Category: Press Release

New wine e-commerce fulfillment center slated to open in summer

HILLIARD, Ohio (June 6, 2017) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling system integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, is proud to announce that it has been chosen to design and build a waveless material handling system for WineDirect’s new fulfillment center in the Napa Valley region of California.

WineDirect, headquartered in Napa Valley, is the leader in direct-to-consumer services for wineries and is the only company that offers a complete end-to-end platform to support direct sales. More than 1,300 wineries and wine retailers use WineDirect’s services to support their e-commerce and order-fulfillment needs. In addition to its California fulfillment centers, WineDirect also has a fulfillment center in Glenwillow, Ohio, in northeast Ohio.

“VARGO^® is excited to be an integral part of WineDirect’s growing direct-to-consumer platform and proud that COFE® can help them fulfill their goal of exceeding customers’ expectations to be able to place an order one day and have it delivered within two days,” said Michael Vargo, President of VARGO® Companies. “What’s most impressive is that the new facility will help WineDirect ship three times the volume in half the time.”
The new 268,000-square-foot, high-tech fulfillment center in American Canyon, Calif., is slated to go live in late summer 2017. The facility has three times the floor space of WineDirect’s existing American Canyon fulfillment center. The ever-growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine business drove the company to the point of needing another facility.

“The direct-to-consumer wine channel grew 17% in 2016 and is poised for explosive growth in the next few years,” said Joe Waechter, President and CEO of WineDirect. “At the same time, consumer expectations for fast, easy shipping are rising quickly. Our new fulfillment center is designed to enable wineries to deliver an incredible customer experience so that they can take full advantage of the DTC growth opportunity.”

The new fulfillment center will be driven by VARGO^®’s Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine (COFE®) warehouse execution system. COFE^®’s real-time warehouse execution system synchronizes and sequences
activities across all work resources — the material handling equipment, devices, people and processes. With COFE®, WineDirect will be able to fulfill orders in an expedient manner, allowing fulfillment center employees to pick and fill orders in the shortest amount of time to get them out the door before a shipping cutoff time.

“We absolutely love working with VARGO^® and we could not have selected a better partner,” said Karin Ballestrazze, Senior Vice President, Fulfillment Operations at WineDirect. “The new material handling system will bring incredible benefit to our winery clients — especially as we head into the busy holiday shipping season. Our whole team is very much looking forward to launch.”

Ground broke on the new facility last fall and work is expected to continue through the summer. The center is scheduled to begin operations in August.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (March 31, 2017) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling system integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major e-commerce and distribution centers, will present two industry-critical seminars at the upcoming ProMat trade show April 3-6, 2017, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The first seminar, “Wholesale — The Next Frontier for Waveless,” will be presented by a team of VARGO^® experts. The seminar will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. on April 3 in Theater E. Seminar attendees will learn about the unique business requirements of wholesale distribution. In wholesale distribution, the SKU distribution is not as random as with e-commerce, yet it does not have the visibility of point-of-sale data as retail. VARGO^® experts will discuss alternative concepts, such as waveless, continuous flow processes, can result in more efficient fulfillment results.

The second seminar — “E-commerce Put Wall — Turn Time is Key to Flow” — will be presented from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on April 4 in Theater C and from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on April 6 in Theater E. Seminar attendees will learn about how put walls — which come in different types and from different providers — all have one thing in common: The faster the cubbies turn, the more volume that can be produced. At this seminar, attendees will learn about different configurations and their benefits as well as achieving flow via waving, overlapping waves, and a continuous flow, Warehouse Execution System (WES). The seminar will also touch on semi-coupling and decoupling the packing process from the put wall.

New capabilities provide real-time views from mobile devices

COLUMBUS, Ohio (April 4, 2017) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of warehouse execution software, material-handling system integration and equipment solutions, today announces two new COFE^® modules available for both mobility and analytics.

The new modules, which enhance the capabilities of VARGO^®’s Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine (COFE^®), give decision makers access to real-time information about their distribution centers from anywhere, on any device.

The COFE^® View Mobility module will give distribution center managers access to operating performance from their smart devices on the floor, according to J. Michael Vargo, president of VARGO^®. This will provide managers the opportunity to better supervise and direct their employees because they will be able to quickly identify what is happening operationally and see what people are doing at the same time.

