mmh.com march 2014 dsw sorts it all out · mmh.com productivity solutions for distribution,...

®

m m h . c o m

PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION, WAREHOUSING AND MANUFACTURING

March 2014

DSW sorts it all out 18

READER SURVEY

Annual conveyor research reveals silver lining 26+ Webcast: Conveyor Usage Study

Monday, March 31 at 2:00 p.m. ETwww.mmh.com/2014conveyor

EQUIPMENT REPORT

Tugger, cart systems for manufacturing 30BEST PRACTICES

E-commerce’s race for perfection 34 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Changing tone of voice 40

Jeff Girard, vice president of distribution and fulfillment

operations, DSW

page 44

Introducing the Dematic CMMS, powered by Sprocket.

Delivering Proactive Maintenance Management for today’s facility challenges

Predictive Inspections and Analysis

Mobile Maintenance

Spare Parts Management

Labor Management and Scheduling

Root Cause Analysis

Capital Asset Management Planning

Visit www.dematic.com/cmms or call 1-877-725-7500 for learn more. OR visit Modex Booth 5723 to experience a live demonstration.

Visit booth 5723

Dematic CMMS - continuing the tradition of exemplary customer service

Reliability.Uptime.Throughput.

THE NORTH AMERICAN robotics market recorded its best year ever in 2013, according to new statistics from Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry’s trade group.

A total of 22,591 robots valued at $1.39 billion were shipped to companies in North America in 2013, beating the previous record of 20,328 robots valued at $1.29

billion shipped in 2012. These new records for robotic shipments represent growth of 11% in units and

7% in dollars.While the 2013 robot orders

are down from 2012, they remain the second-highest annual figures

ever recorded for North America. A total of 21,562 robots valued at $1.34 billion were ordered in 2013, a decrease of 5% in units and 10% in dollars from 2012.

Robots ordered for use in non-automotive industries grew 22% over 2012, including materials handling (+13%). RIA estimates that 228,000 robots are now at use in United States factories, placing the United States second only to Japan.

mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M a r c h 2 0 1 4 3

UP FRONT B R E A K I N G N E W S Y O U S H O U L D K N O W

North American robotics shipments grow 11% in 2013

Barcoding establishes RFID practiceBARCODING INC., A LEADER in enterprise-wide mobil-ity solutions, has announced the establishment of RFID by Barcoding, a new, dedicated practice for the design, development, implementation and advancement of radio frequency identification technology (RFID).

“Barcoding has long offered and supported RFID systems, but as we continue to grow and expand our team of experts, creating a separate practice for RFID was a logical step,” said Shane Snyder, Barcoding president. “While we will con-

tinue to provide the same leading data capture technolo-gies and end-to-end systems integration, we now have a dedicated group of resources to help ensure that our clients receive all the benefits of their RFID investment.”

The practice takes a systematic approach to implementing an RFID system, beginning with a business processes review. If RFID is deemed an effective solution, Barcoding will move forward with system planning and evaluation, perform a site survey, and develop and integrate the appropriate software. If RFID is not a viable option, Barcoding is able to guide clients down a different path to select and deploy the best possible solution to make them more accurate, efficient and connected.

The Seegrid automated GT10 tow tractor product has been named a 2014 Award Finalist by the internationally renowned Edison Awards.

The distinguished awards, inspired by Thomas Edison’s persistence and inventiveness, recognize innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy. “It’s exciting to see companies like

Seegrid continuing Thomas Edison’s legacy of challeng-ing conventional thinking,” said Frank Bonafilia, Edison Awards’ executive director. “Edison Awards recognizes the game-changing products and services, and the teams

that brought them to consumers.” Award winners will be announced at the Edison Awards Annual Gala on April 30.

Nominees are judged by more than 3,000 senior executives and academics whose votes acknowledge the finalists’ success in meeting a stringent criteria of quality. The Edison Awards is a program conducted by Edison Universe, dedicated to fostering future innovators.

