Transforming Operations for Wash Cycle Laundry Inc. : Addressing Bottomline Efficiency with Tacten

Source:Oli Woodman on Unsplash

Executive Summary

One of the largest commercial laundry service providers in the USA encountered substantial operational challenges due to the limitations of their existing system, Zoho. As their operations expanded, the need for multi-company support, as well as robust asset and inventory management, became critical path. By implementing ERPNext, along with custom modules and integrations with Zorp.one — a low-code mobile app building platform tailored for business operations workflows our client could achieved enhanced visibility, efficiency, and scale. This transformation significantly boosted customer satisfaction & operational excellence, that contributed hugely to the desired bottomline savings.

Introduction

Wash Cycle Laundry is a prominent player in the USA's laundry service industry, serving a wide range of sectors including hospitality, airlines, and small businesses such as gyms and salons. Operating from three strategically located commercial laundry plants, they manage a substantial daily workload, ensuring exceptional standards of cleanliness and hygiene. However, with the company's growth came significant operational challenges, highlighting the need for a robust solution to streamline processes and boost efficiency.

The Problem

As Wash Cycle Laundry expanded, their existing system, Zoho, fell short of managing the complexities of their multi-company setup, inventory tracking, and other digital needs for plant operations, including picking up and delivering soiled and clean laundry to customer locations. While Zoho handled accounting adequately, it failed to support a multi-company accounting scenarios and inventory tracking capabilities. This shortcoming prevented them from having a unified system capable of efficiently managing all operations across multiple entities. The primary challenges included:.

Laundry business, which is typically high volume and low-margins with seasonal peaks and lows - can only thrive if, by all means bottomline costs are kept in check and good operational efficiency is consistently maintained.

1. - Lack of Automated Systems: The absence of automation for tracking customer service orders led to frequent delivery delays, negatively impacting customer satisfaction.
2. - Manual Data Entry Errors: Manual entry of bin weights resulted in errors, affecting billing and inventory management accuracy.
3. - Order Tracking Difficulties: Ineffective tracking of order items caused inefficiencies and low customer satisfaction due to misplaced or delayed laundry items.
4. - Multi-Company Accounting & Finance: Zoho's accounting limitations hindered multi-company accounting processes, causing discrepancies and manual workarounds.

The Solution

Wash Cycle Laundry identified the need for a robust system to manage their growing operations. After evaluating various options, they chose Tacten to implement a tailored version of ERPNext, an open-source enterprise resource planning software. ERPNext boasts powerful features such as multi-company support, advanced inventory management, and customizable workflows. Tacten utilized as many standard out-of-the-box features of ERPNext as possible, but also developed custom modules to meet specific business requirements, including integration with barcode scanners and cloud-based Zebra printers. Additionally, APIs were created to interface with the Zorp mobile app, providing a simple UI for frontline staff rather than exposing them to the ERPNext interface. The solution also includes barcoded BIN tracking, all hosted on Tacten Cloud.

Overall ERPNext & ZORP Solutions Spread

ERPNext Implementation

ERPNext was utilized to address the core backend and operations needs as follows:

1. - Enterprise Structure Mapping: Established a strong foundation by mapping a multi-company organizational structure. This included aligning different accounting heads and creating a comprehensive chart of accounts, mapping different customer profiles to meet unique invoicing and billing requirements.
2. - Migration: Ensured a seamless transition from Zoho systems to ERPNext, maintaining uninterrupted operations throughout the process, with proper and planned cut-over and change management training support across the chain or users and functions impacted.
3. - Purchasing and Inventory Management Module: Mapped all fixed assets, purchase and sales items, and respective warehouses, incorporating batch and serialization tracking. This automation enhanced inventory management by minimizing manual errors and improving accuracy.
4. - Stock Movement Tracking: Provided improved visibility and control over stock movements across plants and warehouses.
5. - Laundry BIN Management: Addressed the unique requirement of tracking laundry bins across multiple customers and during various stages such as plant processing, pickup, and delivery. Leveraged ERPNext v15 features like Stock Dimensions, Assets, Repack, and barcode-enabled bins, along with custom automations to assign and track bin movements throughout the workflow.
6. - Frappe Framework enabled rapid iterations and substantial engineering efficiency: The fully integrated, low-code Frappe framework, along with the comprehensive enterprise features of ERPNext, significantly reduced the engineering workload and minimized the need for a large engineering team. This facilitated swift and successful project completion.

