Tewksbury, MA — April 25, 2003 — Screwfix Direct, the largest U.K. mail order and online supplier of trade tools and hardware products, has tapped supply chain solutions from Yantra in a bid to improve its customer order fulfillment and inbound supply chain management operations.
Screwfix Direct, a subsidiary of $12.4 billion European retailer Kingfisher, has 1,900 employees and six warehouse locations, and it processes approximately 3.5 million orders per year.
The company is implementing Yantra's Distributed Order Management and Inventory Synchronization applications, both components of the Yantra 5x product suite, to fulfill rapidly increasing volumes of customer orders more efficiently and cost effectively.
Yantra said that with its solutions, Screwfix Direct will have the ability to manage customer orders across multiple channels, providing real-time available-to-promise (ATP), as well as order and inventory visibility and tracking, regardless of whether the order was placed via the Internet or over the phone.
"Yantra's workflow-driven business processes will provide us with the capability to handle customer orders, inbound supply and returns flexibly and more cost effectively," said Graham Benson, chief information officer at Screwfix. "Yantra 5x will allow Screwfix Direct to cope with sharply increasing sales by maximizing operating efficiencies while improving customer service levels."
For Screwfix Direct, Yantra's Distributed Order Management will automatically route orders to the appropriate inventory location, with exceptions to the fulfillment process being alerted immediately to customer care representatives.
The retailer will use Supply Collaboration to automate the flow of purchase orders and other documents between Screwfix Direct and its supply base. Inbound supply shipments will be tracked and coordinated in real time, with notifications being sent to the appropriate logistics controller should an exception to the delivery schedule occur.
"Retailers are increasingly recognizing the importance of real-time order management systems to support multiple sales channels, improve efficiency in the inbound supply chain and drive bottom-line value," said David Stephenson, European managing director at Yantra.
