|
Hi Rick: Reading between the lines in your post, it seems to me that you are leaning towards some sort of stand alone solution for your remote plants? I guess I will make some comments based on that assumption, if I am not correct, I apologize in advance. It seems to me that you have most of the software you need already on your AS/400. You do not specifically mention it, but I am guessing your AS/400 software can already print pick list and print the labels (you indicate that this is already being done and sent to the plant locations in advance). Why not have your remote plants connect to your AS/400? That seems like the logical solution. Perhaps you don't want to spend the money on a private network..... You don't need to. Depending on the needs of the remote plant (amount of bandwidth, access to local dial up internet, cost/availability of a DSL line) you could create a VPN connection between the local plant and the AS/400 location and print directly to equipment in the plant. That would take care of all your printing requirements (ie pick list, UCC128 labels, pack list, etc). You will still need a way to do the pick/pack scanning. Is a RF system needed?, are there "pack out stations" where the cartons are loaded with the product. In that case you could use an AS400 application that used something as simple as a wedge reader (a bar code gun that connected between your keyboard and PC) that could "read" the carton ID and then the product ID as your place items in the carton. This is not all that difficult to do. You could then use your existing EDI system to receive the orders (that takes care of your first point), and use the data captured above at the "pack out station" to create the pick/pack structured Advance Ship Notice (ASN) to send back to your customer, as well as the invoice (via EDI of course). cjg Carl J. Galgano EDI Consulting Services, Inc. 550 Kennesaw Avenue, Suite 800 Marietta, GA 30060 (770) 422-2995 - voice (419) 730-8212 - fax mailto:cgalgano@ediconsulting.com http://www.ediconsulting.com AS400 EDI, Networking, E-Commerce and Communications Consulting and Implementation http://www.icecreamovernight.com Premium Ice Cream Brands shipped Overnight "You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know" - rw -----Original Message----- From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com [mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com] On Behalf Of Rick Rauterkus Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 9:39 AM To: midrange-l@midrange.com Subject: Achieving Shipping Compliance at Remote Locations Hi Everyone, We have several small plants around the country where product is manufactured and shipped to customers. That is all they do, produce and ship. All other functions (order taking, invoicing, EDI, etc.) are handled here. Up to now, we have been able to meet shipping compliance demands (labeling, ASNs, etc.) from our customers by knowing ahead of time exactly what was going to ship when and how, printing the labels here and shipping them to the plant to be used. But we are now getting into a Pick and Pack type situation where we don't necessarily know what is going into which box. I need to come up with an economical solution at the remote plants with the following features: - somehow receive order data from our AS/400 - print pick lists - scan items as it is put in the box - print labels in compliance with each customers requirements - print packing lists, bills of lading, and other paperwork in compliance with each customers requirements - somehow send the shipped data back to our AS/400 for further processing Software on our AS/400 is in-house written, so we should be able to interface with most anything. There are no technical people or computers at the remote plants. I am looking for recommendations of canned solutions that you think will work for us. Thanks! Rick _______________________________________________ This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, visit: http://lists.midrange.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/midrange-l or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@midrange.com Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].
Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.