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A returning customer engaged the Numina Group to design and implement a new 70,000 square-foot West Coast distribution center (DC). Because of the high level success of the first automated distribution center, Numina was hired to design the new pick, pack, and ship order fulfillment processes at a second automation distribution center.
The new ultra-streamlined pick, pack, and ship order fulfillment distribution center is managed by Numina’s powerful (RDS)™ WES-WCS, Real-Time Distribution System to balance order distribution across multiple fulfillment processes.
Numina was originally engaged by the client after it the merger/acquisition of a medical supply manufacturer/distributor.
The client decided to build a new facility which would support 2,000 SKUs, both ambient temperature and refrigerated, with an existing throughput of 33 million bottles of product per year.
The DC would distribute products to customers in 50 states and overseas through five supply chain channels.
Numina was asked to develop a design for the 100,000 square-foot facility, and consolidate 280,000 square feet of existing finished goods distribution space into a 100,000 square-foot facility.
“One of the biggest challenges was resizing the operation,” said Mark Hejmej, sales engineer with Numina Group. “We engineered a highly space-efficient design that utilized the entire cube of the 100,000 square feet. We reviewed their existing processes, conducted analytical studies based on the combined order volumes for the next five years, made recommendations and developed a multi-level pick module design with picking technology to match the clients order shipment profile and ROI.”
“The plan was to consider technology to reduce touches, travel time, and headcount by over 50%,” explained Hejmej. “When the automated DC was completed, the customer ended up with a staff of 33 distribution workers. Pick labor was reduced by 50%, and productivity increased to 222 lines per hour (LPH), up from 110 LPH.
Three years after he new Midwest DC implementation, analysis found that significant logistics savings and a better delivery window could be gained by adding a second DC in Nevada. By locating its products closer to its large West Coast customer base, the company could deliver their orders faster with lower shipping costs.
Based upon historical data and growth factors, it was determined that the DC would need a footprint of roughly 50,000 square feet. The customer secured a 70,000-square-foot facility in the western U.S.
The customer engaged the Numina Group to evaluate facility design for the West Coast DC. After the analysis was complete, Numina was chosen to design the new DC’s pick, pack, and ship processes as a mirrored, yet smaller-scaled fulfillment process of the Midwest DC.
Both DCs use voice-directed picking, packing, and shipping processes orchestrated by Numina’s Tier I RDS™ Warehouse Execution and Control System (WES-WCS) that includes the order fulfillment automation integrated to the company’s SAP WMS.
RDS WES-WCS extends functionality beyond traditional warehouse control systems. It manages the order fulfillment automation module and balances the work across the DC’s various order fulfillment processes.The RDS WES-WCS simultaneously processes the entire mix of order types including split-case orders, e-commerce, and LTL shipments.
RDS contains a modular family of pre-developed modules for pick, pack, and ship automation. As a true Tier-1 WES-WCS, RDS includes voice-directed picking for all the pick processes, conveyor and sorting control, packing, and automatic print-and-apply labeling – fully integrating the control and execution of the order fulfillment processes and material handling control.
“The West Coast’s DC’s automation modules include order release and work balancing, voice-directed picking, conveyor-based carton zone routing, pack automation with inline weight audit, print and apply labeling, and shipping sortation control,” said Hejmej.
“Integral to the order throughput increase and reduced operational labor requirements is the packing automation module. This includes an order weigh-cube/dimensional audit, literature and pack-sheet print and insertion, and in-line print-and-apply labeling of UPS and LTL shipping labels. Numina’s WES-WCS provides distribution automation software, along with order detail tracking and labor reporting.”
The conveyors used throughout the DC are equipped with 24VDC motor-driven rollers for the material handling and order-transport automated conveyor system. The controls are managed by the RDS WES-WCS internal control language called Trak, a versatile multi-function, event-based control engine that performs real-time control, fully integrated with data-driven order fulfillment rules. Real-time control is executed as a real-time task at 250 microsecond execution speeds.
“Compared to other WCS’s, I think RDS is more robust and scalable,” explained the customer. “It provides us with labor management and order tracking and reporting tools that other WCS do not provide. We have found this extremely useful to capture important KPIs (key performance indicators). It also provides us visibility into order workloads and zones with the highest picking volume, so we can rebalance the worker activities and not become overburdened during the course of the day.
He added, “In wave planning, we always want an even order flow, but sometimes that does not happen. RDS browser-based screens give us a visual at any PC to check work zones to see how order processing is going.”
