About super exciting releases that went very smoothly....

Our warehouse is highly automated. This means that to gather an order the operator doesn’t need to walk through the different racks with products, but our automated system will bring the plastic totes with products to the picking station. A part of the systems we are using in our warehouse is provided by KNAPP . Their KiSoft software plays an integral role in automation, interconnecting goods, processes, people and places along our entire value chain.?

The first installation of KiSoft in our warehouse was done in 2014. Since the first implementation KNAPP made great steps forward. Not only in the software available, but also in terms of information security and system stability and not to mention increased performance. Due to the short-lived nature of information technology it became necessary to upgrade servers and software. Besides this upgrade we also had to replace hardware and the handheld scanners that are being used in our receiving, order picking and shipping processes. With the latest technologies the warehouse can continue to operate in the most optimal manner. That’s really important with the great ambition and big plans the Wehkamp Retail Group has!?

So, the systems needed an update. Exciting, as the operational part of our business is pending on these systems and we can’t afford to interrupt our business processes. Therefore the release we did during the weekend of 25 March was super well prepared. For a long period of time it was all about testing and practice. We decided to perform a staged roll-out where we put the new and improved version in the hands of the operators at the earliest opportunity, first limited to the key users. At the same time, the KNAPP inhouse Customer Service testing team and the Wehkamp Software testing team performed their tests. Wehkamp wanted to gather the feedback coming from the Wehkamp Operation and Testing team and KNAPP liked to add the results of the KNAPP testing for further development. We did several dry runs performing the necessary steps for the go-live ahead of the actual implementation.

When talking about this release, it actually concerns 3 different systems, all depending on each other in some way:?

1. The KiSoft Application Framework, which provides the infrastructure for user management, UI and configuration and serves as the frontend for the other systems.
2. The KiSoft Warehouse Management System, in charge of maintaining stocks, order management and master data. It’s the system most users interact with via desktop stations and mobile scanners.?
3. The KiSoft Warehouse Control System, a near-real-time system whose main responsibility is guiding the totes (crates with products) on conveyors to their destinations (the picking stations and back to the stock space again).?

The first system that needed to go live was the Application Framework, still attached to the original WMS. We wanted the operators in the warehouse to get used to the new look and feel first. When starting only a few users worked with the new Framework, in small steps we included all internal processes and just before the real go-live everybody was already working with the new system. Except for what was ‘under the hood’... We learned a lot ;-) and we did that rapidly. But without too much business impact as the old version was still available. After we stabilized the Application Framework, we made the step to change everything ‘under the hood’. On the appointed go-live date finally we migrated all the necessary data from the old systems and went live with the new software on brand new servers, served connections to the old servers, and that was that. Job well done.

About the release we can say it went amazingly smooth! There are always some challenges in a project of course. Especially in a project of this magnitude. What sets this go-live apart was that none of the remaining open points had a negative effect on production. We made the switch on a Saturday, and the warehouse was up and running at full capacity on Sunday morning. With onsite kick-off sessions we were able to get a good understanding from all the colleagues that were going to be the daily users of the system. During the whole process the steering committee had a lot of trust in the project team and when giving their approval for the final release, there was no doubt giving the ‘GO!’.?

The main thing we learned from this release was that open and honest communication and the excellent cooperation between the KNAPP and Wehkamp teams was the key to our success. Working closely together enabled us to find a way to put as much changes and hardware as possible live before the actual migration in the implementation weekend took place. The KNAPP team being onsite and all working together in one room helped us a lot. In this way, lines were short and you could go to the place where things were happening real-time, investigate, learn and adjust right away. Of course, there is always room for improvement. For example it’s challenging to guide the total group of operators completely and on time. So we took some learnings from that. All in all for all involved it was a pleasant experience and we are already looking forward to the implementation of our next project this summer.?

To make this release a success a lot of people did their utmost best: the IT and Development team of KNAPP and the IT, Control Room, Maintenance and Operations team of Wehkamp. All worked together in a very good way. Special thanks to Joris Nak , Robert Krahe, Ronald Obermoser and Bert Scheer ! An exciting release super well managed!