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MYDIN Upgrades its Traditional System to an Integrated Warehouse Management System with Intermec
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Despite their humble origins, MYDIN has emerged as one of the top players in Malaysias competitive hypermarket industry. Due to its low pricing strategies and economically-priced goods, the company have been experiencing significant leaps and bounds in spite of the recent price hikes occurring in the country. Its core business activities are mainly wholesale and retail. Mydin sells a broad range of domestic goods and its stores provides everything ranging from foodline, soft line, hard-line and household items. In addition to that, they also stock up an assortment of daily supplies of Muslim goods to the selected consumers. By embracing the Halal (permissible in accordance to the Islamic laws) concept, they dominate over the Muslim market which comprises over 60% of the local population. Further accompanied with a vision to transgress past the diverse backgrounds, upbringing, and educational levels of the society, MYDIN have managed to establish a solid position among the local market and the heart of the people. Since its inception in 1957, the MYDIN group had grown steadily and at a commendable pace under the leadership of Dato Haji Ameer Ali bin Mydin and his brothers. Their first store was located in Kota Bharu, Kelantan and mainly sold toys imported from Thailand. After 40 years of service, they currently own 40 outlets throughout the nation which included: 2 Hypermarkets, 24 Emporiums, 1 Superstore, 7 Mini Markets and 6 Convenient Stores. The stores are strategically situated all over the Klang Valley, Terengganu, Kota Bharu, Seremban, Nilai, Johor, Alor Setar, Melaka, Penang, Pahang and Kelantan. From Paper to Computer As its business expanded in recent years, MYDIN found that its traditional manual warehouse record-keeping system could no longer cope with the frantic pace of stock movement. When its branch network expanded, more stock picking requests were necessary along with returned goods, damaged stocks and goods in transit. Everyday, MYDINs warehouse receives large shipments of merchandise from both local and overseas sources including Bangladesh, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom as well as customers orders from their various outlets. MYDIN resolved to upgrade its traditional system to an integrated Warehouse Management System (WMS) with a barcode record and scanning system and looked to a reliable partner for implementation. MYDIN found it in Intermecs Malaysia partner, Clapper

Technology Sdn Bhd. MYDIN briefed Clapper on its intention to implement a comprehensive WMS system and procure a robust hardware platfom that is scalable and economical to operate. When introduced to Intermecs hardware, MYDINs IT department did not take long to decide after initial testing and equipment definition. Intermecs CK61 handheld mobile computer was MYDINs choice as it passed all tests on reliability and durability. For its initial implementation, MYDIN deployed 30 units of CK61 mobile computers, integrated with EX25 near-far scan engine. With its compact size and highly durable design, the EX25 is suitable for omni-directional near and far range requirements at distances from 6 inches to over 50 feet. More importantly, the EX25 enables scanning of 1D and 2D barcodes, an attribute MYDIN finds extremely useful. The CK61 was deployed in MYDINs main warehouse receiving and picking areas in Subang Permai, near MYDIN headquarter office. As a result of the WMS implementation, MYDIN was able to redesign their entire warehouse work process by simplifying the initial procedures with the assistance of the new data capture system and thus, directly increasing efficiency and reducing logistics errors. The role of Intermecs equipment is to work as mobile terminals within the warehouse. Basically, all products that comes into the warehouse will be scanned and put away, said Malik Murad Ali, the IT Director of Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd, who oversaw the purchase and implementation of Intermec products into MYDINs warehouse. One of the key factors which prompted MYDIN to select Intermec is the rugged design and robustness of the CK61, which can withstand repeated drops from high ground. Additionally, Intermecs security feature, iLaunch which is embedded within all units is preset to lock the operating system automatically, prohibiting the staff to exploit the computer for personal use. As a result, efficiency is up and equipment downtime is minimized, enabling the employees to complete more tasks in a day. In terms of automation, there has been increase in accuracy due to the computerization the warehouse system, which proves to be much more effective than relying only on manual labour. One way to look at the productivity is through the number of outbound shipment we can handle. Previously, even on a peak day, there were only 15 truck movements to ship out the products because everything was manual-driven. After we automated the process and with Intermec as the key data capture device, almost immediately we achieve a twofold increase and now we can handle about 25 loads in a single day, Malik noted with much satisfaction. With stocks packaged and placed roof-high in their 250 000 square feet warehouse, the highly versatile EX25 2D scanning engine comes in handy as it allows the warehouse staff to virtually scan any kind of bar code, under any orientation, at a variable range of distance. There has also been 60% increase on throughput and fewer mistakes were made by our staff. Before this, the goods only go through visual inspection but now everything has a barcode and has to be scanned, in order for the system to recognize and update it into our inventory, he added. With the new solution, we are cutting off all these layers of data entry. In view of their successful partnership with Intermec, MYDIN have plans to deepen their contract and increase the number of CK61 units at their warehouses from time to time, whenever necessary. With the success and quick integration of Intermec product into their main warehouse, the organization is confident and sees potential in a continued partnership with Intermec.