Floral foam specialists Smithers-Oasis UK are currently in the last stages of building a new warehouse to keep up with the growing rise in business. This highly successful global company has been operating for over 50 years and supplies OASIS® Floral Foam products and shapes along with hydrating foam products and FLORALIFE® post-harvest flower care products to the UK floral industry. The new warehouse will be based in Washington,Tyne & Wear, next to its current manufacturing site and UK head office administration facility.

Smithers-Oasis has selected ATMS’ StockTrack PLUS (STP) warehouse management system to control the new warehouse when it goes live in June. Timing of the implementation is crucial as it coincides with the relocation of stock from the Company’s current facility based in the Midlands. The new 50,000 sq ft warehouse will house several thousand pallets in a narrow aisle format and will use Belgravium radio data terminals. Distribution Manager Mark Wilkinson commented ‘We are working on the system configuration at the same time as the building is being constructed so it’s quite a challenging project. We selected STP for the warehouse because we wanted a proven system that is both flexible and easy to configure to our particular operation. We needed to feel confident that the solution will be implemented efficiently and the core STP system along with the specialist modules such as the Event Scheduler and Loadbuilder transport planning provides a complete solution at a cost-effective price. We also felt comfortable working in partnership with ATMS and that they had the expertise to ensure a smooth implementation and on-going support”.

The Company evaluated a number of systems before making their selection and visited reference sites so that they could see the system operating in a similar environment. Other key criteria in the selection process was to evaluate the ease of interfacing as STP will be linked to the Company’s existing Syspro system when the warehouse goes live. ATMS’ Datahub provided a ready made solution and has the option to interface to multiple systems if and when required. Wilkinson commented “we also like the fact that the system is scaleable so that we can add extra features such as the Web Speed remote access module and Crystal reporting once the warehouse is up and running, giving us the option to provide our customers with more value added services which is crucial in today’s competitive market”.