00:00:00 e welcome everyone thanks for joining us we’ll give it a few more minutes while everybody trickles in we give it just another minute folks hey um Tyler you can hear me loud and clear right yes yes sir just checking the audio all right I think we should go ahead all right let’s go ahead and kick it off thank you everybody for attending today I’m Tyler under my sales account executive here at connect been in the inventory space for a little over six years and today we’re here to discuss a great addition to our product offering
00:02:13 imar imar is heavily focused on asset maintenance and making life easier for the crew um you know puru maybe we we start with what led connects to look at warehouse maintenance as the next logical extension oh that’s a good one so U before um you know getting to answer that my name is pru aaram co-founder and C KX responsible for the product so uh Tyler uh going back to your uh question right so to start with imar as a product um it’s it’s a configurable solution um you know we went ahead and implemented uh
00:02:49 the product um in our customer space we digitized whatever they have the next logical step was to handle parts and inventory all our customers across the space uh came back to us saying that hey I’m not only going to do my maintenance but I’m consuming Parts is there any way we can go and you know keep track of my parts and things like that so um what we did is we went ahead and introduced this module um warehouse management extension which keeps track of parts and inventory not only from the mechanics and technician
00:03:25 side right even from the store manager’s perspective he or she would like to know um you know where the parts are being consumed how much do I have at any given point of time and when should I order a part so all these questions were natural and logical um as part of the you know maintenance uh aspects itself right our maintenance task so we thought okay now it’s time to introduce uh warehouse management extension so let’s go ahead and handle parts and inventory for our customers Tyler I hope that at least
00:03:57 gave you an idea that was great puru and you know with with over a decade of experience providing Cloud mobile solutions for crws worldwide you know I would be curious if you can kind of touch on why wmx and why not wmx that’s a good one right the X X as a word so sorry a letter right so there are lot of wos Management Systems out there but we are extension uh we would like to pay play a role where we are extending their operation into Mobile uh aspect of the um aspect of the operation itself in the sense where like
00:04:32 I mentioned earlier when they are uh trying to work on uh inspections workorders will get created in your em system it gets communicated to imar and imar uses using imar mechanics and technicians are going to maintain the asset so during that process they are going to consume parts and we extended our uh existing Imark solution uh to basically you know um keep of parts now having said that it’s it is a module where you can do goods reips and things like that which we will touch a little later but it’s an extension to an
00:05:10 existing system it could be your own e system it could be your own wmo system it could be just our imar system but this handles the parts and inventory portion of it ah thank you per so essentially The crucial connection between the crews the assets and the parts needed to maintain those assets uh maybe we can on some key features that really drive the value home to the customers to to Really delineate the difference between the two WX and WS yeah so so or in other words U what we can also um touch on is the key
00:05:47 aspects right there are so many and we can talk um um Talk hours but monitoring Parts availability is one of the key thing like I mentioned earlier at at any given point of time anybody who is involved in that maintenance Arena will know how much part is available at any given point of time uh by for mechanics store managers supervisors whoever is ordering parts now the next one is automation of uh Parts orders itself right so that’s one other thing that we are because we can keep track of uh minimums Minimax uh
00:06:26 reorder points reorder quantities and things like that and send alert to appropriate people saying that hey this part is getting consumed at a faster Pace it’s time for you to you know place an order so automation of uh Parts ordering and also monetizing the varrow space um you know one of our customer does this uh with us we have created shipment transactions where all these trucking companies out there they have big warehouses where they can store material so using our wmx module they will be
00:06:59 able to monetize it in such a way that they receive material using our product is store it it has location bin all those details and then they ship it to uh customer for consumption purposes right now we keep track of how long it is stored um what material and things like that so that based on the days the material is stored they can build their uh customers and suppliers so basically monetizing the space that they have so these will be the three major areas that I would uh that I feel will be the key
00:07:33 features when it comes to our um you know warehouse management extension I really appreciate that puu you know just the ability to the visibility into your parts availability and the automation of Parts ordering is is such a key aspect in the maintenance realm uh maybe if you could touch on just how our customers are currently using this product today awesome so um Parts consumption uh during maintenance um like I mentioned earlier mechanic has uh Parts availability on his fingertips so he say he is uh changing oil and oil filter
