Beijing Automotive Works (BAW), a subsidiary of Beijing Automobile Industry Holding Company (BAIC) in China, and two local partners have invested R196 million in a new assembly plant in Springs to produce taxi vehicles for the domestic and sub-Saharan markets.

BAW chose TransLution™ to help manage product movements between different warehouses, ensuring that the right products and quantities are available at WIP when required by production.

In addition to transferring individual items between warehouses, TransLution™ also manages the complex task of transferring trolleys from the inspection area to the main warehouse as well as to a WIP warehouse. The user simply scans a single trolley barcode; since TransLution™ has a record of what is stored on each trolley, it can separate out each item and quantity and post a warehouse transfer transaction to SYSPRO for each item.

TransLution™ also confirms that the stock recorded on the trolley in the source warehouse is actually available in SYSPRO before attempting the transfer. Only valid and available items are transferred in SYSPRO and any stock discrepancies are highlighted for the supervisor to manage. This is a preferable solution to attempting to post error transactions to SYSPRO and having to manage failed posts.

A key benefit of this approach is the time and effort saved – users scan a single barcode and move multiple products without the need to scan each product.

Beijing Auto Works produces a range of vehicles including Jeeps for the Chinese military, LCVs, SUVs, minibuses and medium commercial vehicles. Its establishment in South Africa is being widely touted as a boon to the local minibus taxi industry by providing the industry segment with a selection of cost-effective, safe and reliable vehicles.

Company Backgrounds:

TransLution™ software was developed to assist manufacturing, warehousing and distribution companies to better manage their business processes and stock handling. The TransLution™ product is particularly focussed on robust integration to Syspro for a wide range of transactions. TransLution™ is distributed in Africa by AfriSoft Africa (Pty) Ltd and in Europe by K3 SYSPRO.

AfriSoft Africa (Pty) Ltd was founded in 1998 to serve the specialised needs of agribusiness, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution companies. AfriSoft provides consulting services for business improvement and distributes, implements and supports TransLution™, AGRIS™ and other business improvement software in Africa.