Spring 2009

Two book publishers have found very different ways to enhance the performance of their distribution operations.

Oxford University Press, the academic publishing house and the world's largest university press, says it has made major savings since implementing a workforce management solution from RedPrairie in its UK warehouse.

In the first week alone, order throughput rose by 19 per cent, with the result that over one year the cost of fulfilling an order fell by 27 per cent. OUP was also able to save £100,000 from its annual budget for warehouse staff, as it was able to handle orders during peak periods using less resource.

OUP's 240,000 sq ft UK warehouse handles 24 million books, 40,000 titles and 26,500 pallets a year. It manages 15,000 order lines an despatches 3,500 orders daily.

 

Scholastic, an organisation that delivers to school-based book clubs and fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, and television networks, has introduced Direct Route vehicle scheduling software from AutoLogic Systems. Direct Route is a product of US-based Appian Logistics.

Scholastic delivers not just books, but also bookcases, which have to be returned after the events for which they are required. This meant the software had to be able to handle multiple visits to the same locations. It also had to be able to route vehicles along residential roads.

Reportedly the new system has allowed the company to reduce the number of people working on routing from 50 to 12.