00:08:09 needs to be changed he is consuming one of engine oil filter he can just um you know open the task uh that he has to do uh which is there in his mobile app through imar mobile and then there is a section where he can enter parts of course we we also track labor hours but on top of it they go ahead and enter say hey this engine oil filter I’m going to use it and a quantity of Boom he consumes it once he finishes the task in the inventory it will go down by a quantity of one which will be again available to all other team members to
00:08:43 know that one uh number has been reduced so um yeah so the first use case is consuming parts next is it can be used for cycle counts uh monthly cycle count uh quarterly cycle count every six months um inventory cycle counts right you walk along the bins uh scan the barcode we have the barcode scanning uh inbuilt into our product our our imar mobile itself is a native app so you scan the barcode you get the quantity that is available and update your inventory right so it can be used for cycle counts next is Goods receipts
00:09:18 right say uh the material is at the gate somebody has to receive the goods you can use our mobile app to go ahead and receive the goods which can update our own wmx module uh with a qu and also send that signal into your e system wherever you are handling your inventories from the cost and controlling perspective right so we can also do that so Goods receives and I touched upon shipments earlier where you can create shipments so that you know you receive goods and then you ship codes So based on those two we know how
00:09:49 long that material was stored in your system based on which you can build your customers and last but not the least we can also Reserve Parts um in the sense where uh see one one use case I would like to talk here is uh iot based workorders we do um we out of the box connect with samsar geotab go motive and that list goes on um so when a when a uh issue is reported or when an alert is sent to us from these uh iot platforms or ELD platforms we go ahead and autocreate maintenance workorders right
00:10:22 while creating those work orders based on the type we know that or based on the PM PMI uh mileage and all those things we know what are all the parts that can be consumed so we can go ahead and reserve those parts so not only create a work order based on the signals that we are receiving but also Reserve parts for that maintenance stock so that if somebody else tries to consume that part it’ll come back and say hey this many parts are reserved for this specific task do you want to still goad and use
00:10:53 it because you know it could be high priority activity do you still want to go ahead and use it or you want to leave that um part and then continue with some other maintenance task so those kinds of use cases can come into play so to cut the long story short see we go by use cases right um when it comes to uh Conex we we give um super importance to use cases so uh Parts consumption cycle counts Goods receipts shipments um in some cases Goods issues and also iot BL based parts and you know even just the parts
00:11:29 assumption that real-time deprecation providing that other technician the realtime visibility that leads to more succinct mens and Max right that eliminates those stock out issues or those those costs associated with carrying additional uh inventory one thing that I found that is in crucial for for these sort of inventory nodes or field inventory is cycle counting uh the ability to just audit what your technicians and folks have out there with what the books say they have out there um has been huge in the
00:11:58 conversations I’ve had puu would you mind talking through kind of mobility and The crucial you know important role it plays in all of this yeah why mobile right um see as a product we have both website uh and uh mobile app using which you can do all these transactions but specifically why mobile this is now I’m talking from the technology side of it right so all these tasks that we are talking here all these use cases that we are talking here are Mobile in nature when I say Mobile in nature uh it is it
00:12:30 happens at the shop floor it happens inside your Warehouse it happens at a place where you are not in front of your computer right so once that scenario comes in mobile device smartphones and tablets comes as the uh choice of or or the choice of the device that you can use for so um again I talked about barcode scanning so availability of parts at the fingertip of the maintenance crew which is really powerful where a crew when he consumes Parts it he not only says I have consumed this SP but it also uh you know
00:13:11 gets reported to the back office and also U you know while data entry uh they click on a button there it comes up with a camera scans the barcode of the uh part number and then the data entry is so easy when it comes to the tablets like he walks to a bin and then there will be a bar code in front of the bin and then you just scan it and do it and also Goods reips like I mentioned earlier there is a material there is material at the gate truck is there you know you don’t need to go in front of the system make a note in a paper and
00:13:42 then go in front of the system and enter the goods reip you just use your Mobile app to receive Goods so so by nature of the transactions itself the way it is done mobile device becomes more and more appropriate I appreciate that for bu not only are we extending out to the point of wrench or the point of execution but we’re also enhancing that data by eliminating the human error right um a lot of folks are going to write that down on a piece of paper and then re-enter it in their system later and
00:14:13 what a lot of folks don’t realize is every 286 keystrokes we transpose numbers right it’s just it’s just human D to to mess up um so to have that real-time data capture to preserve that data integrity and to have that real-time visibility um it’s crucial to have that mobile element yeah on top of it checks and balances right um when you do that right there it gets validated that’s the key most of the time uh you know uh they enter a part number that is not even available in the system which creates lot of issues a lot of uh rework
