RF-SMART Customer Case Study
Mobile Enterprise Solutions for Supply Chain Execution
Using ADC to Handle
Increased Seasonal
Volumes
“The benefits of RF-SMART were obvious!”
- Applications Analyst Bard Higgins
Spyder Active Sports, Inc. distributes specialty ski
wear and is the largest ski-specialty brand in the
world.
Virtually eliminated
auditing and accuracy
issues!
Decreased unload time
from two days to two
hours!
Spyder Active Sports, Inc. was founded by David Jacobs in 1970, as a mail-order company run from David’s kitchen. At this
time, the company name was “For Racing, By Racers” and they produced only race sweaters for skiers. The company gained
exposure and credibility in the 70’s when famous ski racers on the pro-tour began wearing their sweaters. In 1978, David
designed racing pants that skiers began calling “spider pants,” because of their spider-like design. At this time, David
renamed the company to “Spyder.” Over the years, Spyder has expanded its product line to include jackets, shirts, race suits,
accessories and more. Today, Spyder operates out of corporate offices in Colorado and Switzerland and is the largest skispecialty brand in the world.
The Need for Automated Data Collection
Spyder has always kept up with the changing needs of skiers
to provide the best possible product. For example, when
racing technique changed in the 1980’s with the introduction
of breakaway gates, Spyder produced a functional World Cup
pant that was worn by many national teams. David Jacobs’
forward thinking in the ski industry laid the foundation for
Spyder to become the progressive company that it is today.
Part of being progressive in the distribution industry is to
eliminate manual data entry and inefficiencies within the
warehouse. In 2004, Spyder purchased Oracle’s JD Edwards
ERP as their first step toward inventory control. However,
Spyder still needed to automate their processes to reach their
efficiency goals.
In 2005, Spyder began researching automated data collection
(ADC) solutions that integrated with JD Edwards. Oracle
Platinum Partner, RF-SMART came recommended by the
partner who worked with Spyder on their JDE implementation.
After speaking with the RF-SMART team about their seamless
JDE integration and their value-added functionality, Spyder
selected RF-SMART as their ADC solution.
Spyder’s main goal for the RF-SMART implementation was
straightforward; remove inefficiencies and errors around
manual data entry. The RF-SMART software addressed
Spyder’s efficiency and accuracy concerns and added
additional benefits in time savings, cost savings, ease of
use, and customer satisfaction.
Results of Implementation
First of all, with automation and bar-coding through RFSMART, Spyder has removed costly manual processes in
picking, packing and shipping. Before RF-SMART, Spyder
was required to print a pick ticket on paper, check off
the lines by hand during packing, and ship confirm the
products based off the pick tickets that were completely
checked off. This information would all need to be
entered into the computer system by hand. These manual
processes required significant time and great attention to
detail that were difficult to maintain within a fast-paced,
growing company. As Spyder distributes ski apparel, their
business is very seasonal. In fact, Spyder ships 95 percent
of their product in just three months. During their three
peak months, it is critical that Spyder is able to move their
inventory quickly. Spyder replaced their manual processes
RF-SMART Enterprise Mobile Solutions is a division of ICS, Inc.
1650 Prudential Dr., Suite 300 Jacksonville, FL 32207 USA
+1 (904) 399-8500
http://www.rfsmart.com
Mobile Enterprise Solutions for Supply Chain Execution
Spyder Active Sports Case Study (cont.)
with RF-SMART automation in inventory receiving, putaway, picking
and ship confirmations, greatly improving their speed of operation.
The RF-SMART implementation has been so successful that, “we can
now unload a container in two hours versus the two days it took us
before RF-SMART,” said Applications Analyst at Spyder, Bard Higgins.
In addition to labor-hour savings, Spyder has also increased their
accuracy. Prior to RF-SMART, Spyder experienced regular difficulties in
auditing inventory, because paper-based processes left room for error.
Whether a receiving slip was misread or an incorrect product number
was written on a picking slip, any minor error affected overall data
accuracy. Now that pick, pack and ship information is all recorded in
RF-SMART and transferred automatically to JD Edwards, auditing and
accuracy issues are few and far between.
One additional quality Spyder truly appreciates about the RF-SMART
software is its ease of use. Since Spyder is so seasonal, they only have
2 full-time warehouse employees. During the busy season, Spyder
hires a temporary warehouse staff and trains them on using RF-SMART.
“Training our temporary staff to use RF-SMART to be able to receive,
pick, pack and ship is never a problem,” said Bard.
Another beneficial aspect of RF-SMART became evident as Spyder
continued to grow. “As Spyder was growing, we were starting to deal
with larger customers that had vendor compliance requirements and
EDI [electronic data interchange] requirements. These were things we
could not do without a data collection system,” said Bard. RF-SMART
allowed Spyder to take on these larger customers by providing visibility
into inventory that is often required by today’s purchasers.
Although Spyder has not calculated an official return on investment,
they are confident of the value RF-SMART has added to their company.
“Our distribution volume has grown quickly, to the point where the
benefits of RF-SMART, versus our existing manual receiving, shipping
and inventory management processes were obvious,” said Bard.
Results of Implementation
Spyder is now using RF-SMART at their warehouses in both Colorado and
Austria and is very pleased with the results of their implementations.
Potential upcoming projects for Spyder include updating their picking
workflows and implementing label printing. RF-SMART and Spyder
Active Sports, Inc. have enjoyed a long, successful partnership, which
they plan to continue well into the future.
TeamCain partners with RF-SMART to provide the best data
collection solution to businesses.
RF-SMART
Global Offices
United States
Jacksonville, FL
1-800-676-4427
1-904-399-8500
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1-717-940-7447
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1-720-259-2585
Worldwide
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+65 6823-1244
For more information, please contact TeamCain at:
1.800.861.7628 ext. 246, or email michael_guerin@teamcain.com
RF-SMART Enterprise Mobile Solutions is a division of ICS, Inc.
1650 Prudential Dr., Suite 300 Jacksonville, FL 32207 USA
+1 (904) 399-8500
http://www.rfsmart.com