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flaschenpost Warehouse-App

Set out to put an end to lugging beverage crates, flaschenpost has been revolutionizing beverage retail since 2016. Order conveniently from home and have it delivered directly to your door in 120 minutes. That is flaschenpost's ambitious promise.
Started in Münster, flaschenpost now delivers more than 7,000,000 orders a year to more than 30 locations with up to 150 vehicles per location. We accompanied the driver app team part of the way in the following areas.

  • Xamarin.Forms-Development
  • ASP.NET Core Backend Development
  • Integration of Bluetooth (LE) Peripheral Devices
  • Real-Time-Messaging with SignalR

Using technology efficiently in the warehouse

For flaschenpost, we developed two apps to support and improve processes in the warehouse through modern technology. Matching flaschenpost's technology stack, we implemented the apps with Xamarin.Forms.

The picking app for especially small Android devices brings picking tasks directly to the forearm of the picker.

The warehouse app adds a mobile client to the warehouse management software so that numerous warehouse management activities can be recorded on the spot.

Reduce errors and their impact, eliminate bottlenecks

From the moment the order is received, things must move quickly to deliver on the promise of "delivery within 120 minutes." Therefore, the error rate and the impact of errors must be kept as low as possible and the workload must be well distributed.

With the goal of reducing the impact of picking errors and eliminating specific bottlenecks, our first task was to work with the flaschenpost team to develop an Android app for a new picking process supported by state-of-the-art tools.

Within the first few weeks of starting the project, we were already able to put the new process into operation in one of the flaschenpost warehouses. The implementation of the new process was a complete success. Since the introduction of the app, well over 10 million items have already been picked.

Lagerfoto von flaschenpost Screenshot der flaschenpost Lagerapp auf ein Zebra-Handheld

The key to opening up new opportunities

Now that the picking app has already proven itself in several warehouses during ongoing operations, the basic prerequisites for many other applications have been created.

In spring 2020, the Corona pandemic began and public life was reduced to the minimum in Germany. This also meant that people avoided going shopping often. The flaschenpost recognized this problem and decided to expand the offer by several hundred articles of daily use. The existing picking equipment made it possible to implement the new requirements and picking processes in a very short time.

The picking of the most frequently ordered items could also be greatly improved. The picking app eliminated expensive hardware that was sometimes costly to maintain. The picking process created by the new application also became much more flexible and scalable.

More than just picking

Through the picking app, the advantages of a mobile platform for the daily use cases in the warehouse became clear, so that the decision was made to support further processes in the warehouse through mobile devices. This resulted in the app under the project name "Warehouse-App".

The warehouse app is intended to be the perfect complement to stationary warehouse management software, for all those processes that can be significantly simplified by a mobile client. Unlike the picking app, the warehouse app runs on a smartphone of common dimensions with an integrated barcode scanner. This means that significantly more screen space is available for displaying functions and the range of applications is much broader.

This Xamarin.Forms app also communicates with REST interfaces, but also with a real-time messaging service and a BPMN-based process engine. The real-time messaging service allows messages to be sent specifically to different participants in the warehouse. This can ensure that individual users are always aware of current conditions in the warehouse, and are immediately informed of new urgent tasks (according to their role in the warehouse e.g. shift leader, picker, etc.).

Similar to the picking app, the warehouse app lays a solid foundation to support many other processes electronically and especially mobile.

Screenshot flachenpost Kommissionier-App auf einem Symbol-Gerät
Aron Spohr, CTO flaschenpost

Cayas Software is an excellent team! I personally enjoyed the energy and professional support that the whole team gave us during the project.

- Aron Spohr, CTO flaschenpost
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