Bringing IBM i WMS To The ‘Boss’
July 18, 2018 Alex Woodie
Boss Manufacturing Company, a 125-year-old manufacturer of boots, gloves, and other workwear, has selected the IBM i-based warehouse management system (WMS) from Logimax to improve the efficiency of its operations, the software company announced last week.
Boss Manufacturing Company got its start in the late 1880s when a farmer in Kewanee, Illinois, named H.H. Perkins had enough with the current approach to husking corn. His solution was to attach a metal hook a leather strap that would be worn like a glove. Perkins called this invention the Perkins Boss Husker, and it would be the first product for Boss Manufacturing Company.
More than a century later, the company is still located in Kewanee, but the offerings have expanded to a range of protective gear for working men and women. The business technology used by the company has also evolved over the years, and today it relies on the IBM Power Systems server running a suite of IBM i-based business applications, including Oracle JD Edwards ERP, Varsity Logistics Transportation Management System (TMS), and now the WMS from Logimax.
The original Perkins Boss Husker (Image courtesy Lee Valley Tools Ltd.)
Logimax, which is owned by the same holding company as Varsity, says it integrated its WMS with the JD Edwards ERP and Varsity’s shipping software to provide a soup-to-nuts IBM i business solution that stretches from moment Boss receives an order to when the deliveries are signed for by Boss customers.
The Logimax solution satisfied Boss’s requirements, says Scott Hansen, the IT manager for Boss Manufacturing Company. “We wanted to do a better job of receiving the product, directing putaways after receipt, and increasing our fill rate with inventory accuracy,” Hansen says in a Logimax press release. “Logimax offered all of that. It’s perfectly versatile to make where we wanted to go a reality.”
Logimax develops a full-function WMS that runs natively on the IBM i platform. The software handles all major aspects of warehouse automation – from barcode tracking and order management to picking/packing and putaway – for manufacturers and distributors of all sizes. The software integrates with RF guns, and features GUI dashboards that managers and event clients can use to track the flow of goods.
Founded in 1995, Logimax today is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and is part of the FOG Software Group (formerly Friedman Operating Group), which is Deerfield, Illinois-based wholly owned subsidiary of Constellation Software, which is based in Toronto, Ontario.
Other IBM i-based software vendors in the FOG Group besides Logimax and Varsity include: Friedman, which develops ERP for windows and door makers; Viewlocity, a developer of supply chain management software; XData Solutions, a general purpose ERP developer; and CORESense, a developer of mail-order, catalog, and ecommerce management software.
FOG Software Group currently has 18 subsidiaries, and continues to seek more. In just the past few months, the company acquired Freestyle Solutions, a provider of order, inventory, and customer management solutions; and Pace Software, which makes software for single- and multi-location automotive repair shops.
