Logistics software that trains future professionals

Promotrans: forward-looking vocational training

Promotrans is a French vocational training centre that, every year, prepares 50,000 students to successfully enter the workforce. With over 50 years of experience in the service of transport and logistics companies, Promotrans responds to the demands of public and private businesses with hands-on, quality training all over France.

The Promotrans team prepares students — including active members of the workforce, those looking to retrain and job seekers — by giving them all the tools they need to advance and further develop their careers. Renowned for its expertise in employment and training, Promotrans has become an ally for companies, providing training courses that foster its students’ professional development.

• Vocational training centres in France: 30
• Campuses in France: 14
• Students trained annually: 50,000

Implementing a warehouse management system (WMS) that optimises inventory management, provides full traceability of goods and streamlines operations is a growing trend. Against this backdrop, future logistics professionals must be trained on how to incorporate digitisation into warehouse management and get the most out of this type of software.

Promotrans, one of the longest-established vocational training centres in France, has become a key player in the country’s education system. It trains close to 50,000 students a year in the areas required by French companies. “To earn a degree in logistics, our students need to demonstrate that they’re capable of using a computer program for warehouse management,” explains Belinda Zaman, Assistant Director of Education at Promotrans.

The vocational training centre was looking for a WMS that would enable its students to develop their skills and deal with actual situations and challenges that they will encounter in their future careers. After comparing several proposals, Promotrans opted for Easy WMS from Mecalux to train future professionals in the logistics industry. Packed with over 20 years of expertise, Easy WMS has been implemented in over 1,000 facilities in 36 countries. This scalable, flexible software adapts to the logistics needs of sectors such as the retail, e-commerce, 3PL (third-party logistics), technology and electronics, automotive, and food industries.

“We chose Easy WMS from Mecalux because the software lets our students experience a real warehouse environment where they can control goods receipts, perform all kinds of storage tasks and carry out the order preparation and dispatch processes,” says Zaman.

Training with Easy WMS

“Easy Mecalux Education is a very intuitive, user-friendly software program,” says Florent Jeantet, Logistics and Forklift Driving Instructor at Promotrans. With this program, the instructors and students can instal, configure, and operate a WMS that simulates a real-world environment.

Students can consult the status of the warehouse from any computer linked to Easy WMS. This allows them to know valuable information for the day-to-day running of a logistics facility, such as the number of items available and the orders to be prepared and dispatched. “With this program, future logistics managers learn to interpret data generated in a warehouse, to verify the productivity of their facilities and to make the right decisions,” says Zaman.

A WMS also helps to optimise warehouse tasks via RF (radiofrequency) scanners. Not to be outpaced, at the Promotrans warehouse, students use RF scanners to communicate with Easy Mecalux Education and receive instructions on what location to go to and what to do at every turn.

“Our students learn to follow instructions from a warehouse management system, which minimises the risk of error and enables them to complete their tasks more quickly,” says Zaman.

Easy WMS teaches students how to carry out any type of warehouse operation:

• Goods receipt: students identify the items that arrive at the facility one by one. They simply need to read the barcode on each product and check that the quantity received matches that anticipated.
• Storage: the WMS applies parametrisable rules and algorithms to decide on a location for each good taking into account its SKU and demand level. The students then move the products to the assigned location.
• Order preparation: Easy WMS teaches students to manage order picking, one of the most complex and taxing operations in any facility. The software tells the students which location to go to, which items to find and how many to extract, all while travelling the shortest possible distances. “Easy WMS has been integrated with our voice picking systems,” says Zaman.
• Dispatch: following instructions from the WMS, the students group the goods in the dispatch area by order, customer and transport route. They also learn how to generate the necessary documentation for the carrier, specifying the products that are included in the delivery.

Skilled logistics

Promotrans students acquire all the knowledge they need to perform all supply chain tasks. Once they obtain their degree, they are prepared to work in any warehouse and work efficiently with digitisation in storage processes.

Promotrans provides theoretical and practical classes in real environments with the aid of Easy WMS. “It’s a really simple, reliable tool; neither the instructors nor the students have found any difficulty in using it,” says Zaman. Technology has opened the door to exploring new business opportunities. Therefore, students who learn how to work with a WMS, follow its instructions and analyse the status of the warehouse will be able to use their talents to boost the supply chain.

We’re really happy with Easy WMS — and that goes for management as well as our trainers and students. It’s an advanced educational tool that more than meets one of our top priorities: to guarantee that our students learn how to work in a warehouse.