Major Department Store Speeds up Cross-Docking with Sortation Systems and Warehouse Control Systems.

Feb. 27, 2012 - PRLog -- The largest privately held department store chain in the United States, once faced a logistical challenge – 97 merchandise receiving points and multiple manual handlings of merchandise were slowing down its supply chain.

A once lethargic, fragmented and costly logistics network that was very slow to get merchandise from the vendors to the store shelves – is now efficient and cost effective.    

The Need For an Automated Cross Docking Warehouse

Competitors were getting the same merchandise from the same vendors to their stores before they were.  The customer sought out to speed up the logistics chain and drive their operations to a floor-ready environment.

After some research, a team of executives concluded that one highly automated, cross-docked distribution center, located in an area central to all 215 stores, would make the distribution process faster and more efficient.

Benefits:  Saving on freight costs and minimizes merchandise handling.

The company chose Blythewood, SC as its distribution location, its decision influenced by local government cooperation and the availability of an abundant, high quality workforce that was located there.

Lowering Freight & Inventory Costs
In the pre-Blythewood environment, merchandise from around the world was shipped to they deconsolidation facility in Charlotte, N.C.  Shipments were unloaded and reorganized into 215 store piles for store delivery, then reloaded on delivery trucks for shipment to the 97 receiving stations (91 stores received goods directly and six small DC handled the rest).  Shipments were again loaded and manually processed when they arrived at stores, where they were received, checked, marked, and put on store fixtures.  That would mean a carton could be handled as many as eight to 12 times before getting to the store floor.

This department store contracted with  NJ based W&H Systems, Inc. as the project’s integration partner delivering a cross-docking sortation systems and warehouse control systems.  to learn more please visit http://www.whsystems.com/index.php/products/warehouse-con...


“They have gone from minimal cross-docking to a totally new environment, where over 90% of their inbound goods are directly cross-docked, greatly increasing the service level to their stores,” notes Executive Vice President of W&H Systems.  The installation features two sliding shoe sortation systems with 33 diverts, and almost 35,000 total feet in conveyor systems, including 26,000 feet of gravity roller conveyor and 3,500 feet zero pressure accumulator conveyor.

A Flexible Solution
The customer team knew that consolidating his 97 receiving locations into one would not be an overnight job.  They decided that flexibility was a key to the project’s success and wanted a flexible and adaptable material handling system that could interface with their existing WMS and Legacy systems.  

W&H Systems also had to design a flexible receiving dock able to receive both conveyable and non-conveyable merchandise.  On the conveyable side of the equation, the goal was to design an automated inbound sortation system visit:  http://www.whsystems.com/index.php/products/sortation-system

process that would allow cartons to flow directly from the trailer to either processing or cross docking to shipping.  

Results

In the new, highly automated environment, shipments are unloaded quickly – floor ready vendor shipments flow through the facility in seven minutes and are staged for the next store delivery.

In the previous environment, the time from the vendor to the fixture was approximately 18 to 19 days.  In the new environment, it’s less than seven days.  Cartons were opened at the store for inspection; merchandise was checked off a manifest list in the carton: hangers were either added or changed; and then the item probably had to be price marked. Each of those steps involved some manual handling of the merchandise that as since been eliminated.  Each carton used to be touched 10 to 12 times before it hit the floor and now they have that down to four or five touches.
Cross docking floor-ready merchandise certainly reduces the number of touches to a product.  But there is another import benefit to removing nearly 12 days from the cycle time.  They were getting at least one additional week of selling time at full retail before any markdowns of the price.

The ROI on the initial investment was a pleasant surprise to everyone, and the actual ROI has fully exceeded anyone’s expectations.  They are in a much better position now than they were three years ago.

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A material handling systems integrator helping clients maximize the flow of merchandise through their warehouses by applying material handling solutions/methodologies and automated systems (i.e conveyor, sortations systems, AS/RS, pick/pack systems,et)