Waukesha, WI April 8, 2002 West Marine Products, a specialty retailer and wholesaler of recreational and commercial boating supplies and apparel, is set to use a productivity management solution from McHugh Software International in a bid to reduce distribution center costs while improving customer service.
West Marine will implement McHugh's DLx Labor solution at its main distribution center in Rock Hill, S.C.
"We were looking for a solution that could help us further increase distribution center productivity and throughput," explained Pat Murphy, West Marine's senior vice president of logistics. "We felt we had already reached the limits on productivity improvement gains we could realize without the type of management information provided by McHugh's solution."
"We wanted a solution that could take us to the next level of logistics performance," agreed David Spencer, West Marine assistant vice president of distribution. "McHugh's productivity management solution was right on the mark. Their productivity software and standards development will provide the performance and consistency we need to get to that next level."
McHugh, working on the implementation with consulting firm Tompkins Associates, has already initiated the project at West Marine's 500,000 square foot distribution center in Rock Hill, with the option to implement these methods to West Marine's Hollister, Calif., distribution facility in 2003.
McHugh and Tompkins are to work with West Marine to develop operator performance standards and metrics, in addition to implementing McHugh's DLx Labor software to provide real-time and historical labor reporting against objectives, activity-based costing (ABC) analysis and advanced labor and resource planning capabilities.
McHugh said its productivity management system enables companies to increase logistics productivity 10 to 20 percent, improve performance in areas such as customer service and profitability, and realize more consistent and predictable fulfillment operations.
West Marine operates about 230 stores in 38 states and Puerto Rico, as well as Internet and catalog divisions.
