Community Professional Loudspeakers (Chester, Delaware County (Delco),PA)- IPSi Case Study – Part 2
“Let’s make one thing clear.” Since 1968, that’s what Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) has been doing. Making sound clear.
For fifty years, this Chester, Pennsylvania-based company has been developing innovative technologies that drive the high-performance loudspeaker industry. From pro sports stadiums to concert venues, churches to transportation depots, Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) has been raising the bar on sound.
And growing big-time. With a five-story manufacturing and distribution facility in Chester, and a factory in China, Community was up to its ears in moving parts. Not to mention paperwork. It needed a process, a system, and the assurance that when customers called about orders, they weren’t answered with dead air. Their questions needed accurate responses. At the speed of sound.
Watch this section of our brief 5-part Video Case Study to see how Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi), Honeywell, and Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) methodically worked together to dramatically improve operational efficiency, systematize inventory control, empower employees, and improve service levels to customers. Hey, we like the sound of that!
Enabling Through Labeling
Community Professional Loudspeakers needed an integrated Warehouse Management System, leveraging bar code scanning, to achieve inventory control and serial number traceability. The most critical first order of business- ensure you can label everything, everywhere that product comes into your facility. All products needed a consistent bar code label that was printed accurately, consistently, and was tied back to the host Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. In addition to product labeling, we also developed a warehouse location system and printed bar code location labels for all rack, floor, and bulk locations.
BarTender Label Software was used to easily design the labels and pull data from the ERP and Warehouse Management(WMS) system. The Honeywell E-class desktop thermal printer hit a high note with its rugged, compact design and ease of use. The E4305P fit in the tight desk spaces in all receiving areas. Now, with all finished goods and locations labeled, products could actually be scanned and tracked. And now, Community was on it’s way to a sound system.
Honeywell E4305 Desktop Thermal Printer
This Honeywell E-Class printer was the printing solution of choice for Community Loudspeaker. These compact and rugged direct-thermal and thermal transfer printers work great for environments where a small footprint and high durability matter. These printers are extremely reliable, printing thousands of high-quality labels every day with zero downtime. The E4305P remains one of the most cost-effective, easy-to-use thermal printers on the market.
The Solution
Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi) and Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) reviewed the manual, paperwork driven inventory control and warehouse management system that was in place and driven by their Qantel PowerShift ERP system along with some internally developed Microsoft Access inventory control systems. The process from entering the sales order to shipping stock and custom finished goods entailed multiple computer systems, multi-ply business forms, excel spreadsheets, handwritten notes, and re-keying of information into UPS/Fedex and other shipping systems.
We executed a complicated business transformation while the business was growing and thriving. As we like to say, we help change hubcaps on moving cars! We methodically and systematically set up the hardware infrastructure (mobile computers and desktop printers), managed process change(hands-on training and problem resolution), integrated with multiple business systems and ultimately implemented a new Warehouse Management System (WMS) that dramatically improved the company’s operational efficiency, systematized inventory control, empowered its employees, and improved service levels to customers.
Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi)
We hope that you will continue to follow this video blog across the five entries, so you can gain a better understanding of how you can better control your inventory and understand the critical steps involved to facilitate a change in your business process.
Watch this brief 5-part Video Case Study to see how Integrated Productivity Systems (IPSi), Honeywell, and Community Professional Loudspeakers (CPL) methodically worked together to dramatically improve operational efficiency, systematize inventory control, empower employees, and improve service levels to customers.