Dimensioners at the price of a coffee per day

Case Study

How an instant grocery delivery service improved inventory management with accurate item master data

Industry

Instant Grocery Delivery

Product

Automated Dimensioning Systems

Process

Inbound Logistics

Use case

Item Master Data

Integration

WMS

Case Study Summary

The customer is a popular instant grocery delivery service who deployed vMeasure in their receiving station at all their fulfillment centers to build item master data.
In addition to building item master data, they captured the SKU-level and unit-level dimensions through custom workflows. This eliminated the need for an additional desktop/laptop.
vMeasure was integrated with the customer’s WMS and captured accurate dimensions that enabled the customer to collect product attributes for error-free item master data and provide better package-level information for cartonization.

Problems faced by the Client

Inventory inaccuracies

The absence of accurate item master data made it difficult for the management to track inventory levels, leading to stockouts and overstocking. This resulted in lost sales and increased carrying costs.

Product damage

The lack of accurate inventory data was the primary reason why the business was seeing an increase in stale and damaged goods.

Low customer satisfaction

The inaccuracies in the item master data made the business ship the wrong products to the customer or sell a product at a wrong price. This made the customers unhappy with their order fulfilment.

Product segregation

Inefficient slotting increased the chances of two incompatible products ending up next to each other in the warehouse shelf posing potential health risks and cross-contamination issues.

Inability to handle new SKUs

The warehouse received around 10,000 new SKUs every month and it was difficult for the workers to manually dimension, collect product attributes, and ensure data accuracy. This caused delays in storage and replenishment of products.

Lot and Batch tracking

Inaccurate item data complicated lot and batch tracking. It was challenging to manage recalls or trace the source of quality issues, if any.

Manual record-keeping

Maintenance and dissemination of data became difficult and laborious as most of the information were handwritten or only partly digitized.

Incorrect product information on online platforms

Inaccurate item master data displayed the wrong product description, pricing, or quantity on the company online grocery delivery platform.

Inability to integrate multiple systems

There was no consistent and accurate data available for integration with other systems since most of the operations at the receiving station were manual.

Business Problems
Inventory inaccuracies

The absence of accurate item master data made it difficult for the management to track inventory levels, leading to stockouts and overstocking. This resulted in lost sales and increased carrying costs.

Product damage

The lack of accurate inventory data was the primary reason why the business was seeing an increase in stale and damaged goods.

Low customer satisfaction

The inaccuracies in the item master data made the business ship the wrong products to the customer or sell a product at a wrong price. This made the customers unhappy with their order fulfilment.

Logistics Problems
Product segregation

Inefficient slotting increased the chances of two incompatible products ending up next to each other in the warehouse shelf posing potential health risks and cross-contamination issues.

Inability to handle new SKUs

The warehouse received around 10,000 new SKUs every month and it was difficult for the workers to manually dimension, collect product attributes, and ensure data accuracy. This caused delays in storage and replenishment of products.

Lot and Batch tracking

Inaccurate item data complicated lot and batch tracking. It was challenging to manage recalls or trace the source of quality issues, if any.

IT Problems
Manual record-keeping

Maintenance and dissemination of data became difficult and laborious as most of the information were handwritten or only partly digitized.

Incorrect product information on online platforms

Inaccurate item master data displayed the wrong product description, pricing, or quantity on the company online grocery delivery platform.

Inability to integrate multiple systems

There was no consistent and accurate data available for integration with other systems since most of the operations at the receiving station were manual.

Why did the customer choose vMeasure dim system
over other dimensioners?

vMeasure covered almost 95% of the product/SKU sizes which were dimensioned within <1 second.

The device can measure even irregular SKUs in any orientation until they were inside the camera’s FOV.

The company could collect the dimensions of the inner case and as well as the outer case individually through a toggle button on the measurement screen.

This data can be easily downloaded as a .CSV file.

vMeasure Forge, the cloud platform, made accurate data dissemination easy as the admin user could pull up the measurement information at the click of a few buttons.

This application enabled the company to manage any number of devices across geographical regions from a single no-code portal.

vMeasure Parcel Ultima took less space in their receiving station, enabling them to make more productive use of the inbound area.

The device came with minimal parts and can be installed in 15 – 20 minutes.