The facility uses RDS Voice Picking to drive split-case picking, using a two-level pick module with a pick-to-carton order picking process. RDS Voice manages the start of the order within the initial pick zone and integrates voice commands and responses with hands-free barcode scanning to manage the pick and pack validation direct to the shipping carton. Auto-bottom boxes were selected to eliminate operators having to spend time taping the bottom of boxes when starting an order in the pick module.
Prior to order release, the SAP system determines the optimum carton sizes and the quantity of boxes based upon the cube of each SKU and the number of SKUs per order. SAP wave releases orders based on shipment priority, destination, customer, and other scenarios to increase efficiency and eliminate human decision-making. Zone routing conveyor logic is integrated with the picking process to manage the movement of cartons to the required pick zones.
The order data and SKU item details sent to RDS are further used to manage and balance the wave order release and distribute work more evenly across the pick zones. By starting the order at the initial pick, work is more easily distributed across the pick zones to balance picking labor and improve productivity. The fully integrated RDS pick execution module provides picking and more efficient order movement and accuracy across the entire operation.
In each zone, the voice system directs the operator to get the correct box size and affix a pre-printed license plate barcode to the lower left-hand corner of the box. The operator uses a wireless hands-free scanner to scan the barcode and is voice-directed to the first pick location.
Once the initial operator completes and verifies the picks in their given zone, the voice system directs the operator to place the carton onto the conveyor, and it is automatically routed to a next pick zone, or zones, based on the order SKU pick requirements,” said Hejmej. “Zone routing enables a more efficient pick environment as the carton only stops at pick locations required to complete the order without any need of operator decisions.”
“We wanted the leanest pick method to minimize touches ,” stated the customer. “The voice-directed, pick-to-carton process and zone-routing conveyor have enabled us to achieve this, making our split-case picking very efficient and accurate.”
RDS Voice eliminates the complexity of RF or paper-based picking and the need to read from pre-printed pick sheets, labels or RF screens, or keying-in picking instructions or quantities. Operators pick with both hands and eyes focused on the work task, by listening for the specific work sequence, scan, pick, and using voice commands to verify the quantities and validate each transaction.
A key advantage compared to traditional voice technologies is that the Nevada DC’s picking process is a speaker-independent technology. It requires no operator voice training, regardless of accents or languages. Operators are productive in minutes, so even temporary workers can be trained in 10 minutes or less.
After picking is completed, the carton is conveyed through the pack line, the barcode is scanned, and an alpha numeric message display directs the operator to the carton-pack task requirements, and the required pack sheet documentation is automatically printed and inserted.
Once packing is complete, the carton is fed through an in-line taper and conveys to the in-line scale. The weight is captured for verifying picking. If the carton is over or under the expected weight tolerance, it is diverted to the inspection lane for QC.
“The RDS automated pack and ship area allows a single pack line to process 5,000 cartons in an eight-hour shift,” added Hejmej.
Pack lines include automatic in-line document printing and void fill and tapers to allow a single operator to pack 7 or more cartons per minute. Once packed, cartons convey to in-line scan, weigh, and print-and-apply labeling for automatically manifesting UPS and FedEx shipments.
They are then conveyed and sorted to a trailer with a powered extendable conveyor to allow fluid loading directly to the trailers. If a split-case shipment is part of an LTL order, the carton is labeled with the LTL-specific label and diverts to an LTL order staging area.
The operator who is picking the full-case LTL shipment requirements is voice-directed to the staging area, and using voice and the hand scanner, marries the carton or cartons required for the LTL shipment to the pallet.
The West Coast DC is on target to ship 9 million SKUs per year. The DC has exceeded the shipping cost efficiencies needed and is able to meet the company’s same-day ship policy for specialty and big box retailers in the Western states.
“No matter where our customers are, regardless of order size, all orders placed by 5 pm are shipped that same day, and our customers will receive them in a one- or two-day window,” explained the customer. “Without the RDS pick, pack, and ship solution, we would never be able to sustain this level of delivery speed.”
“Throughout the build-out of both DCs, the Numina group was a large driver of the systems we have in place,” added the director of distribution. “They delivered the full package, a turnkey solution. It has been a big success story – one of the best achievements that I have been part of in my thirty-plus years in the logistics and distribution industry.”
For more information about how to transform your distribution center and achieve best-in-class metrics, contact an engineer.
The Numina Group
10331 Werch Drive
Woodridge, IL 60517
630-343-2600
How the Right Warehouse Automation Decisions Can Solve Your Labor Woes As the economy roars
The Numina Group
10331 Werch Drive
Woodridge, IL 60517
630-343-2600