Publication date: May 25, 2021
LEMONA – the leading international company in the Baltics which main business is the wholesale and the retail of various electronic components, tools, materials and smart solutions for home and business – confirms the well-established assumption that the most successful companies are those seeking innovation and those that can quickly adapt to an ever-changing market.
The pandemic has significantly changed operation processes in many areas of business, the rapid change of purchasing habits and the sudden forced shift from wholesale to retail and e-commerce were particularly noticeable. These were the challenges that our client LEMONA faced during the crisis.
LEMONA is trusted by more than 300 suppliers from all over the world, fast and efficient supply and delivery of goods is ensured by maintaining a high level of stock with more than 15 000 different items from light bulbs and wires to accessories for cars, household appliances and computers.
Many of us had to adjust our environment and comfortably set up our "new" workplace after moving from office to home. Social and cultural constraints have encouraged to find out other ways to spend leisure time without leaving home. Thus, the wide range of LEMONA products, including audio equipment, computer hardware and other electronic products, remained the demanded product category.
Lockdown showed that the need for goods disappeared nowhere, but the path of goods from the warehouse shelf to the consumer has changed fundamentally, which required a review of logistics organization.
LEMONA accepted the crisis as an opportunity to improve customer service by shifting the focus to an e-shop renewal and offering various channels to ensure fast delivery: physical stores turned into pick-up points, also, order delivery to the parcel locker or to the specified address became possible.
Business changes determined the need to optimize logistics, to expand the functionality of an e-shop and to adjust the principles of work organization in the warehouse. LEMONA was able to rearrange smoothly, meanwhile well-timed investments in logistics efficiency before the pandemic paid off and allowed to overcome the unexpected challenges in cold blood.
In 2018, the modern LEMONA central warehouse in Kaunas opened its doors. While moving to a new warehouse, the optimization of logistics processes by completely rearranging the principles of work organization in the warehouse was inevitable, therefore the cooperation with logistics experts from EQUINOX started well before the equipping of the new warehouse.
After EQUINOX specialists reviewed the existing processes at that time and proposed ways to improve them, eliminating unnecessary procedures, EQUINOX Warehouse Management System was implemented, and the technological design of the new central warehouse was carried out.
"Before the implementation of EQUINOX WMS, we worked only with the financial system, the need for the management of goods and warehouse navigation was met to a minimum. We worked without scanners, we had to remember the locations of items, there was a constant shortage of warehouse space, human errors recurred, and we experienced higher time costs. When it came to control the increasing flow of orders, we realized that we needed a proper tool to manage the warehouse," – says Vitoldas Čejauskas, Manager of LEMONA central warehouse.
According to Vitoldas Čejauskas, during evaluation of a potential WMS supplier, successful WMS implementation examples in other large Lithuanian companies had the greatest impact on the choice. After taking into account the experience of EQUINOX specialists, comparing the functionality of the system itself with other offered alternatives from other suppliers, and considering the flexibility offered by WMS developer and system's adaptability, preference was given to the time-tested and wide-ranging EQUINOX WMS.
According to Manager of LEMONA central warehouse, to this day, after the implementation of WMS the level of warehouse order processing efficiency has increased by 36%, there has also been a significant increase in warehouse throughput and capacity has grown to store larger quantities of stock.
Changes of the work organization principles in the warehouse created dynamic product locations, which allowed the optimal placement of 15 000 different items in the warehouse. The dynamic warehouse helps to save warehouse space, and WMS eliminates the need for warehouse staff to remember the locations of items, because at every step WMS shows the warehouse operator where to look for the required item, therefore WMS implementation made the dynamic warehouse an accessible and easy-to-use tool.
Manager of LEMONA central warehouse appreciates the function activated during WMS implementation – double-checking, which allowed to reduce the probability of errors to a minimum. Vitoldas Čejauskas notices that the implementation of WMS has made it easier to manage the warehouse staff because the motivation can be supervised according to WMS report on the productivity of warehouse employees: "We can accurately trace and quantify errors, easily manage quantitative employee indicators, speed and quantity of order picking. As WMS accompanies operators at every step, staff replacement has become easier and simpler requirements apply for new employees."
Most of all, Vitoldas Čejauskas, Manager of LEMONA central warehouse, is fascinated by EQUINOX WMS ability to combine orders, thus saving human resources and time:
Vitoldas Čejauskas is also pleased with EQUINOX WMS courier module: "Integrations have been made with the carriers we need. The system allows to offer the consumer different ways of picking up goods – without packing, self-picking up, combining orders, delivering to the parcel locker. More convenient order management allows to save on shipping costs."
Vitoldas Čejauskas, Manager of LEMONA central warehouse: "EQUINOX specialists have a lot of knowledge on how to adapt the system to each customer. From standard functionality, we have strongly adapted WMS to our needs and we are constantly perfecting it as we go. We acquired a system that enabled us to find solutions to problematic areas in warehouse management."
Vitoldas Čejauskas, Manager of LEMONA central warehouse, says that implementation of EQUINOX WMS allowed to solve efficiency problems in the warehouse: "We see great potential in working on and improving the process of using WMS in our warehouses. During the pandemic, the amount of orders had increased significantly, WMS helped to manage the increased flow of orders, showed the maximum possible number of orders to be processed in a limited time. Thanks to the flexibility of WMS, we were able to start trading on Amazon and Ebay, to integrate strategically important partners such as Deutsche post."
Speaking about the growing business potential, Vitoldas Čejauskas notes that there are no limits to business and process improvement, so in the process LEMONA plans to set further logistics optimization goals and implement them.
