Artex selects Indigo WMS to build ultra flexible real-time warehouse distribution service

Artex is a name that has become synonymous with home improvements and the company, which distributes some of the UK’s best known decorative finish and building materials brands from its logistics hub in Nottinghamshire, has just selected Indigo WMS with voice enabled picking as its warehouse management software solution.

Artex is a highly data driven business and Indigo WMS will be integrated with SAP, the company’s existing ERP solution, to provide real-time management information on its warehousing logistics operations.

Part of the multinational Saint-Gobain group, Artex’s vision is to create a competitive distribution network with the highest levels of customer service.

Artex provides a vast array of builder’s merchants, decorating centres and DIY stores up and down the country with a tailor-made 500+ product offering to suit their individual needs. This includes offering flexible, multi-drop distribution and delivery services, which allow customers to order the exact products and quantities they need starting from as little as a half a pallet of mixed products. Artex also offers 24-hour turnaround express delivery services for parcels of select products weighing up to 25kg, which are delivered according to a timed booking slot.

Offering such a high degree of flexibility adds increased complexity to warehouse operations and could result in increased logistics costs. To avoid this and realise other key benefits, Artex has turned to Indigo Software for a best of breed warehouse management system (WMS) capable of relieving the administrative burden on warehousing teams and enabling its logistics operation to deliver more product more quickly, and with increased accuracy and flexibility.

Two of the deciding factors in selecting Indigo WMS were the software’s highly intuitive user experience – especially for new WMS system users – and Indigo’s strong track record of completing seamless implementations, with minimal disruption to normal business operations. Indigo will be fully integrated with SAP for the seamless exchange of customer data and incoming sales orders with pick and dispatch processes. This will include extracting real-time feeds from SAP and pushing ‘confirmation of completion’ data back, once the end to end logistics process is complete.

Kelvin Phipps, Systems and Process Development Manager at Artex says, “After a careful review of all the available solutions, we believe that Indigo WMS offers the correct fit for our future business. It will be an enabler for us to reach new heights, with the right balance of system features, software complexity, seamless implementation methodology and cost.”

He adds, “We intend to run our warehouse operations with Indigo WMS for many years so selecting the right technology partner was very important to us. We see Indigo as a software partner that shares our company values, priorities and objectives and look forward to a long and successful working relationship.”