Seegrid GT10 Robot named Edison Award finalist

Frommelt Safety to change product lineFROMMELT SAFETY PRODUCTS will streamline its product line beginning April 1, 2014. The com-pany will concentrate manufactur-ing efforts on its industry-leading machine guarding products, which include automated barrier doors, industrial fencing and retractable curtains for robotic and automated welding processes. As a result, weld curtain, screen and blanket products

will be phased out of production.

“We remain very committed to the welding industry,” said Frommelt Safety

national sales and marketing manager Eric Esson. “By focusing on our R&D and manufacturing efforts on machine guarding, we can

better serve our welding industry customers and expand into new and emerging applications for our machine guarding doors.”

Frommelt Safety and its parent company, Rite-Hite, will con-tinue to manufacture the Guardian Defender, Flashfold, Vertiguard, SlideAir, Rollshield, Rollshield Side-To-Side, X-Ten, and Roboguard Fence.

Free with every Yale® lift truck:

YALE PEOPLE.

With a Yale lift truck, you get more than a truck. You get the full resources of a

global manufacturer, along with the support of a local, independent dealer. Our

dealers average over 27 years of experience, selling trucks that are supported

with factory-backed service. Buy a Yale lift truck, get the Yale team.

13Y

LE71

94

YALE.COM

PE

OP

LE

PRODUCTS

PR

OD

UC

TIV

ITY

mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M A R C H 2 0 1 4 5

PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION, WAREHOUSING AND MANUFACTURING

VOL. 69, NO. 3

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 3/ Upfront 7/ This month in Modern14/ Lift Truck Tips: Ergonomics17/ Packaging Corner: Palletizing66/ Supplement: Warehouses/DCs72/ Focus On: Tuggers/Casters/Carts79/ Product showcase82/ 60 seconds with...

NEWS 9/ Once-peripheral technologies take

center stage in new research10/ RPA to establish new standards for

reusables in food supply chain11/ Plug Power receives milestone order

from Walmart12/ Lithium battery packs approved for use

in Toyota and Raymond lift trucks

COVER STORYSYSTEM REPORT

18 DSW sorts it all outFor DSW, a cross-belt sortation system has reduced labor costs, improved productivity and increased in-stock levels in the store. More importantly, it is setting the stage for future growth.

23 Optimized replenishmentHigh-speed, cross-belt sortation enables better customer selection and service at DSW’s retail stores.

FEATURESREADER SURVEY

26 Conveyor technology’s silver liningManufacturers and distributors have been on an automation binge. We asked Modern’s readers what those plans may mean for the conveyor and sortation industry.

EQUIPMENT REPORT

30 Tuggers, carts work together to increase productivity, ergonomicsToday’s tuggers and carts have evolved to the point where they can be flexibly engineered to support some, or all, of a manufacturing facility’s handling needs.

BEST PRACTICES

34 E-commerce: the race for perfectionAs Internet sales surge and customer expectations intensify, companies are working to create a web of inventory visibility, fulfillment speed and order accuracy.

SPECIAL REPORT

44 Productivity Achievement AwardsModern’s annual Productivity Achievement Awards honor companies that have made outstanding strides in improving operations through materials handling and related information systems.

PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS

62 Conveyor for beverage industry 63 Networked printers64 Paper-padding machine

Modern Materials Handling® (ISSN 0026-8038) is published monthly by Peerless Media, LLC, a Division of EH Publishing, Inc., 111 Speen St, Suite 200, Framingham, MA 01701. Annual subscription rates for non-qualifi ed subscribers: USA $119, Canada $159, Other International $249. Single copies are available for $20.00. Send all subscription inquiries to Modern Materials Handling, 111 Speen Street, Suite 200, Framingham, MA 01701 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Framingham, MA and additional mail-ing offi ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Modern Materials Handling, PO Box 1496 Framingham MA 01701-1496. Reproduction of this magazine in whole or part without written permis-sion of the publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved. ©2014 Peerless Media, LLC.

®

PHOTO: CHRIS CONE/GETTY IMAGES

Jeff Girard, vice president of distribution and fulfi llment operations, DSW

60 seconds with...Jack Ampuja

MOVING YOUFURTHERNew standard of big forklift truck.Excellent power and performance makes your business more profitable.Safety and durability are priorities in design of the equipment,An ideal arrangement of component parts ensures easy access and convenience for maintenance. A design based on human engineering relieves fatigue and increases operator's efficiency.HYUNDAI Forklift trucks are made to meet your needs.

