Acatech Solutions
Agile Supply Chain for Business Success

Vincent Van Gogh, it is said, never painted until he was 27 years old. Before that, he only drew pictures. Acatech Solutions has, similarly, found its true calling 5 years after its inception. What started out as a custom software development firm eventually found its niche in developing unique world-class warehouse management solutions. Today, the company’s flagship product, Andaris, is helping warehousers, e-commerce operators, third-party logistics providers, and distribution companies to manage their inventories with greater speed and accuracy than ever before.

Right out of the box, Andaris is a powerful and flexible Warehouse management solution. But not content to offer a one-size-fits-all product, Acatech offers comprehensive customization for clients who need it.

“This is a challenge because each customer has their own business rules, their own customer demands, so you can’t have the same process. We have to think outside the box,” says Mimi Nguyen, VP of Sales and Marketing.

Designing a warehouse management solution that works for the client begins not in the development lab, but on the client’s warehouse floor.

“Our approach is not just an IT solution,” says Nguyen. “We first learn what the business rules are: How does the operation function? What is the process on the floor? How do the people on the floor work? What are the constraints? We take what we learn, there, and then develop the application.”

And quite an application it is. Whether customized or in plain vanilla, the Andaris cloud-based platform enables logistics management companies and their clients to track inventory from port of origin to the warehouse shelf, and shipments to final destinations in real time. By using automation and bar code data collection systems, Andaris increases the speed and accuracy of inventory receipts, put aways, picks and packaging, and other fulfilment tasks. A complete set of tools is included to manage purchase orders, sales orders, work orders and reporting, all based on up-to-the-second data and all customizable.

Our goal is to empower people to do their job more efficiently

The application’s rich reporting features stems from Acatech’s focus on visibility.

“Visibility is a trend, but it is also a fundamental requirement within the supply chain,” says Nguyen. “Without visibility, you react, rather than being proactive to get the products out of the door in a timely and efficient manner.”

On Acatech being different from their competitors, Nguyen reflected upon the company’s early days, when understanding the customer’s needs drove application development.

“We listen. And the key thing is that we listen to the different groups, those on the floor and at the executive level. We focus on how things are being done and then find ways to improve it,” she says.

Acatech’s business model is more common sense than board-room strategy:

“Our goal is to empower people to do their job more efficiently,” says Nguyen. “You can talk about new programming tools, systems, and hardware, but at the end of the day it is people that matter. You want to make sure to provide them with a tool they can use to do their job, and to also make them think of better ways of working.”

As for future plans, Nguyen says that the company will continue to focus on improving customer website portals, so that customers can monitor their logistics offsite.

“We want our clients to access their information anytime, anywhere in the world. And we want to reach out to companies that sell through e-commerce, and to help them to grow their business. We help them grow by our IT solutions, and by our network of warehousers and freight forwarders. We are a single source solution to ecommerce companies,” concludes Nguyen.