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Radius Warehouse and Logistics Services & Mintsoft

This 3PL warehouse management system case study shows how Mintsoft has expanded the fulfilment capabilities of a Radius Warehouse and Logistics Services B2B and B2C 3PL operations.

Who are Radius Warehouse and Logistics Service? 

Radius Warehouse and Logistic Services were founded in 1996 and were originally focused on air, land and sea freight, their business now largely focuses on B2B and B2C order fulfilment.

Based in Bristol, their fulfilment services continue to grow and they now consider themselves to be a warehouse solutions and third-party logistics (3PL) provider.

The Challenge

Prior to finding Mintsoft, Radius had an existing warehouse management system (WMS) in place. As their fulfilment business grew, they found the software was not scalable and was limiting their ability to work with new clients. 

One of the challenges Radius were facing, was limited integrations for ecommerce sales channels, couriers and their clients own inventory systems. This was felt acutely when they began their working relationship with Flexi-Hex , who were using Unleashed as their inventory management software, and needed to connect to Radius’ WMS for B2B order fulfilment.

Initially, Radius were receiving Flexi-Hex’s orders via CSV, which required manual upload into the existing WMS. Due to the inefficiency of this, Radius began their search for a new WMS with an Unleashed integration. By looking at solutions also owned by The Access Group, Radius found that there was a pre-built connection between Mintsoft and Unleashed. 

After lots of research into Mintsoft’s full range of capabilities, Radius decided it was the right warehouse software for them, that would enable them to scale and grow their business, in partnership with their 3PL clients.

How Mintsoft has helped 

Integrations

The Unleashed integration for Flexi-Hex was the initial challenge that led Radius to Mintsoft, however they were increasingly in need for more integrations than their existing WMS offered. They were receiving more enquiries from potential clients that needed ecommerce sales channel, courier and inventory connections that they couldn’t facilitate.

Alex said: “With the options we have with Mintsoft, the scalability has been massive. The number of different connections we have available to integrate with is more than we actually need, but it's great that they're always there, whether that's from a customer facing side with different shopping cart providers or from the courier perspective.”

“The integration with different courier providers allows us to offer a better solution to our customers. We can automate order allocation to different couriers based on a best cost principle, and depending on the size and the urgency of the order via Mintsoft’s order rules.”

Batching and Picking

The batch scheduling module was a deciding factor for Radius to switch to Mintsoft, due to its time saving and the advantages it would give them.

Prior to Mintsoft, Radius would manually screen all orders to validate, batch and print for the warehouse staff to begin picking, which could take hours of administration each day. Now, that is all managed by the module within Mintsoft based on pre-determined rules.

Alex said: “As long as the rules are in place on our batch scheduling, all of that manual intervention isn't required anymore. Whereas before a batch of 300 orders may have taken upwards of 2-3 hours to prepare, now we arrive in the morning and it's ready and waiting for us.

“Batch scheduler allows us to save on average 15 hours a week, which cuts back on the need for additional admin members of the team to carry out those duties, as well as overall helping us be more efficient with operations and providing a better solution to our customers.”

Paired with the mobile picking app, Radius are able to pick orders faster, and more accurately than ever. Alex said:  “Our quarterly KPI reports show picking accuracy since adopting Mintsoft is always above 99.6% - one quarter was 100% and that wouldn’t have been achieved without Mintsoft.”

Client Management

Since transitioning to Mintsoft, Radius have on-boarded their existing customer base, as well as any new clients – the feedback they’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive as their clients now benefit from a clear and intuitive client portal which gives them more control over their stock, and saves Radius time by reducing the amount of client queries they receive.

Alex said: “For our customers to be able to have better visibility of the whole process from the goods coming in to the goods going out, again, being able to track orders, it really enhance their businesses as well as providing a great added value for them.

“For us, it means some time-saving as clients can go directly onto the system to check something, and they can still get in touch if they need our help or if the query is a little more in-depth.”

For additional customer customisation, Radius also utilise the custom documents module to white-label all dispatch notes to be in line with their customer’s requirements, which reduces the need to log into multiple systems to retrieve dispatch notes for each parcel. Mintsoft also enables these dispatch notes to the end consumer via email, when they’re dispatched from the warehouse.

Alex added: “The feature I get the most enjoyment from, is the ability to set up bespoke rules and features for our clients, a key ethos of the company.”

“Fundamentally, our fulfilment customers all want their inventory handled safely and dispatched in time, but they all work differently and have quirks to how they operate, which are important to them. With Mintsoft, we can represent them as best we can, with different features such as order tags, automating order rules and means of dispatch.”

“Mintsoft allows us to fundamentally remain efficient, but the best part about it is tailoring that to what the customer may need as well.” 

 

Alex Large, Director Radius Warehouse and Logistics Services

What’s next for Radius Warehouse and Logistics Services

Radius’ plans for the future are to continue growing by offering bespoke fulfilment solutions to their customers, while sticking to their ethos to provide the most efficient and efficient customer service.

Recent growth has led Radius to relocate to a new facility with more physical space, which will enable them to take on new clients, and from a systems perspective, they feel Mintsoft will enable further expansion too.

“We’re in a position where we can still maintain and continue to grow with the support that we get from Mintsoft.”

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