouse Management Software: Challenges

Norish believes in building long-term relationships with its customers and suppliers. Principal Logistics Technologies’ longstanding relationship started in 1990 when a decision had been taken to upgrade its Warehouse Management System. It had recently acquired a business with multiple locations and it wanted to reduce duplication in administration and other backoffice activities across its, enlarged, estate.

Norish recognised that, as all of its work is customer driven, systems flexibility was key in any future systems design to enable it to meet changing business and customer needs.

A business critical requirement was to automate all manual tasks and to have all stores connected to the company’s databases use the same system for uniformity and to manage the constantly changing handling and storage rules.

WMS Software 3PL Logistics: Solution

The company decided on Principal Logistics Technologies’ ProWMS Warehouse Management Software. A key element of the solution was to manage the capture of the storage, handling and billing for the varying activities up to, and  including, invoice production. ProWMS enables the automation of the billing function and this activity is now completed in hours, as opposed to days.

3PL Food & Logistics: Results

From an operational standpoint the main application for ProWMS was in stock control and the main operational benefit, ease-of-use. Comprehensive traceability is maintained from when an item arrives to when it leaves. The system is highly flexible enabling future changes and upgrades.

Immediate efficiencies were gained from streamlining the numerous administrative processes and from automating production of reports via ProWMS’s powerful reporting functionality. The latter eliminated the need for different forms and manual inputs.

Many of Norish’s larger customers were also already using ProWMS Warehouse Management Software. This benefitted both the company and its customers by reducing much of the workload with the customer benefitting by having visibility and control of their own stock.
 
 

“I am happy with our decision to choose Principal Logistics Technologies and have never regretted it. Visibility and access are capabilities that have been around for a while and are expected by our customers. They want quality services at a fair price and that is what ProWMS helps us deliver. Not only have our customers benefited, but we have become far more efficient by having installed the system across all our locations. Norish provides its customers with multiple access options for visibility and control via ProWMS.”

Aidan Hughes. Finance Director. Norish plc

WMS Software Enables New Warehouse Operation Value-Added Services

Over the years Norish has enhanced its services offering, for example, from full pallet in and full pallet out to complex serial item number tracking of variable weighted items. Additionally, other value-added services have been added including Blast Freezing, Bonded Storage and Cross Docking – all seamlessly managed by ProWMS Warehouse Management System.

WMS Software ProWMS: Results

• Six sites centrally hosted in external data centre on Amazon Web Services
• ProWMS manages activities across all sites
• Multiple EDI Interfaces to customer & supplier systems
• Can add unlimited customers with unique requirements – in minutes
• High volume 24×7 resilience & full third party functionality

“Visibility and access are capabilities that have been around for a while and are expected by our customers. They want quality services at a fair price and that is what ProWMS helps us deliver. Not only have our customers benefited, but we have become far more efficient by having installed the system across all our locations.”
Aidan Hughes, Finance Director. Norish plc

“We are proud to have continuously supported Norish’s growth with ProWMS Warehouse Management Software technology and support over the years. Due to its inherent flexibility, and quick and easy configurability, ProWMS has acted as a catalyst for change”
Joe O’Shea, Principal Logistics Technologies