The COFE^® View Mobility module has several key features, including:

• Forecasting and variance analysis: Managers can set production goals for the day and track performance against those goals by shift.
• Labor planning tools: COFE^® View Mobility will assist with anticipated labor requirements based on production goals, and it will recommend functional allocation of actual staff using historical production rates maintained in COFE^® for a client’s specific operation.
• Intuitive alerts based on performance: The system will provide early warning on performance and production issues, in an easy-to-understand format, allowing managers time to react.
• Access to equipment and processing controls: Managers will be able to turn on (or off) equipment, and enable or disable workstations, etc., right from a device, without having to return to a desktop or a control room to do that.
• Browser-based access: Managers can access system information from anywhere, anytime, allowing traveling executives or shift supervisors access to view in real time what is happening in their distribution centers while they are away.
• Responsive and intuitive: Works on any device and in any orientation — landscape or portrait — and various screen sizes, providing users the freedom to access information the way they want it.
• Smart device RF integration: In some instances, an employees’ devices will replace the need for expensive RF devices by providing the same RF functionality except it will be accessible through a smart device.

The COFE^® View Analytics module provides managers with all of the features of the Mobility package as well as the ability to measure, visualize and manage operations in real time to a much more granular level. It also offers flexibility to build individual custom statistical and analytical reports, Vargo said.

The COFE^® View Analytics module has several statistical tools and interactive visualization features that allow decision makers to:

• View visual presentation of operational data in a much more in-depth way.
• Drill deeper into data for more granular details.
• Track and evaluate key performance indicators, discover trends and draw comparisons.
• Develop online dashboards and visualizations to optimize processes. Aggregate information from other industry-standard database sources in conjunction with distribution center operational data. This reduces the dependency to sift through multiple external reports and the need to export data from various systems into some other application to build to cross-system reports and analytics.

“While our first-generation COFE^® View product served us well, its PC-based nature tied a supervisor to a PC or laptop,” Vargo said. “Our new COFE^® View Mobility and Analytics modules provide the freedom to manage on the floor and take full advantage of the intuitiveness of smart devices.”

VARGO^® to market KNAPP automated equipment as part of solutions for clients in United States

COLUMBUS, Ohio (March 30, 2017) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of warehouse execution software, material-handling system integration and equipment solutions, is pleased to announce that is has signed a distribution agreement with KNAPP, a company that specializes in highly automated equipment lines and solutions.

KNAPP approached VARGO^® last fall to ask the Columbus-based company to be one of only a few select systems integrators that represent KNAPP products.

Under the terms of the agreement, VARGO^® has the rights to market KNAPP’s OSR Shuttle™ and other KNAPP products as part of the solutions that VARGO^® proposes for its clients.

“We are proud to be able to add KNAPP’s product lines in the fulfillment solutions that we propose and design for our clients. Being chosen by KNAPP shows a growth in the breadth of technologies that we can offer our clients,” said J. Michael Vargo, president of VARGO^®. “Being able to integrate additional technology into our solutions for customers will help ensure economical and on-time delivery results for them.”

VARGO^® has developed Continuous Order Fulfillment Engine (COFE^®), the warehouse execution system that has dramatically changed how leading retailers manage fulfillment in their distribution centers. COFE^® controls all work resources — machinery and associates — and organizes, optimizes, sequences and synchronizes the work effort.

“We are a leading provider of fulfillment solutions,” Vargo said. “When we engage with a customer, we research their needs and apply our expertise to design customized material handling solutions, which now can include KNAPP technology along with our unmatched COFE^® warehouse execution system.”

Wakefield hired as software engineer

HILLIARD, Ohio (March 13, 2017) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling system integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, has hired Nathan Wakefield.
Wakefield works out of VARGO^®’s headquarters in Hilliard, Ohio, primarily in software support and quality assurance.
In this role, Wakefield tests new and current software, installs updates to the code base for internal use and production use, and supports clients by responding to support tickets and questions about software.
Wakefield, a Thomas Worthington High School Class of 2011 graduate, in 2016 earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from The Ohio State University.
A central Ohio native, Wakefield currently lives in the Grandview Heights area (ZIP Code 43212).

Sanchez hired as project engineer

HILLIARD, Ohio (March 1, 2017) — VARGO^®, a leading provider of material-handling system integration, warehouse execution software and equipment solutions for major fulfillment and distribution centers, has hired Juan Sanchez as a project engineer.

Sanchez will work out of VARGO^®’s Grand Rapids, Mich., location.

In his role as a project engineer, Sanchez will work with the engineering group that is responsible for providing state-of-the-art supply chain solutions for VARGO^®’s customers. He works with the sales team and serves as a primary resource for sales. He is responsible for driving and managing technologies used in system designs, and he also works with the software, controls and project management teams to develop and deliver projects on time and on budget to clients. Prior to joining VARGO^® in 2017, Sanchez worked for Viastore Systems, System Logistics Corp., Siemens Industry, Inc., Rapistan Systems, Siemens Dematic, and Siemens. He has 17 years of experience in the material-handling industry.

Sanchez attended Kettering University in Flint, Mich.

A native of Grant, Mich., Sanchez lives in Rockford, Mich., with his wife, Dyan, and their four children.