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Introduction
Our client wanted to make managing their seed inventory easier to visualize inside their warehouses. At a glance the user of this platform can see what capacity, restrictions and other statuses are effecting their warehouse in real time. Users select the site location, then the warehouse and can view or search inventory on any level.
Background
This project was done with a large seed manufacturer based in Indiana. We were challenged with creating a tool that a warehouse manager could use to plan, count, and package for shipment seed pallets for shipment around the world. Colors and numbers represented types of seed as well as the status of that row in the warehouse. Floor managers needed to know what row might be getting shipped out soon so they could plan what seed coming in would take its place. When we started this project these managers were using scanners on the floor and didn't really have any way to visually know what went were, it was all done via spreadsheet. I worked as creative lead on this build with my designers Dana Smith and Angie Barker on this project.
Challenges
This project was especially challenging due to all the granular detail that was required. This site is responsive down to tablet for easy use on the warehouse floor. Making it work in an easy to navigate space while having it be beautiful was super challenging but I think we pulled it off.
When we were making this product I kept thinking about the scene in Jurassic Park where the character zooms though a data base system represented by blocks. I recalled this scene and used it as inspiration for the view of the warehouses.
I embedded that video near the bottom of this page. :D
Proposed Solution
The solution we developed gave managers a birds eye view of all of the warehouses in the region, then they could drill down into a specific warehouse and see what was happening in each row in the warehouse. They could also mark and make changes inside the tool allowing the entire team to be up to date on the current status of pallets in the warehouse.
Recommendations
A hurdle we had to overcome was the creation of the shapes of the warehouses on the map as this is not easy to do with available GIS data. The warehouse shapes, because there was only a limited number, were created one by one and placed on the map. Design wise I think we might have saved some developer time if we had designed it a bit more simply but it did look beautiful.