Daunat, a leading supplier of prepackaged snack-food products in France, is rolling out Hardis Group’s warehouse management software at its logistics warehouses. Following a successful initial implementation at one site in 2022, Reflex WMS is currently being deployed at four other platforms, with a target completion date of early 2024.
Grenoble, 6th September, 2023 – Reflex (Hardis Group business unit), a leading provider of logistics execution software, announces that Daunat, a leading supplier of prepackaged snack-food products in France, is steadily rolling out its Reflex WMS warehouse management software. The system was deployed at a first site in 2022, where it boosted productivity. The local logistics team also found that Reflex helped streamline order picking processes and simplified many of the tasks performed by operators. The company will roll out the software at its other warehouses in 2023 and 2024.
Chilled food production and distribution
Daunat is a subsidiary of Brittany-based Norac Group, which operates brands including La Boulangère and Goûters Magiques. It is a leading producer and distributor of pre-packaged sandwiches, wraps, salads, and other snack-food products, which it sells to major retailers as well as to the out-of-home catering trade (highway and other service stations, and train station outlets). In its out-of-home catering business, Daunat also operates a trading activity: buying, receiving, storing, and delivering chilled products manufactured by other brands (such as beverages and yogurt drinks).
The company has five production plants throughout France, in Guingamp, Laon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Arras and Marzan. Each plant has its own distribution warehouse, where orders are picked for hypermarkets and supermarkets. The Chalon-sur-Saône warehouse, which also handles logistics operations for the firm’s out-of-home catering business, has several features that set it apart from the other four: the site receives and stores products manufactured at all five Daunat plants (inter-site flows), as well products for its trading business, which are then picked and shipped to service stations and train station outlets. “At our warehouses, we handle chilled products as well as ambient products that are suitable for storage in chilled conditions,” said Sylvain Lebaillif, Supply Chain Director at Daunat. “We guarantee delivery next day before noon.”
Migrating Daunat’s warehouses to a new WMS
Daunat’s distribution centers used an outdated warehouse management system with no further updates or upgrades. After exploring whether to use its ERP system to manage its logistics platforms, the company launched a tender for an off-the-shelf application. After reviewing the options, Daunat chose Reflex WMS.
“Hardis Group had a solid track record in the chilled logistics segment,” said Lebaillif. “The application covered all our functional requirements, the roadmap we saw offered some interesting prospects for our business, and we were impressed by the expertise and dedication of the project team.”
“The users involved in the decision-making process were also drawn to Reflex WMS on account of its intuitive design and short learning curve,” said Marie Billon, Logistics Project Manager at Daunat. “The guarantees we were given around the hosting of the application were another decisive factor.”
Harmonizing logistics practices
Daunat decided to start with the Chalon-sur-Saône site—its most complex warehouse, which handles around 300 different own-brand and third-party products. Since Reflex WMS went live at the site in late March 2022, the firm has recorded gains and improvements in numerous areas. The system’s flexible design meant the warehouse could be reconfigured, leading to a significant productivity boost. On top of this, the order-picking process has been streamlined, and Reflex’s short learning curve means that Daunat can quickly onboard temporary staff to cope with summer workload peaks. “Because all our operators now use barcode readers, we’ve been able to do away with paper-based processes and achieve efficiency gains,” said Billon.
Daunat is continuing to roll out Reflex WMS. The system went live at the firm’s Laon site in late April 2023 and at its Guingamp platform in June 2023, while the Arras and Marzan warehouses are scheduled to switch over in October 2023 and early 2024 respectively. “Deploying Reflex has prompted us to review and harmonize our practices across our various sites,” said Lebaillif.