Integration of Zorp Mobile Application

Zorp.one offers a user-friendly low-code mobile app development platform specifically designed to streamline business operations. With this platform, we created purpose-built, simplified KIOSK interfaces and workflows for front-line staff and delivery teams.

1. - Enterprise Structure Mapping: Established a strong foundation by mapping a multi-company organizational structure. This included aligning different accounting heads and creating a comprehensive chart of accounts, mapping different customer profiles to meet unique invoicing and billing requirements.
2. - Entry and Exit Kiosks: Developed and deployed Zorp mobile application at entry and exit kiosks for seamless tracking of inward laundry movement, sales orders, reducing manual entry errors and improving data accuracy.
3. - Integrated Zorp input fields with barcode reader and cloud printer: Bins are processed using a barcode scanner, weight is entered at the kiosk, and inward slip printouts are generated seamlessly.
4. - Automated Sales Cycle: Utilized backend ERPNext API calls integrated with Zorp to automate the sales cycle, streamlining order processing and improving overall efficiency.

Custom Modules Development

Even though the majority of the project was achieved using rapid low-code implementation way and also leveraging standard features of the tech stack we used, some amount of customizations had to be realised to achieve a well integrated solution.

1. - Delivery Route Scheduling: Automated route planning for deliveries to ensure timely and efficient dispatch.
2. - Entry and Exit Kiosks: Developed and deployed Zorp mobile application at entry and exit kiosks for seamless tracking of inward laundry movement, sales orders, reducing manual entry errors and improving data accuracy.
3. - Proof of Service to Customer: Implemented proof of service functionality to enhance customer transparency and trust.
4. - API Layer to integrate with ZORP and Zebra Printer: Developed an API layer to integrate ERPNext with Zorp and Zebra printer which generated barcoded weigh slips, ensuring accurate tracking of BINs.

Tacten Cloud

The entire backend ERPNext stack is hosted on Tacten Cloud in a cloud native way leveraging our CI/CD pipeline for both testing and production environments. Read more about our Cloud offering here.

MIS Reports

Management Information System (MIS) Reports: Leveraged ERPNext standard reporting module to cater for all MIS reporting requirements for stocks, financial reports and accounting ledgers.

Challenges Faced

Implementing a customized ERP solution for Wash Cycle Laundry was not without its challenges. Some of the major obstacles encountered during the implementation process include:

1. - Data Migration and Integration: Migrating data from Zoho to ERPNext required careful planning and execution to ensure accuracy and minimal disruption to operations.
2. - Customization Requirements: Developing custom modules and integrating with third-party systems posed challenges in terms of timelines, testing, and validation.
3. - User Training & Adoption: Training staff on how to use the new system effectively was crucial for successful adoption. Additional support and training materials were provided to address any issues or concerns.

Results and Benefits

The implementation of ERPNext and the integrations brought about significant positive changes in Wash Cycle Laundry's operations:

1. - Enhanced Visibility of Sales Orders: The integration of automated systems provided better visibility and tracking of sales orders, ensuring timely processing and delivery.
2. - Efficient Management of Service Operations: Consistent automated operations and reduced manual intervention, resulted in higher efficiency and increased bottomline cost controls and savings.
3. - Scalability in Operations: The ability to scale operations seamlessly enabled our customer to scale their service offerings and operations to multiple locations.
4. - Significant Boost in Customer Satisfaction: Improved accuracy, timely deliveries, and enhanced transparency led to a noticeable increase in customer satisfaction and positive reviews.
5. - Reduced project delivery timelines and total cost of ownership: The integration of open-source ERPNext and low-code Zorp, hosted on Tacten Cloud, led to a substantial reduction in turnaround time and significant cost savings for Wash Cycle Laundry, greatly lowering their total system ownership expenses.

Conclusion

The collaboration between Wash Cycle Laundry and our team has proven to be a successful venture. By addressing their operational challenges and providing a robust, scalable solution, we have helped them achieve their business goals and maintain their position as a leading laundry service provider in the USA.

The future looks promising as we continue to innovate and enhance our solutions to meet their evolving needs. Interested in learning how ERPNext can transform your operations? Book a demo with us today and discover the potential for your business.

What our Happy Customer had to say

" ...I do think that having an engaged and aligned team around this project is a positive outcome, and we could not have achieved that without somebody like Tacten guiding us throughout our first experience with ERPNext...." -- Gabriel Mandujano, CEO