United Hardware Eyes Improved DC Efficiency with SCE Suite

Hardlines distributor deploying HighJump's supply chain execution solution to manage growth at distribution center

Hardlines distributor deploying HighJump's supply chain execution solution to manage growth at distribution center

Eden Prairie, MN — July 2, 2004 — United Hardware Distributing Co. is set to use a supply chain execution (SCE) solution from 3M unit HighJump Software to help manage rapid growth and to improve overall operational efficiencies in the company's distribution center (DC).

Based in Minneapolis, United Hardware is a member-owned hardlines distributor serving over 1,300 customers in the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. The company distributes approximately 55,000 products to its customers from a 400,000 square foot DC located in Milbank, S.D.

United Hardware will use HighJump's Supply Chain Advantage suite to help effectively manage its fulfillment and distribution operations. The SCE suite will be installed in the Milbank DC, and in addition to the solution's warehouse management functionality, United Hardware will implement advanced warehousing functionality for slotting, wave planning and containerization.

Additional solutions for customer and management visibility, as well as supply chain-wide event management, will be used to help improve the communication of order status, employee productivity and exception notification, respectively. HighJump said that all its solutions are built on one platform and, therefore, will integrate to help ensure the real-time exchange of critical information.

United Hardware will leverage HighJump's directed, optimized processes for all inbound and outbound activities, such as receiving, put-away, picking and shipping. In addition, the Supply Chain Advantage system will integrate with voice-directed picking software to increase productivity in areas such as order picking and replenishment.

The company aims to use its HighJump solutions to push current levels of accuracy for picking and truck loading even higher. With the high-volume operations United Hardware manages, reducing errors even a fraction of a percent will have a dramatic impact on the time spent processing returns from incorrect shipments.

According to HighJump, United Hardware evaluated the industry's leading solutions providers and selected the Supply Chain Advantage suite because of its flexibility in meeting changing business requirements and its track record in generating improvements in space utilization, throughput and accuracy.

"HighJump's solution set will help ensure the efficiency and accuracy we need to support our growth and improve service levels to our customers," said Dave Heider, president of United Hardware.

Latest