Dimensioning Capability

vMeasure covered almost 95% of the product/SKU sizes which were dimensioned within <1 second.

The device can measure even irregular SKUs in any orientation until they were inside the camera’s FOV.

Software Integration

The company could collect the dimensions of the inner case and as well as the outer case individually through a toggle button on the measurement screen.

This data can be easily downloaded as a .CSV file.

vMeasure Forge

vMeasure Forge, the cloud platform, made accurate data dissemination easy as the admin user could pull up the measurement information at the click of a few buttons.

This application enabled the company to manage any number of devices across geographical regions from a single no-code portal.

Physical Characteristics

vMeasure Parcel Ultima took less space in their receiving station, enabling them to make more productive use of the inbound area.

The device came with minimal parts and can be installed in 15 – 20 minutes.

How did the client benefit from vMeasure dim system?

The management was able to optimize its inventory level and eliminated the risk of product damage or waste. This reduced their inventory carrying cost to a large extent.

The accurate item master data ensured high levels of order accuracy rate and increased customer satisfaction as error rates decreased.

Manual data entry was pulled back and those previously engaged in it were moved to higher value activities giving more bandwidth for the company to take on more orders.

The cost per order decreased since the company could store more than before in the same space as the warehouse space utilization improved by 20%.

The warehouse staff was able to identify and mitigate risks such as product expiry and damage before they became a problem. This allowed them to ensure 100% SKU health.

The toggle feature that switched between outer pack and inner pack dimensions improved workers’ productivity during dimensioning as any elaborate steps were unnecessary.

The inbound products were stored in appropriate places considering its attributes such as perishability, need for cold storage, etc., Thus, improving slotting and subsequent picking.

The customized workflow feature was a great fit to the company as it matched their unique dimensioning flow.

The rate of expired and damaged products reduced which decreased the time spent on manual removal and restocking of such products.

The data quality improved and became more reliable for the decision-makers to optimize the overall business.

The company was able to provide accurate and up to date product information to their customers, resulting in enhanced customer service.

Equipped with accurate item master data, the admin department made informed decisions regarding procurement and replenishment. Thus, the probability of lost sales was close to zero.

What makes vMeasure the only vMeasure dim system
capable of solving your needs?

vMeasure is an highly adaptable dimensioning as a service solution which can capture the height, length, width, weight and image of the parcel/SKU in <1 second.
vMeasure Parcel Ultima Specifications
Minimum Dimensions
(L – W – H​)
1.2 x 1.2 x 0.8 in*
3 x 3 x 2 cm
(* For items below 0.8 inches in height, a special envelope base plate is required)
Maximum Dimensions
(L – W – H​)
39.4 x 29.5 x 17.7 in​
100 x 75 x 45 cm
Accuracy
Cubes/Cuboids – 0.2 in / 0.5 cm​
Other Objects – 0.4 in / 1 cm
Mounted on
Table / Mobile Cart / Mechanical Conveyor
Data captured
  • Annotated SKU/Parcel image​
  • Additional SKU/Parcel image​
  • Custom fields for additional data capture during measurement
* For items below 0.8 inches in height, a special envelope base plate is required​
vMeasure Parcel Ultima Specifications
Minimum Dimensions
(L – W – H​)
2 x 2 x 2 in​
5 x 5 x 5 cm
Maximum Dimensions
(L – W – H​)
53.1 x 41.3 x 33.5 in
135 x 105 x 85 cm
Accuracy
0.4 in / 1 cm
Mounted on
Table / Mobile Cart / Mechanical Conveyor
Data captured
  • Annotated image
  • Multiple angles of SKU/Parcel
  • Custom fields for additional data capture during measurement​
vMeasure Parcel Ultima Specifications
Minimum Dimensions
(L – W – H​)
3.9 x 3.9 x 3.9 in​
10 x 10 x 10 cm
Maximum Dimensions
(L – W – H​)
78.7 x 59.1 x 55.1 in​
200 x 150 x 140 cm
Accuracy
0.6 in / 1.5 cm​
Mounted on
Floor / Mechanical Conveyor
Data captured
  • Annotated image
  • Multiple angles of SKU/Parcel
  • Custom fields for additional data capture during measurement
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