Canadian Alliance Terminals’s new Warehouse Management System provides increased transparency without a painful transition. Learn how it works!
With new innovation and technology come both opportunity and challenge. Implemented haphazardly, tech advancements amount to little more than shiny new toys, lacking in practical benefit. Introduced with forethought and strategy, however, they can usher in real world efficiencies while alleviating the headaches of the past. The new warehouse management system (WMS) at Canadian Alliance Terminal (CAT) falls squarely into the latter category.
WMS Provides Practical Benefits for 3PL Customers
What benefit does the WMS provide CAT clients?
“Transparency,” is the one word answer given by CAT Director of Technology Seyed Behnejad1. This transparency comes in the form of immediate data feedback on multiple fronts. The system allows 3PL customers to monitor inventory, create transactions, track orders, and access receipts in real time, providing unprecedented levels of control, clarity, confidence, and convenience.
Gone are the days where important details are lost in the bottom paragraphs of tedious emails. While Canadian Alliance’s commitment to top-notch customer service remains unwavering, much of the data that customers need can now be found within the system, streamlining the process significantly.
Barcode technology tracks the whereabouts of all inventory, providing clients with confidence that the information they’re accessing is accurate and real-time.
“There’s an actual barcode that we added to each of our overhead doors, representing the threshold of the door,” notes CAT Director of Operations Vincent Wong. “As you load a pallet into a truck, you’re scanning that barcode to denote that it has physically crossed that threshold.”2
WMS System Part of Extensiv Hub
The WMS is part of Extensiv Hub, which the developer describes as “a unified omnichannel fulfillment platform that centralizes information for brands and third-party logistics providers to help both scale with a single technology platform throughout their growth journey.”3
According to Extensiv CEO Andy Lloyd, the global disruptions and rising shipping costs that plague supply chains necessitate new solutions.
“Brands want simple technology and fulfillment solutions that enable them to meet consumer demand for fast and free shipping, without the need to constantly change technology platforms as they grow,” says Lloyd. “3PLs want technology that not only drives efficiency, but easily connects and scales with their customers without excessive integration costs or complexity.”3
Behnejad explains the benefits of this integration within Canadian Alliance.
“Our Warehouse Manager System is seamlessly connected to our Transport Management System, ensuring end-to-end visibility for our customers, covering Warehouse Management, Appointment Management, and delivery right up to the final destination,” he says.
“Additionally, as part of the Extensiv network, we can offer specialized services tailored to the unique requirements of each customer, such as the Business Network Manager (4PL Logistic Services in multiple geographical locations) and Order Manager (automated order flow for managing orders to multiple nod points from multiple sale channels).”
Intuitive On-Boarding
Despite the capabilities the new system provides, change can be daunting. That’s why Canadian Alliance Terminals worked diligently to ensure that the changeover was a painless one.
“To achieve a smooth transition, we started our own university and knowledge management solution,” explains Behnejad, whose bio describes him as customer-obsessed and passionate about finding the root cause of clients’ problems. “This serves not only to train internal users, but also transfer knowledge to our customer users,” he continues.
“It’s an intuitive process for the client,” adds Wong, succinctly. “There’s no extra work on their end.”
It’s an assessment that our clients agree with.
“During every step of the migration process, Seyed and his team were in constant communication with us and answered our questions with care and urgency,” says CAT client Kevin Chen of Upper Echelon Products.4 “They were able to translate our existing SOP easily into the new system without us needing to make changes or concessions and, if there were any bumps in the road, they were smoothed out quickly.”
CAT realizes that tech improvements are worthless if the implementation process is painful, which makes this type of feedback particularly satisfying.
“Even before moving over to the new WMS, CAT was reliable, efficient, and an absolute pleasure to work with,” continues Chen “so imagine how we feel now that we’re fully migrated over to the new system!”
“We are able to manage our inbounds and outbounds more efficiently,” adds Janice Gan of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee. “Sabirin and the team are there to support us if we hit any issues,” she adds.5
Canadian Alliance Terminals takes pride in our reputation for customer service and innovation. We are pleased to be able to provide our clients with this increased level of transparency and capability.
“Our customers have had the opportunity to experience the convenience and sophistication of our self-service portal for inventory management,” says Behnejad. “There’s no going back.”
Cited Sources
1 Direct communication with Sayed Behnejad
2 Direct communication with Vincent Wong
3“Extensiv Launches Extensiv Hub, a Unified Omnichannel Fulfillment Platform to Connect Brands, Warehouses, and 3PLs.” Yahoo! Finance. Accessed August 18, 2023. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/extensiv-launches-extensiv-hub-unified-150000577.html.
4 Direct communication with Kevin Chen of Upper Echelon Products.
5 Direct communication with Janice Gan of Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee.