Waukesha, Wisc.-based McHugh will team with alliance partner Tompkins Associates, Raleigh, N.C., a consulting, information technology implementation and material handling integration firm, to implement the solution.

West Marine expects the productivity gains afforded by implementing McHugh' s DLx Productivity software to reduce its distribution center costs while improving customer service.

“We were looking for a solution that could help us further increase distribution center productivity and throughput. We felt we had already reached the limits on productivity improvement gains we could realize without the type of management information provided by McHugh's solution,” says Pat Murphy, West Marine senior vice president of logistics. “This is an important initiative for us in our efforts to improve logistics/supply chain performance.”

McHugh and Tompkins have already initiated the project at West Marine’s 500,000 sq. ft. distribution center in Rock Hill, with the option to do the same to West Marine’s Hollister, Calif., distribution facility in 2003. Together, they will work with West Marine to develop operator performance standards and metrics, and implement McHugh's DLx Productivity software to provide comprehensive, real-time and historical labor reporting against objectives, ABC cost analysis and advanced labor and resource planning capabilities.