How Canon Improves Their Service through Their Warehouse Management System

Implementing a standardized warehouse management system (WMS) can help you optimize your business operation wherever your footprint may be.

In our podcast episode with Dan Schultz, Senior Director of Logistics for Canon USA, he shared insights on how Canon leverages their WMS to provide better service for their customers.

Optimizing performance with efficient WMS

As a leading provider of consumer, business to business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States, Canon operates a network of 12 distribution centers across the country.

From monitoring the supply chain from the manufacturing plant to the port of origin and clearing them with customs at the US port of entry to managing delivery to distribution centers, a standardized, efficient WMS makes a huge difference.

Schultz shared that their distribution centers are operated by five different third-party logistics providers, “You can imagine the challenge of implementing a standard system across five different 3PLs, as well as Canon facilities. We recently completed implementation at all 12 DCS, and we continue to refine the system to meet our business needs.”

Thus, the need to implement a standard Canon WMS across their entire distribution network. So, how did they manage such a complex project?

“Never lose focus on what the goal of your project is, and don’t let the software and the implementation become the project. Focus on what your goal to achieve is. Our goal was to have standardized systems across all of our networks. I would also recommend to stay on top of the technology to ensure a company-selected software tool and potential solution that meets their business needs,” said Schultz.

Although they’ve managed to complete the project, the refinement is never over. According to Schultz, evolving and continuous improvement is crucial. Canon’s next steps include moving their WMS servers to cloud-based systems which requires some hardware upgrades.

“A future initiative of ours is to establish better outbound shipment visibility. We have visibility throughout our supply chain internal to our network, but we plan to pursue better visibility of our shipments to trading partners and customers.”

Truly, having a well-integrated WMS in place will not only help your business hit productivity goals but will also help optimize every aspect of your supply chain.

Tune in to Down to Freight podcast, where we sit down with transportation, logistics, supply chain, and warehousing subject matter experts to discuss the Digital Transformation Project.