To help in the delivery of its famous food brands, like Corn Flakes, Coco Pops and Pringles across Britain and for export to the European Union and Middle East, Kellogg’s operate a giant 525,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Haydock, St Helens. This is Kellogg’s largest warehouse in the UK, complementing its existing British operations including factories in Manchester and Wrexham and a UK head office in Salford’s MediaCity

Kellogg needed to turn on a simple, but effective WMS system to bridge the gap from site occupancy, fit out and eventual go live.

The warehousing solution would need to be able to capture and scan SSCC information at source, be web based throughout and produce real-time reports which could be imported directly into the Kellogg production system.

Additionally, as the site was in fit out and commissioning, there would be neither enterprise internet nor Wi-Fi services available within the warehouse, mandating the use of a 4G solution to support the web based application.

The operation was expected to predominately take inbound deliveries directly from the production plant at Trafford Park during a quiet period for the business with very few outbound movements. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape changed quickly and the requirement to replenish the customer facing, existing network with stock required to support the explosion in demand and food donation requirements.

Throughout the project pallet racking would be erected, so put-away logic, stock consolidation, and stock traceability would all be paramount and dynamic adjustment to the profile and layout on the system a pre-requisite.

Within 48 Hours of receiving the brief from Kellogg, aligning with the management team and receiving the ‘GO’, Amethyst had implemented their existing web based Warehouse Management System and provided training to XPO onsite staff.

To ensure a cost effective and speedy implementation, Amethyst were able to utilise Kellogg’s existing Android scanner hardware, Zebra TC8300’s, complementing these with additional Zebra MC3300’s supplied by Total Barcodes Limited.

Amethyst ensured 4G connectivity remained dynamic, to facilitate the developing racking install , Amethyst configured the mobile, handheld scanning devices to on board 4G access points within VNA, and of course, loading areas to the installed static 4g WIFI routing, ensuring that connectivity and security was maintained, across the warehouse. This dynamic approach ensured that the operation could maintain connectivity during this critical period.

All Inbound and outbound stock was tracked and traced, maintaining a detailed history of every batch in the system. For the 16 week period of the project, over 72,400 pallets movements were accounted for.

Amethyst SQL Reporting Suite provided Kellogg’s and XPO staff with automated subscription reports throughout the day, keeping stock synchronised with Kellogg’s systems, avoiding the need for manual based reporting.