Menu
Schumacher Electric, the world’s foremost manufacturer of battery chargers, sells its products to large retailers and multinational equipment manufacturers.
Schumacher hit a ceiling on order throughput with its existing paper-driven order fulfillment processes. Schumacher engaged Numina Group to perform a warehouse design study, which yielded a detailed warehouse optimization roadmap to improve efficiency by reengineering its fulfillment operations and evaluating potential warehouse technologies to replace manual fulfillment processes.
Watch the video below to see their new warehouse automation system in action.
With Numina’s expertise and warehouse automation solution, Schumacher:
Schumacher engaged the Numina Group, an independent warehouse systems integrator with 40+ years of experience in the design and implementation of automated warehouse and distribution center solutions, to perform a design study.
Numina’s warehouse design study enabled Schumacher to reengineer its fulfillment operations to eliminate labor-intensive manual processes, maximize efficiency and throughput, and provide the projected ROI through an investment in automation.
The new DC design slotted slow-moving SKUs in locations separately from the high-velocity SKUs. High movers were located in an accessible and ergonomically friendly pallet flow in an efficient pick path, resulting in fast picking and easy replenishment.
The second component of the design study assessed the potential efficiency gains achieved through automation technologies such as voice-directed picking, automated print-and-apply labeling and the use of a conveyor and order sorting system to reduce the use of fork trucks for the majority of case picking.
Schumacher implemented a new automated conveyor and order sorting system with in-line scan, weigh and print-and-apply labeling capabilities to automate shipping and retail compliance labeling.
RDS’s voice picking solution was deployed throughout the DCs to increase accuracy and picking speed. Now, pickers are directed in the most efficient walk path to SKU locations, and use voice instructions and hands-free barcode scanning to batch pick cases across multiple orders.
Operators are voice-directed to pick the required quantities and place them onto an automated conveyor line that advances each case through an in-line scan-weight-scan tunnel audit system. The case SKU barcode is captured, the carton is weighed, and the print-and-apply applicator applies compliance labels and carrier shipping labels to cases.
Voice picking is also used to manage slow movers more efficiently by batch picking these SKUs using a fork truck.
The entire order fulfillment workflow is managed by Numina’s Top-Tier RDS™ Warehouse Execution and Control System, (WES-WCS).
The RDS solution includes voice-directed picking along with in-motion case barcode scanning, print-and-apply labeling, and pallet build sorting process control. RDS manages the batch case pick-to-conveyor process, assigns and scan-weigh validates each case to the customer’s order and ensures the cases are labeled with the retailer’s UCC compliance label and pallet-build shipment rules, all without human intervention.
Schumacher implemented their new fulfillment system in a six-month period. Equally important, the company’s ROI has been very rapid.
“When we put the first voice-picking system and print-and-apply labeling automation system in, it was just slightly under $600,000 and we certainly saw the payback within the first year,” said Hadsall.
Overall, Schumacher has invested $1.4 million across its DCs including the conveyor system. “The investment has proven to be well worth it,” Hadsall said. “We’ve not only improved picking and shipping accuracy, but we’ve also increased throughput capacity from $1.5 million to more than $5 million in order shipments per day.”
By carefully investing in automation expertise and the right technology, Schumacher has eliminated operational bottlenecks and has positioned itself well for a future of continued growth.
Solution: Download the Schumacher Case Study
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