00:14:47 right so again yes yeah that that field validation kind of tightens up what what we would refer to as a firsttime face R the ability to know that you have the parts um available to to get the work done um well that’s that’s great puu and I think you know kind of talking through um the extension we’ve added the Imark with wmx maybe we can kind of touch on what folks you know could possibly see next from our product offering oh that’s again a good one so see when it comes to um uh KX as a company uh imar as a product we don’t
00:15:23 add anything in our product for the sake of technology I I’ll tell you one example U you know we were exploring um AI platform capabilities um as part of our solution right we took enough time spent um enough time with our customers we came up with the use cases appropriate use cases and then we introduced AI into our platform so similarly here in wmx also um you know we first work on the use cases which is going to be a value add to a customer and then only if only there is a value you add we bring in um into our product
00:16:02 we don’t add it just for the sake of Technology also the product itself is an open architecture product in the sense where we have our own R apas using which you can push and pull data we can work with any external systems out there as long as there is um as long as there is uh API available right so we can connect to any systems out there that is why I told you know when a transaction is done in our mobile solution it not only updates our Cloud environment it can update into multiple uh environments on
00:16:35 on your space which you are using for your uh for for your maintenance purposes having said that I I really want to touch upon our design philosophy right if there is no value add we don’t add it into the product no throwaway developments at any point in time and even if you see our navigations of course you know you can request time from Tyler where he can demonstrate um where the user will get to the screen that he needs to get to within three clicks even in warehous management module so we we are very keen on that um
00:17:11 and also like I mentioned earlier not just for the sake of Technology unless there is a value add we don’t add it now having said that from from warehouse management perspective what are all the things that to uh that you can expect in future first of all today like I mentioned uh uh Parts consumption Goods reip shipments Goods issues all those things are there whereas you know in future we are planning to introduce uh reordering of Parts where we can integrate with your uh procure to pay system where when the uh when the when
00:17:46 the when the quantity hits the reorder points and reorder levels we can integrate with your procure to pay system and create a requisition inside your um you know uh system where you can purchase part so we are planning to automate that we are are planning to introduce models in such a way that we keep track of minmax uh monthly usage consumption rate and all those things based on which we can uh predict when this part is going to hit the reorder point and create orders in advance not orders but the requisitions because
00:18:18 again all these models that we are building it will be accurate only to an extent you all know who are there in that field so we will create requisitions whereas the final decision will be with the manage to convert it to order and then some color coding possibilities where you know when a user is trying to select a part it’ll tell hey this part is very low in inventory use it um unless un if it is very important otherwise you know it is reserved for somebody else so U color coding so those are all some of the wmx
00:18:50 areas and from the AI point of view um Dynamic reorder points we adjusting the there will be a configuration for reorder point but based on this usage reorder points goes uh up and down of course all these things model will be introduced studies will be made and then based on that you know we will go ahead and Implement uh Dynamic reorder Point points and also pattern recogition uh so those are some of the areas we are planning to explore but for sure the the key thing that is going to come is automation of Parts
00:19:22 ordering yeah and and you know that’s automating the nmax and and the parts ordering is huge but I think um one thing that you you touched on very briefly was sort of the three clicks to get wherever you need and the color coding right so the the proponent idea behind this is that your technicians and folks are going to get data quicker they’re not going to have to dig through the system to find out if something’s available they’re going to look at the application they’re going to see it’s highlighted in red we don’t have any of
00:19:49 that um not only that just to add one one quick thing to it see when you log into our inventory screen um even today we will you will see based on the quantity that is available today like balance on hand they call it right or onand quantity it’ll compare it with minimum maximum and uh it’ll it’ll and reorder a point and it’ll show green yellow red if it is red hey it is less than minimum you better order D itself so yes those are all and automating those automating those color coding so those are all the things that we’ll be
00:20:24 you’ll be seeing in future 100% you know I start to think of things about dynamic reorder point and patent recognition and how AI is going to start to recognize Trends and seasonalities and Fleet Maintenance and those kind of things and really provide tighter uh controls on your Ms and Maxes to ensure you don’t have stockouts in in those situations I know the folks we speak with you know it’s it’s too much to have an asset down so they’re paying more for that part to have it shipped overnight than they are
