By Bob Croce, Insider Learning Network

Delphi Information Technology was looking for a way to save warehouse resources and cut costs, create more visibility into its supply chain, and reduce inventory, all while maintaining a high level of customer service.

Considering its complex environment, it seemed like a daunting goal for this global supplier of mobile electronics and transportation systems. Delphi’s footprint includes over 300 sites, and it has 140,000 employees in 32 countries, where the currency, laws and regulations differ. Delphi has multiple product lines, across several divisions, and the applications used for manufacturing execution make for some unique challenges when it comes to managing materials.

It was an end-to-end, idea to delivery supply chain nightmare in the making.

That was until Delphi successfully implemented SAP Mobile Data Entry (SAP MDE), a paper-free data entry interface featured in the logistics environment of SAP R/3 4.6C that ensures fast and reliable data transfer with or without radio support. MDE covers all warehouse activity such as goods movements, inventory count data, and packing or picking quantities for delivery documents

This case study article, written for the Sept. 2010 update of SCM Expert, shows how this customized mobile data entry solution can reduce warehouse resources consumption and increase visibility by automating picking decisions and enabling control at a customer-specific inventory level.

SCM Expert subscribers can read this SAP MDE article by logging on to their account. Non-subscribers will find the SAP MDE excerpt, as well as information on how to subscribe to SCM Expert.