Argon Supply Chain Solutions is ten years old – and a proud ten years it is!
Our humble beginnings saw a group of consultants working in logistics and SAP (systems, applications and products) environments. We saw a gap in the market where SAP was going to release a new Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) solution offering key features that we knew most customers would rely on in the near future. With the support of one another, we decided to travel to Germany to learn the software. After extensive, in-depth traning we mastered EWM and began the journey of offering tailor made EWM solutions from our South African and UK based business. We have since deliverd solutions to over 50 large companies both locally and internationally.
Going from strength to strength, we formed a close relationship with SAP in Germany. As a result of this, we often went to Germany to test the software and trial features. This gave us an excellent overview of the software in the background as well as gain insight into new features before they were released. This relationship allowed us to be leading service providers in the EWM space and preferred parters of SAP in South Africa.
One of the key factors in our business’s growth lies within our people. Besides being EWM specialists, each of our team members have specific strengths and unique skills that make our team an effective force. Our team’s track record shows we are highly effective in delivering quality solutions that in turn make sure or customers products are delivered on time.
How we do it: Countering the complexities of warehouses
Warehouses are complex environments. To combat the complexities and avoid unnecessary obstacles, we choose to look at warehouse or logistics chains as an entire solution rather than focusing on each individual component. We recognise that each piece of the puzzle plays an important role in the whole picture, and so we tackle operations with a holistic approach so that each component integrates neatly with the rest of the solution.
We also pride ourselves on our practical training. Rather than providing traditional computer-based training, we believe hands-on development is crucial. We endeavour to make the training environment and experience as real as possible. We spend time and resources developing our customer’s staff understanding of the solution at all levels from operations to management. This way, after all uncertainties have been addresed, the staff feel competent and ready to deal with the stress of the go-live enviroment. Our dedicated training team ensures that the training is undertaken with success as the outcome.
Key SAP features we’re excited about
SAP has a myriad of logistic features available and more recently we have implemented the Material Flow System of Extended Warehouse Management. Essentially this allows a warehouse solution to communicate directly to the conveyor or automated system. This cuts out the middleware software between SAP and the Programmable Controllers that control the automated equipment. This is beneficial from numerous aspects : It reduces additional support cost, eliminates the need for extra licensing fees and mitigates the risk of a point of error. This feature promises to be one of the strategic aspects moving forward as we look to start automating warehouses while maintaining the integrity of efficiency and scalability at the forefront of modern online warehousing.
Combining the logistics features of the well known SAP ERP (enterprising resource and planning) solution, with the SAP EWM features we are able to deliver value to the business extremely quickly and effectively. Normally these features would have to be developed in other environments. Examples of these are the returns processes, the exception management processes, and the proof-of-delivery system.
Next steps and looking ahead
The future is extremely exciting as we’re starting to see new innovative warehouse management and transport management technology introduced to the market. Artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, cloud-based warehousing, smart storage or storage as a service are all going to start stepping up to the plate to offer a better user experience and customer solutions that add real value to their business.
Our aim is to harness technology to reduce costs for customers, improve the efficiency of systems, and deliver a broader range of services.
One of the most important objectives moving forward is to maintain our focus on building and training strong skills in the business. As the world accelerates to an online world of buying, storing, and selling, we take pride in how we deliver, support and service with a skilled team as we look to continue enhancing the warehouse delivery technology.
Happy birthday, Argon SCS! We look forward to what the next ten years will bring!
