Personalization places extra demands on order management systems
Personalized orders coming in from multiple channels create challenges for order management systems. At Oshkosh, WI-based Miles Kimball Inc., telephone orders for personalized products get a manual review, while such orders coming in over the web do not. Yet all orders need to end up in the same stream .
To make sure its personalization works flawlessly, Miles Kimball developed an interface to the order management system it operates from Ecometry Inc. Before anything happens, an employee manually verifies all personalization orders that come in over the phone to make sure the phone rep entered the information correctly. Web orders do not receive such scrutiny, except for Christmas cards. Then the system processes the order for payment and only then does it assign a particular item in inventory to the order. From there, the system splits the order into its components, breaking out each personalized product, sending instructions to the personalization software, which resides on a server, and creating a separate work ticket for each item.
Employees scan each work ticket at the personalization device; that scan pulls the personalization information from the server. Once personalization is complete, the items are consolidated into one order at a staging area and from there they go to the packing area. The order management system manages the entire process, making sure that every step is fulfilled and all the right items end up in the right box with the right label. “We customize a lot of products and we need a lot of checks and balances,” says JoAnn Muegge, application software support manager.
Throughout the year, 40% of Miles Kimball’s orders require personalization in the form of return address labels or names on pencils, mugs or backpacks. During the holiday season that increases to 50% as customers order personalized Christmas cards as well as other items.
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