Warehousing Strategies for Quality Control

Qosina is a leading global supplier of OEM single-use components for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Through a separate certified division (Qosmedix), the company also distributes beauty tools and accessories to the cosmetic industry. Qosina’s catalogs, which feature thousands of stock items, are widely considered authoritative resources.


High Function Integration with ERP

The integration of PowerHouse with Qosina’s ERP system delivers high functionality above and beyond supply chain execution—i.e., real-time intelligence instrumental in boosting workforce productivity by 30%

Qosina is also experiencing increased visibility at each stage of processing. This has resulted in measurable improvements in Quality Control and compliance documentation, as demonstrated by a 100% success rate with US Customs.

“PowerHouse brought together every aspect of our warehouse processing, under one integrated system,” said Thomas Iavarone, Director Operations at Qosina. “Even for a highly regulated industry like ours, efficiencies were immediate and systemic. We are seeing an average 30% decrease in picking, packing, and shipping times compared to previous years. Also welcomed, the ease with which we can now configure rules and process flows has directly contributed to our company’s growth.”

Directed Work in Real-time

Prior to working with QSSI, Qosina personnel were reliant on tribal knowledge, with valuable information about products, customers, and processes routinely going undocumented. Processing orders involved paper and laptops (no RF mobile devices), which, of course, led to cumbersome procedures for picking, packing, shipping, and restocking. 

Qosina took full advantage of PowerHouse’s configurability. Our software is sector nonspecific and allows for the user to modify the system when responding to operational changes. The capacity to map data, combined with backend analytics, led to significant changes in the order fulfillment process. 

Solutions in the Design
  • Identifying labor in/efficiencies—at individual worker level
  • Picking in real-time (interfaces in seconds)
  • Scale counting and scan & pack—for easy picking and re-stocking
  • Automating customized compliance labeling, e.g., Amazon vs. international importer
  • Automating rate shopping—for best shipping rate
  • Order tracking—visibility for customer, too
Compliance Labeling & Storage

Rules drive efficiencies for warehousing—perhaps, nowhere more evident than with the medical industry. Qosina maintains an immaculate warehouse as per the FDA’s standards for storing pharmaceutical items in safe, optimal conditions. The ability to configure rules and process flows to meet individual requirements of system operation has ensured consistent, dependable regulatory standards compliance.

Strategies for Quality Assurance
  • Clear location visibility—from component to group-of-origin
  • Lot control (no., exp. date, codes, product revisions)
  • Fully RF enabled
  • Fail-safe traceability—image association, color coding
  • Clear differentiation between new/old stock
  • AQL status tracking (pass, fail, quarantine)
  • Packer issued label only when order complete
  • Complete distribution process documentation
  • Audit and recall ready
QOSINA CORP.

Ronkonkoma Long Island, NY

HQ & Distribution Center
  • 95,000 square feet
  • climate-controlled
  • ISO certifications
Customers
  • medical OEM
  • bioprocessing
  • pharmaceutical
  • cosmetic
  • spa/salon (B2C)
Stock
  • 13,000+ catalogue items
  • 8,500+ medical SKUs
  • 40,000+ (avg) pieces 
    per 8’x8’x8’ box
Supply Chain
  • Europe (SRL)
  • Shanghai
  • Taipei
  • Netherlands (3PL partner)
Warehouse Environment
  • Pharmaceutical warehousing FDA CGMP standards
  • SOPs are ISO certification compliant
  • AES filing is Homeland Security compliant
  • Complicated sourcing requests
  • Low minimum order requirements 
  • Combined order and customer processing
  • Just-in-time delivery

Warehouse Operations & Reverse Logistics

Strengthen the chain of custody across your supply chain by achieving complete visibility over your reverse logistics and delivery processes.

PowerHouse syncs your entire supply chain, from inventory management to logistics operations to transportation management systems. Only this level of integration can ensure a seamless, cost-effective process when introducing reverse logistics. Our WMS has the capacity to push products immediately back to market.


Plan for Unplanned Reverse Logistics

A robust WMS system provides the necessary infrastructure to anticipate and quickly react to on-demand movements of products. Significantly, it’s time lost to reprocessing that represents the greatest hit to your bottom line. PowerHouse provides process controls with full visibility, from any point in the supply chain, for the fastest resale possible.

  1. Know the order number—for both logistics provider and retailer.
  2. Identify the reason for a return.
  3. Apply quality and condition codes.
  4. Create and process Return Materials Authorizations (RMA).
  5. Combine demand returns with planned deliveries.
Support Supply Chain Agility

Your chain of supply has the potential to respond quickly and effectively to evolving customer requirements, providing multiple paths for the disposition of goods.

  1. Returns to the manufacturer
  2. Refurbishment
  3. Available and promise inventories
  4. Disposal

PowerHouse process controls move goods back to available inventory or as needed. The comprehensive system allows items to be easily inducted and assigned conditions that will enable system-directed moves to process the inventory efficiently.

Manage the Customer Experience

Understand that your customer is as invested in the returns experience as he or she is in a seamless delivery process.

  1. Provide full visibility over the returns process.
  2. Address operational inefficiencies before your customer is affected.
  3. Automate initial steps, such as return requests, scheduling, barcodes.

PowerHouse captures additional revenues that would have been lost by a less supportive WMS.

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
Who’s Impacted
  • distributors
  • retailers
  • logistics providers
  • supply chain managers
  • manufacturers
Key Features
  • high-volume returns processing
  • linked returns process and delivery order
  • reason for a return captured
  • discrete inventory tracking through grading
  • quality standards inspection
Integration Touch Points
  • notifications (RMA)
  • EDI and ASN
  • available/as needed inventory
  • store inventory
Specialty Functions
  • apparel product variants
  • publishing logistics
  • spare parts management
  • recycling/green initiatives
  • hazmat handling directions
  • proof of disposal
  • shelf life information