Its Friday, a multi-million dollar distribution center project in the heartland of the US has one week to go-live and is complete with storage and material handling equipment in place scanners and forklift trucks are on charge, warehouse management software has been tested and primed along with teams of employees ready to receive the 500 trucks scheduled to deliver high value stock for retail.
Final components remaining to be installed include warehouse barcode signs, the items people usually forget about, that don’t have the price tag of others, but are just as important for locating stock. This time, they are firmly on the radar, they’ve been ordered well ahead of time with full specs provided, with regular updates confirming installation start dates, but… The facility implementation team check on progress and find none are in place or even on site. After a few calls they are told, “We haven’t got those yet, do you know someone who can make them?”
The absent signs and potential disruption through an inability to put product away is estimated to cost the corporation in the region of $100,000 per day, through downtime and subsequent labor cost increases to achieve parity. In short, this is an implementation teams worse nightmare! It’s a final-stage-fail when time doesn’t exist to make amends.
After various discussions with the vendor and contingency plans brought forward, it’s now Tuesday and time to move in a different direction.
At ASG Services near Atlanta, the production team are finalizing several orders for Tuesday dispatch and preparing materials for the following day when the call comes in to Grant, ASG Services Production Manager. “Grant, we need your help! Are you able to make a lot of signs fast?” Grant responds, “You know we can, but how many is a lot?”, “3,500 barcode signs for hanging, 220 barcoded dock door signs and 50 aisle marker signs.”, the customer says. Grant then asks the biggest two-word question, “By when?”, “We need them on site this weekend, so we can attach them and start receiving and putting away stock on Monday.” After a short pause, Grant caught his breath and went bold, “I’m going to need all the specs and reference data from you ASAP and I’m going to speak with my guys, but as it stands right now, yes we can do it.” “Start moving at your end and I’ll get going here, it will make a great story for the manager meeting next week!”, said Grant.
The price was confirmed and an hour later, all materials had been allocated and taken from ASG’s store, designs had been approved and the print button had been clicked, production had started. Their production facility is self-contained, enabling them to respond quickly while maintaining quality throughout their processes. Print systems are designed for variable data handling of short runs (10 labels) and larger orders (over 1,000,000). Protective coatings can be added, specialty adhesives and various sortation option to finish labels ready for application. Another area of their facility has plastic forming equipment to prepare the sign base materials and stage testing areas, as well as state of the art direct UV print machines. All are then united in assembly to create the final product.
Back at the facility, the implementation team set to work with their people, explaining the situation and what would be needed from them once the signs arrived. A plan was devised for a two-stage delivery, ensuring the first load of signs, due to arrive on Saturday morning, were attached for the most important storage locations, followed by the next and so on. Equipment was ordered, and the teams started clearing areas in readiness for the task to commence.
On Wednesday, most people at ASG who could be involved, were assembling, sorting and packing barcode signs, alongside other orders which were also due out that day. ASG’s facility is designed for flow with unprocessed material at receiving, through to finished goods at the dispatch door and it quickly became apparent that product rates were well above the expected level, which meant the second pallet was begging to be loaded. Grant checked the QC reports and did several visual inspections himself to make sure all was correct before giving the go-ahead for direct printing to start on the aisle marker signs, then picked up the phone to the customer.
“All is in production and we’re ahead of target, its looking like we could ship sooner than expected.”, said Grant. A little surprised, the customer responded, “Everything? So, we’ll have everything on Friday?” “Yes, it looks like it.” said Grant.
Around midday Friday, two pallets of warehouse signs arrived on site and the installation started. On Monday morning, all was in place and the facility began operations as originally planned.
The implementation team praised ASG saying, “On behalf of us all here, thank you! This was something that I honestly did not think would turn into reality when I called you on Tuesday.” They went on to say, “You and your team delivered 24 hours in advance of your commitment, which is amazing in my opinion. I happened to talk to your Installation Manager today and he indicated that your entire team were working like dogs to deliver. Not a small task, and a sign of the great business relationship we have, above and beyond delivery to your customer. Please extend this appreciation to the entire team at ASG and be assured that our corporate management and purchasing teams are well aware of the financial loss you have helped us avoid. Just amazing!”, they concluded.
The timing and scale of this request make it unique, but it is a typical scenario for ASG Services. Their products and services are usually required toward the end of a distribution center fit-out or reconfiguration and are usually a small percentage of the overall cost, therefore it is understandable that they would be and are often forgotten. ASG’s processes and operations are therefore prepared for rapid response to ‘fire-alarm’ requests like this, which is why the company is a specialist in the field and why customers value their service above others.
For more information on our warehouse identification and marking products, including our rapid response to warehouse barcode sign orders…, contact us on +1 (877) 447-9798 or email info@asgservices.com. The team works with new and existing customers with the same level of importance and reactionary approach, ensuring new customers return through strong relationships.
Call us on +1 (877) 447-9798 and tell us about your situation, we're here to help you complete your project.
Send what you can so we can respond with the best email possible to help with your issue.
You can buy our standardized products online today for quick shipping, helping you complete on your own terms.
Our online store provides customers with the opportunity to purchase standardized products. The same technology, production and quality control methods are used, so you can be assured of their performance and durability.
Browse now
Warehouse Signs
Warehouse Hanging Signs
ASG Installation Services