Thorlabs Achieves Accuracy and Efficiency Goals with RF-SMART
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
- Europe
- Asia
Country
- Germany
- United States
- China
- France
- Japan
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
Product
- RF-SMART
- Microsoft Dynamics AX
Tech Stack
- Automated Data Collection
- ERP System
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Customer Satisfaction
- Productivity Improvements
- Waste Reduction
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
Applicable Industries
- Aerospace
- Renewable Energy
Applicable Functions
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
- Logistics & Transportation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
- Predictive Maintenance
- Warehouse Automation
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- Training
About The Customer
Thorlabs is a market-leading designer and manufacturer of photonics equipment for research, manufacturing, and biomedical applications. Thorlabs was founded in 1989 by Alex Cable, a Bell Labs research physicist. Headquartered in Newton, New Jersey, Thorlabs operates internationally with more than 500 employees. Manufacturing and sales offices are located in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, China, and Japan. They provide high-tech and often customized equipment to companies, government agencies, and individuals involved in the aerospace, renewable energy, defense, security, medical, biotech, telecommunications, or electronics industries.
The Challenge
For Thorlabs, providing superior customer service is as much a priority requirement as maintaining their quality certifications. Their challenges? Continue to be the leader in supplying sophisticated equipment to one of the fastest-growing high-tech industries, increase already high customer satisfaction, and eliminate costs. Their path? Increase the sophistication of internal processes by efficiently increasing automation. Thorlabs chose to focus on reducing errors in shipping their more than 12,000 products – some of which vary only slightly in shape, size and part number. Their specific operational goals were to achieve total customer service with same day shipping and zero errors, and fully implement LEAN principles.
The Solution
After a thorough review of available options, Thorlabs selected and implemented the RF-SMART automated data collection solution. With RF-SMART, they could eliminate shipping errors and extend the functionality of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the ERP system they had used satisfactorily for five years. “We found RF-SMART to fill our needs on three points,” said Sam Rubin, Senior Operations Manager, Thorlabs. “One, RF-SMART has a small, less intrusive footprint into Microsoft Dynamics AX. Two, it is a product fully maintained by RF-SMART’s developers and RF-SMART support. And, three RF-SMART allows maximum use of the Microsoft Dynamics AX built-in warehouse features we already owned.” Thorlabs’ implementation was simultaneous in their two largest manufacturing and distribution locations – the corporate headquarters in Newton, NJ and the German facility in Munich, Germany.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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