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To grow its operations and improve inventory management, Safelite Autoglass needed a warehouse management system to take the paper out of its processes

April 5, 2010 — When Safelite Autoglass, the largest U.S. windshield replacement company, wanted to grow its operations and improve inventory management, it realized the company's existing inventory system and processes had to change to reach those goals.

Safelite needed a fully-integrated warehouse management system (WMS) that would allow the company total visibility into the logistics activities at its U.S.-based distribution centers. But Safelite faced a potential challenge — it wanted a high-quality, fully integrated WMS without the high costs and complicated implementations that often accompany these projects.

Enter WMS provider Cambar Solutions.

Moving Away from Paper

Until a year ago, Safelite primarily managed inventory for its locations in all 50 states with pencil and paper. According to Mike Bradsher, director of accounting for manufacturing and distribution at Safelite, the process was simple — a distribution center worker was handed a pick list and then used a highlighter to mark off items as they were chosen for shipment.

"Just a year ago, Safelite was doing everything by paper," Bradsher said. "We'd create pick lists by hand and use paper-based methods to fill orders."

Technology was not absent from Safelite's inventory management operation, but it was limited. A mainframe system and home-grown program designed by Bradsher allowed Safelite to experience incremental inventory management improvements. But to make the kind of improvements Safelite's rapid growth demanded, the company needed to move beyond a paper-based system towards a system that offered full warehouse management integration. Cambar Solutions' WMS was poised to do just that.

Looking for a "Cadillac"

Safelite chose the Cambar WMS for its U.S.-based distribution centers because the Cambar WMS offered an array of warehouse logistics benefits that are integral to a growing company. These benefits include locating and managing inventory, performing physical cycle counts, picking glass for shipment and preparing it for delivery.

"Frankly, after meeting with Cambar, I felt they were the 'Cadillac' we'd been searching for," Bradsher said. "Cambar provided Safelite with a fantastic product and has been highly responsive to our needs while maintaining an ongoing relationship with us. There are bigger companies in the warehouse management industry, but we chose Cambar because they offer a product and service as good as any one of them."

In early 2009, Safelite installed the Cambar WMS at its Enfield, N.C., distribution center, a facility that distributes products to 82 warehouses throughout the country. In June 2009, Safelite also implemented the Cambar system at the company's new distribution center in Ontario, Calif.

Driving Accuracy

In order to increase product visibility within its distribution centers, Safelite wanted to use Cambar's WMS to drive improvement for two warehouse management activities — inventory accuracy and picking accuracy. Safelite needed to know exactly where inventory was located, be able to get inventory out of its U.S.-based distribution centers correctly and have documented proof of what specific inventory left each center.

"Safelite's first physical inventory after successfully implementing the Cambar system was 99.98 percent accurate," Bradsher said. "Simply put, this was the quickest, most accurate inventory we'd ever had."