00:20:50 for the part um those circumstances where they’re they’re in a negative inventory um so puru it does look like uh we have a couple questions already um we’ll start off with does wmx seamlessly integrate with imar yes obviously um it does uh integrate with imar it’s built in it’s out of the box um you tell us we’ll import the pots for you we just configure couple flags and pots consumption shows up automatically lot of our customers are using it as of today so yes it seamlessly integrates with IM next question kind of in line with
00:21:28 that um looks like somebody already has a warehouse management system so they’re looking to uh they want to know are we looking to replace it or would it work alongside no no we we are not replacing your existing warehouse management system unless you want to um that’s a different story we can we need to understand U you know uh from what aspect you are asking this question or what is the scope but we are not here to replace the warehouse management system because warehouse management system does
00:21:56 a lot more from the uh Financial from the material document Financial document and things like that but having said that we come in as an extension to your existing warehouse management system or an e system where we um we um uh basically U track parts from the maintenance aspect of it so so no we are not replacing WMS we are extending it we are coexisting with your inviron yeah yeah most wms’s don’t have that mobile element and if they do it’s not condu enough operation so putting somebody along along like us alongside
00:22:32 your WMS provides that extension out to those parts and that yeah it also goes back to that open architecture thing that we discussed right where we have our own set of apis as long as you you provide us with a way to update your system we will work we will coexist we will extend your system exactly thank you for that um oh here’s a good question for can I view what inventory is in work vehicles at remote job sites Ford stocking locations Etc and it looks like there’s a second part to that um furthermore can we
00:23:03 conduct a field cycle count to match accounting books with what we’re supposed to have out in the field yes and yes uh yes to both um of course uh you know at any point in time uh the user will be able to um you know view the onhand quantity and also you know again this goes back to the use case that we were discussing right those uh Vehicles where they carry the spare parts has to be identified in some way and somebody would have checked it out on all those things I don’t want to get into the details of the uh of the use
00:23:36 case itself but the answer is yes our product is a configurable product which can be which can handle all those scenarios perfect yes essentially just a just a floating node for those parts in that in that vehicle um here’s another great question pru can I transfer parts from one technician or one location to another yes yes in fact one of our customer does that uses our product for that you can use either our website or our mobile app to do that transferring parts from one Warehouse to other Warehouse one location to other location
00:24:10 in fact one bin to other bin is also available yes yes so that that does help out a lot of folks if you consider the warehouse is an hour away and you have a technician Bob is is three blocks away and he’s got the part it’s available in his van and he’s not going to use it today um to have the ability to look at his inventory and his Parts uh request that transfer from him as opposed to driving all the way back to the warehouse and you know waiting waiting for that I’m to be paid he in that scenario I’ll also throw in a use case
00:24:37 right with again with our one of our existing customers they create material request uh using our uh mobile app it goes ahead and uh puts an entry uh for pick list and pack list inside the E system and that pick list and pack list is routed to the printer that is available in that specific Val house and then it gets printed see it’s he’s a they are a customer where they need printouts for their pick list and packlist but we are automating that whole process so that the user creates a material request from his mobile app he
00:25:13 walks to the warehouse the pick list and pack list are already available there the person who is handling the stores is going to have those parts available for the maintenance technician to pick it so yeah we do all those kinds of use cases with W and that that saves that saves hours of time right I mean folks right now are ordering very manually or they’re waiting till the end of the day they used to call the manager hey I need are you going to I just stepped out can I can I do it in five minutes no none of
00:25:43 those things are happening now exactly we gotta wait for Mary to come back from lunch to check to see if we have that yes yes yes um IM immediate instantaneous visibility into the access of your parts um really really makes processes a lot smoother so so it looks like we’ve gone through um the points we were hoping to speak through today and really appreciate the questions those were great questions everybody in attendance um so you know we would really like to give it a minute or two here to see if there are any more
00:26:15 questions puu is there anything else you wanna you wna Hammer home again uh we pretty much covered it but you know in a Nal right warehouse management extension is for handling your parts consumption tracking your part and mechanics and technicians having Parts availability at their fingertips it’s as simple as that on top of it you can monetize your w space so those are all the areas that we cover um from the warehous management perspective perfect well I think uh I think we’re going to wrap up today
00:26:48 really appreciate everybody’s time today love to connect with any of you if You’ have any questions or you want to in fact demo uh any of these aspects or features we’ve discussed today by all means please reach out to me thank you for everybody’s time thank you again nice meeting you all
