Cirrus Logistics releases 10th generation of its leading warehouse design & simulation tool

Cirrus Logistics, the internationally renowned pioneer of advanced software products for the logistics sector, has just released the 10th generation of CLASS, its highly successful decision support tool used to enhance warehouse layout and optimise operations inside the centre and across the site. Since the last update, just a year ago, some 90 additional customers, among them global 3PLs, leading manufacturers and major retailers, have begun to use the product.

The new features in CLASS 10 build on the key components of previous generations to achieve even greater accessibility, customisation, speed of delivery and visual clarity. They are the result of regular user feedback and Cirrus' own experience of applying the tool to its Network Solution Design projects over the past 12 months.

The warehouse modelling capacity of CLASS now has a new, fully-immersive 3-D layout editing capability. This provides rapid prototyping in the 3D environment as well as easier navigation of the 3D warehouse using the mouse to move, zoom, and rotate. Selection and manipulation of warehouse objects in the layout is quick and easy and the visual feedback from any changes made is immediate. The 3D imaging facility has also been extended to cover additional areas, such as container yards.

The user interface for both the layout and simulation systems has been updated with a new tabbed Properties Panel, which allows users even greater accessibility to advanced features previously only accessible to more experienced users via the 'Classic Mode'. The tabbed structure of the Properties Panel also provides an organised display of object parameters, allowing users to find the data they need more easily and quickly. Using the Properties Panel, multiple objects can be selected and edited at once. This includes selection and editing of racking objects, which means specification of racking is made easier and more rapid than in previous versions. Speed of design has also been increased by enabling the system to store more data than before within the warehouse layout while it is being worked on.

CLASS 10 simulation includes improved modelling of stock capacity, with new graphical reports which highlight where storage areas have reached or exceeded capacity. CLASS 10 can also allow the user to see the effect on workflow through the warehouse of storage areas becoming full.

Wincanton has been an expanding user of CLASS since the launch of the last generation a year ago, recently deciding to extend its application to the business in France. It was the speed with which CLASS delivered layout solutions ready for presentation that impressed Wincanton as well as the accessible 3D imagery and fly-through simulations that helped customers understand the solution being proposed. "Since using CLASS regularly we have been very pleased with the highly professional image it gives our work, the detail it reveals and the speed with which we can now achieve customer-ready presentations," says Alex Delmouly, European Solution Design Manager at Wincanton.

Robin Vega, Managing Director of Cirrus Logistics and the creator of CLASS, says: "CLASS 10 is the next step in our evolution of the product. Experience, as well as the ever-growing capacity of PCs, means that we are always seeking to refine our software products, balancing the complexity of the underlying technology with accessibility in terms of ease-of-use and with the products' effectiveness in communicating alternative solutions."

Cirrus Logistics
www.classwarehouse.com