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United Dairy Farmers
Savanna.NET® Warehouse Management System (WMS) Case Study
A combination of the “old and the new” is helping to bring efficiency to a warehouse facility in Erlanger, Kentucky, owned and operated by United Dairy Farmers.
The plant upgrades completed by Westfalia Technologies (www.WestfaliaUSA.com), utilize Savanna.NET® Warehouse Management System (WMS), and also represents the first non-Westfalia storage system retrofit in the U.S. market, interfacing the new software package with an existing Woodson storage system.
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United Dairy Farmers (UDF) has been producing frozen desserts since 1939, with a line that includes Homemade Brand Premium Ice Cream, and United Dairy Farmers Milk & Ice Cream products. Homemade Brand is currently sold in retail grocery outlets in 14 Midwestern, Mid-central and Southeastern states, as well as at nearly 200 United Dairy Farmers retail stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Homemade Brand uses only quality homemade and brand name ingredients, and features a full line of frozen desserts, including ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbert, and no sugar added products.
System Features:
- Savanna.NET Warehouse Management System
- Integration with existing Woodson AS/RS
The existing storage system, which replenishes pick lanes and fills pallet orders, along with its accompanying control software, were installed as part of a 1995 expansion at UDF’s Erlanger facility, a warehousing and distribution point for both United and third-party products. According to Dale Torline, systems manager for UDF, a company-wide directive to update support hardware subsequently prompted the exploration of new software technologies.
“The Woodson system ran on the database side of the Progress platform,” explains Torline, “and Progress was prompting us to upgrade at the server level, as well as the database level. Although our plant system was functional, it was based on a non-supported platform. So although we opted to keep the warehouse equipment and crane hardware, a major component of our legacy modernization strategy was new control software.”
Savanna.NET® is a modular WMS software system, and can be adapted to into existing or new systems. The tabbed data grid view user interface eliminates the need for complicated menus or layers, and is based on actual objects.
Savanna.NET was designed using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and Version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework, and UDF is running it on SQL Server 2005. It can be readily be adapted to all customary ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) systems so that all existing technology/hardware and hardware/software interfaces can remain in full use.
“We chose Savanna.NET because it delivered the combination of cost-effectiveness, support and functionality we were looking for,” Torline adds. “We also knew that Westfalia had experience with Woodson systems, and also had a number of employees who were formerly associated with the company, which made the transition much easier.”
Torline also notes, that, despite some initial interfacing issues, the systems have continued to work in tandem successfully. “We’re an i Series/ AS/400 shop, so everything is very integrated,” he says. “Anyone can access a live snapshot of the inventory in the Westfalia system, so that interface has worked out very well.”
Future upgrades will include the addition of the full order pick module.
“This installation was a real ‘litmus test,’ for Savanna.NET” says Ryan Smith, Vice President of Technology, Westfalia Technologies. “Not only for the effectiveness of the software itself, but also for its effectiveness in being able to integrate with an existing system. Westfalia will continue to provide comprehensive updates to the program in order to bring customers increased system flexibility and user-friendliness.”
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