Better overview in goods receipt

How Liebherr is optimizing processes at its Nenzing location with the incoming goods suite

Unclear deliveries, complicated coordination with parcel service providers and time-consuming searches for urgently required shipments – challenges like these are part of everyday business in goods receipt at many companies. For Liebherr too, clean delivery documentation for incoming shipments has long been a key issue at its Nenzing location. That's why Liebherr recently began using the Incoming Goods Suite (IGS) successfully in its live operations.

Clarity from the outset

In the optimal case, all deliveries are announced ahead of time by the parcel service providers, so too at Liebherr. This information is stored in the Incoming Goods Suite. As a result, it is clearly visible at all times which parcels are expected, which have already arrived, and which are still missing.

After registration in goods receipt, the shipments are assigned specific storage spaces. The user does so using the SICK developed Operator Assistance app on a mobile handheld scanner. The information thereby stored in the IGS reduces search times significantly – in particular when parcels are required at short notice.

Measurable results in goods receipt

Immediately on introducing the Incoming Goods Suite significant effects on the daily business are evident. The processes relating to delivery verification and coordination with CEP providers are substantially more transparent and efficient today. 

Significant time savings can be achieved alone through the currently integrated service providers, which already has a positive effect on profitability in the first year. Furthermore, the specialist departments benefit from:

• significantly reduced search times
• more efficient parcel handling through prioritization
• simplified internal communication

"The figures speak for themselves. By automating our processes it was possible to save more than 350 work hours in one year," says Dragomir Boromisa, a member of the “Goods Receipt” project team.

Partnership-based implementation not insular solution

“The implementation of the processes and the contribution of new ideas in the collaboration of our employees and SICK as well as the integration into the company-own IT landscape was characterized by an exceptionally partnership-based collaboration,” says Thomas Steber, Senior Manager Intralogistics at Liebherr in Nenzing.

Together we ensured that the solution integrates seamlessly into the existing process and system landscape rather than acting as an insular solution. An example of this is the automatic import of parcel notifications from the available documents as well as the integration of our existing user and IT structures.

Long-term outlook

After the successful start to the project, the close collaboration between Liebherr and SICK will continue. Besides goods receipt, in future the internal delivery will also be mapped in a transparent manner. Furthermore, ideas on further developing the solutions and integrating other locations are already being discussed.

The project shows: better overview and process clarify in goods receipt is not an end in itself, but rather a crucial lever for efficient logistics processes.

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