In the spotlight and behind the scenes – Wasgau

WASGAU embodies home-grown quality. Operating 75 supermarkets and hypermarkets and six wholesale markets, the company has its roots in Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate and supplies its customers with fresh regional produce. In order to maintain top-notch quality standards in production,
the store business and logistics over the long term, WASGAU decided in 2015 to introduce company-wide workforce management in the shape of the ATOSS Retail Solution. Some 3,800 staff were integrated into the solution, starting with the stores and wholesale markets and followed by the production sites for baked goods and meat and the logistics facility in Pirmasens. Employees are now planned and managed digitally in both the foreground and the background. WASGAU needs exceptional flexibility in its logistics operations if it is to provide fresh produce to its stores on a continuous basis. 

Consequently, all the manual processes along the value chain are constantly being scrutinized and optimized, such as in the picking department in Pirmasens, where up to 120,000 packages are made up every day during peak times. A time- and performance-based premium system for the 70 pickers has replaced its previous REFA-based counterpart. The ATOSS solution automatically calculates a premium hourly rate based on the number of packages picked by staff – and factors in non-productive time as well. A mouse click is all that is needed for the ERP system to provide the necessary underlying data, such as hours worked in each performance range and the number of packages picked per employee per month. The resulting performance indicators are then converted into premium bands, taking account of set thresholds. The project has been a great success for the management: greater staff satisfaction thanks to a fairer and more transparent performance-based system, increased productivity without any negative cost impact, and a marked reduction in overtime paid at higher rates. The next step will see the company’s vehicle fleet integrated into the digital time and attendance management setup – the final part of the business to be covered. Quality and reliability are WASGAU’s number one guiding principle – and that goes for its workforce management too.

Source: ATOSS Customer WASGAU | ATOSS Annual Report 2019