In October 2018, Ulysse Logistics Company (ULC), subsidiary of UTIC Group and a major player in Tunisia’s trade and retail sector, deployed Hardis Group’s warehouse management system at its new 30,000 m2 warehouse, where it manages logistics operations for Carrefour, Decathlon and Fnac Darty Tunisia. Eventually, the firm will roll out Reflex WMS across all its warehouses. 

Grenoble, November 13, 2019 – Hardis Group, a consulting firm, digital services company and independent software vendor, announces that Ulysse Logistics Company (ULC), a subsidiary of UTIC Group and logistics service provider to large retailers and the fast-moving consumer goods segment, has deployed Reflex WMS at its new 30,000 m2 warehouse in Mornag, Tunisia. The firm uses Hardis Group’s warehouse management system to manage and orchestrate all logistics flows and processes for Carrefour, Decathlon and Fnac Darty in Tunisia. The application also gives ULC the competitive edge it needs to win new business in the mass and specialized retail, and fast-moving consumer goods segments, as well as in manufacturing and industry.

ULC: a fast-growing Tunisian logistics service provider

ULC is a subsidiary of Ulysse Trading and Industrial Companies (UTIC) Group, one of Tunisia’s biggest privately owned companies. The firm handles logistics operations for 95 outlets and two hypermarkets on behalf of three major retailers: Carrefour Tunisia (Ulysse Hyper Distribution, UHD), Decathlon and Fnac Darty Tunisia. The company, which employs 300 people and has a fleet of 80 trucks, achieves revenue of around €100 million. 

In 2015, ULC’s management team decided to build a new 30,000 m2 warehouse—with annual expansion capability of between 5,000 and 10,000 m2—in Mornag, to cope with a spike in activity from Carrefour Tunisia (then its only client) and to absorb potential new business. At the same time, managers opted to replace the logistics service provider’s inadequate proprietary software with a new warehouse management system that better catered to its requirements.

Managing a new, expandable 30,000 m2 warehouse with Reflex WMS

On Carrefour’s recommendation, ULC approached several off-the-shelf WMS vendors and held a series of site inspections. Following a competitive tender process, the firm opted for Reflex WMS in late 2016 on account of its flexible configuration options, its robust design, and its ability to manage a wide variety of flows and items, including dry and fresh food, sports clothing and equipment, household appliances, and more. “We were impressed by Hardis Group’s extensive client base, and by the fact that the team really understood our requirements”, says Oussama Ghariani, Chief Operations Officer at ULC.

Hardis Group sent a consultant to work full-time with ULC’s IT department, analyzing the firm’s functional requirements and configuring the system (creating the warehouse, locations, picking processes, and more). The application was deployed at ULC’s old 5,000 m2 warehouse in January 2018, pending the completion of work on the new site. “When we switched over to the new site, we moved the inventory between two warehouses: the old one equipped with Reflex WMS, and the new one, ” explains Anas Boudabbous, Chief Information Officer at ULC. “The move threw up some real data integrity challenges, but Hardis Group’s consultants helped ease the migration.

A flexible, robust, versatile WMS

ULC is now using Reflex WMS to manage receipt, storage, order picking and despatch operations for some 20,000 separate items for Carrefour, plus 2,000-3,000 items for Decathlon and a further 1,000 for Fnac Darty. “We haven’t migrated fresh food and fish over to Reflex WMS yet, ” says Boudabbous. “We’re working it now and expect to finish the process by the end of 2019, at which point we’ll also have deployed the software at our 6,000 m2 warehouse in Sfax, southern Tunisia. ” In 2020, ULC will interface Reflex WMS with its ERP system to meet the requirements of Tunisian billing legislation, which requires logistics service providers to issue itemized invoices for receipt, storage, picking and despatch operations. The company is also in talks with the Reflex R&D team about adding new indicators to Reflex Dashboard to optimize warehouse management.

We’re currently talking to three new manufacturing clients about becoming their logistics service providers, ” adds Olfa Arfaoui, Chief Business Development Officer at ULC. “Having a new, expandable, automated warehouse equipped with Reflex WMS gives us a major competitive edge—and will help us achieve our ambitious growth targets in the retail and fast-moving consumer goods segments.