Case Study: Implementing a Pack to Light Solution
in a Major Retail Distribution Center
by Greg Morneau

The Implementation Team

The VP assembled a team to oversee and execute the implementation. He acted as the Executive Project Sponsor and appointed Greg Morneau of Sekel Associates the Consultant Project Manager. The team also included the Directors responsible for Distribution Operations, and for Logistics, and a representative from the Vendor team who acted as the Vendor Project Manager.
Additional team members included representatives from the hardware, software and Information Technology groups as needed.
The kickoff date was early November 2008 with a go-live date of mid January. The schedule was aggressive.

 

Requirements Analysis

Sekel Associates leveraged their experience in this industry to perform a thorough business requirements analysis. Requirements were gathered through a detailed study of current business processes and interviews with stakeholders from several departments including the distribution center, store operations, merchandise allocations and IT. The Distribution Control Room Lead helped the implementation team understand the manual process. The Distribution Outbound Lead enlightened the implementation team as to the procedures being used in the pack lanes. Morneau also sought inputs from the client’s Allocations team, the Director of Distribution, the Stores Team and the primary developer of the Merchandising system. He carefully reviewed the interface points that would be required between the PTL system and the merchandising system. He also worked with the client’s IT department to review server, networking and power requirements.  The Pack to Light vendor determined the hardware needed in the pack lanes and developed an engineering document for review by Morneau and approval by our client.  The Pack to Light vendor also prepared an Interface Specification document reviewed by Morneau and approved by our client.

During the course of requirements gathering, Morneau developed requirements which were reviewed and accepted by the stakeholders and signed off by the VP prior to beginning work. It was important to Sekel Associates that all those concerned had a good idea of what was about to happen and that they concurred on the approach. Sekel Associates knows from experience that getting concurrence on requirements is the first and fundamental step in a successful implementation. It also is essential to clearly define the scope of the implementation and set expectations for anticipated results.