Goggin Warehousing implementing hosted Delfour apps to link facilities, provide customers with greater visibility
Shelbyville, TN January 5, 2004 Goggin Warehousing, a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider that operates 12 warehouses in mid-Tennessee and in Jackson, Miss., has implemented a hosted warehouse management system (WMS) from Delfour to manage its operations and serve some 50 warehouse customers.
Goggin is using the application service provider (ASP) solution of Delfour Corp.'s SmartEnterprise Foundation, along with elements of the provider's SmartEnterprise 3PL supply chain execution software suite, according to Kevin Collier, the company's director of operations.
The company also purchased the EZConnect EDI-XML electronic data interchange modular software suite developed and marketed by Delfour business partner ACOM Solutions and expects to offer automated electronic transaction capability to customers in early 2004.
Goggin's new Delfour ASP solution includes the WarehouseLogic 3PL warehouse and fulfillment management system, the e-Vista Web-based supply chain visibility solution and the Active Desktop single window control panel. It is hosted at Delfour's Markham, Ontario, data center.
"We currently host our solutions for several large customers," said Delfour President Joe Couto. "With Goggin and our ASP solution, we have reached out to a new and broader market."
WarehouseLogic enables organizations to manage billing, receiving, stock locating, stockpiling, order verification, order packing and shipment of products concurrently in complex distribution and fulfillment centers, according to Delfour. The solution optimizes fulfillment operations by enabling increased inventory turns and reducing inventory levels, facilitating just-in-time (JIT) deliveries and improving accuracy and productivity, all leading to greater profitability and efficiency both for the 3PL operator and its customers, the solution provider said.
Goggin's initial implementation is for its headquarters warehouse in Shelbyville, which emphasizes food product storage, handling and fulfillment. Other deployments are scheduled to follow, with a total of six facilities to be operating on the Delfour solution within the next six months.
The Delfour software replaces a PC-resident warehouse management solution that requires each facility to have its own software and hardware platform. According to Collier, the earlier solution lacked several functions including the online visibility that Goggin customers need in order to track inventory and shipments, a feature that the company has found increasingly necessary.
"The Delfour ASP solution is ideal for an operation of our size," Collier said. "Small to midsize operations like ours that lack an IT department usually cannot afford to spend $100,000 to $150,000 on a warehouse management solution, still more on the hardware to run it, and the personnel to manage and maintain it. Delfour's ASP solution allowed us to modernize our operations, provide our customers with 24/7 visibility through e-Vista and control everything from a single Active Desktop menu screen."
Moreover, he said, the ASP solution makes it possible for Goggin to link all facilities together under one network, allowing a higher level of control and visibility. Facilities located miles apart are able to operate as if they were a single unit by means of a simple Internet connection without sacrificing data entry speed.
"All we have to do is log on over our virtual private network (VPN) and perform whatever task is needed," he said. "Delfour does everything else."
