APPLETON, WI – Werner Electric Supply received the Innovation Award from Tecsys at
the recent 2023 Tecsys User Conference, which celebrated the achievements of supply chain
partners. The award recognizes Werner Electric for building and implementing a smart system
for picking inventory from its massive warehouse, resulting in significant savings in supply chain
management and speedy order fulfillment. The system was built in collaboration with Tecsys.
Werner Electric maintains a 200,000-square-foot warehouse with 30,000 individual SKUs
in components ranging from general electric supplies to networked electrical systems. Prior to
automation, it is estimated warehouse workers traveled around 290 miles per month picking
inventory from the racks. The company maintains a zero order backlog, so any order placed
before 7 p.m. is picked, fulfilled, and delivered by the following morning. Additionally, Werner
Electric maintains a 99.9% order accuracy ensuring the correct items are delivered to the correct
destination without damage.
Veteran team members were experienced in knowing the configuration of the warehouse
and where products were located to meet these goals, but new team members had a steep
learning curve.
“In the past, our training required 3-6 months of job shadowing before an individual learned
the nuances of the warehouse,” said Mark Mueller, RDC CI Team Leader of Werner Electric.
“Now our training can be completed in as little as two weeks.”
The company’s commitment to continual improvement sparked the project, which was
designed to improve productivity, reduce travel distance, as well as reduce new team member
training time.
This real-world application of AI involved understanding current warehouse processes and
barriers for future improvement. Team members road mapped the routes veteran warehouse
workers traveled, defined pick paths and established performance markers. These variables were
converted to data to address three primary areas by using AI to: Pick orders more efficiently by
developing a digital twin of the warehouse within the computer system that is used to recalculate
pick sequence for optimized travel route and shortest distance. Reduce training time and onboard
new employees more quickly which has a direct impact on labor costs and employee retention.
Conserve additional resources such as wear and maintenance on equipment, electronic hardware,
and other support systems within the warehouse.
“It’s about having a system do complex calculations for you,” said Jonah Reinhardt, IT
Business Systems Manager of Werner Electric. “In the system we built, we defined the
parameters and relied on artificial intelligence to help construct better solutions faster and easier
for our team members.” Reinhardt said the project goal was to see an improvement in the rate of
picking and a reduction in travel distance.
The result has been significant. Picks per hour improved by 30%, and travel through the
warehouse was reduced by 39%. Reinhardt added that the system will help the company with
continued growth in new markets in spite of challenges in the tight labor market.
“The results-based approach to data science has meshed well with the Lean Continuous
Improvement passion of our distribution center leaders,” said Fred Mauermann, Werner
Electric’s vice president of operations. “This innovative, co-developed AI solution delivers an
improved employee experience for our team members, both accelerating their training
progression and freeing capacity to better serve our customers.”
“We take pride in seeing our customers set new standards and exemplify global supply
chain excellence,” said Peter Brereton, president and CEO of Tecsys. “Our mission is to equip
these customers with top-tier software so they can navigate complexity and create value within
their organizations.”
The Werner Electric warehousing system went live in October of 2022. Visit
WernerElectric.com to learn more.