Head Office Tel. 82-2-746-4638, 4609 / E-mail. [email protected] Istanbul office Tel. 90-212-290-2860 / E-mail. [email protected]

Dubai Office Tel. 971-4-425-7995 / E-mail. [email protected] Office Tel. 7-495-258-1381 / E-mail. [email protected]

EDITORIAL OFFICES111 Speen Street, Suite 200Framingham, MA 01701-2000(800) 375-8015

Michael LevansGroup Editorial dirEctor [email protected]

Bob TrebilcockExEcutivE Editor

[email protected]

Noël P. BodenburgExEcutivE ManaGinG Editor

[email protected]

Josh BondassociatE Editor

[email protected]

Sara Pearson SpecterEditor at larGE

[email protected]

Roberto MichelEditor at larGE

[email protected]

Jeff BermanGroup nEws Editor

[email protected]

Mike RoachcrEativE dirEctor

[email protected]

Wendy DelCampoart dirEctor

[email protected]

Daniel Guideraillustration

[email protected]

Brian CeraoloprEsidEnt and Group publishEr [email protected]

pEErlEss MEdia, llc www.peerlessmedia.com

Kenneth MoyesprEsidEnt and cEo Eh publishinG, inc.

MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONSStart, renew or update your FREE magazine subscription at www.mmh.com/subscribe.Contact customer service at:Web: www.mmh.com/subscribeEmail: [email protected]: 1-800-598-6067Mail: Peerless Media P.O. Box 1496 Framingham, MA 01701For reprints and licensing please contact Nick lademarco at Wright’s Media, 877-652-5295, ext. 102 or [email protected].

ENEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONSSign up or manage your FREE eNewsletter subscriptions at www.mmh.com/enewsletters.

m m h . c o m MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M a r c h 2 0 1 4 7

Based on the early attendee projec-tions from MHI (more than 25,000), there’s a chance you’re reading this

issue while taking a break from walking the 230,000-square-foot show floor at Modex 2014.

In this new culture of communication and collaboration, I’d argue that there’s no better place to be than in the throes of one of the materials handling indus-try’s premier events looking, listening and learning.

Coming out of the recession, our latest research is telling us that peer-to-peer networking—the sharing of challenges and solutions with peers—has paid off big over the past several years.

According to our 2014 State of Ware-house/DC Equipment and Technology Sur-vey, this networking has inspired Modern readers to go after any level of investment they can obtain and then optimize every last penny to improve operations inside their shrinking walls.

In fact, our 2014 findings tell us that activ-ity levels as a percentage of capacity are at their highest since at least 2007, while 95% of respondents believe their activity levels will increase—by an average of more than 20%—or stay the same in the next two years.

“That growth in activity is largely due to a focus on doing more with less—optimiz-ing every square inch of their existing facili-ties instead of building new,” says associate editor Josh Bond, whose full report on the 2014 State of Warehouse/DC Equipment

and Technology Survey will run next month. “In the meantime, technology and equip-ment investments have already helped sup-port data-driven improvements at minimum expense, but many respondents say they have a list of projects to get to once the purse strings open.”

If you’re looking for a little more peer inspiration to get back on your tired feet, spend a few minutes reading the opera-tions improvement stories of our 2014 Productivity Achievement Awards win-ners—several of which were inspired on trade show floors (page 44).

Since 1991, our Productivity Achieve-ment Awards have honored those compa-nies that have made significant operational improvement through materials handling systems and related technology over the previous year.

This year’s three winners are perfect examples of what can be achieved when pushed to the limits of doing more with less—be it getting more productivity out of a shrinking facility using tuggers and carts or getting more out of each shift with the application of sophisticated automation and robotics.

No matter the challenge you’re facing, the chances are high that many of your peers have already faced the same battles and won. If you do find yourself on the Modex floor, don’t waste a moment. Look, listen, and learn—and use what you’ve learned to inspire investment in your operations.

Member Member ofOfficial Publication of

Winner Jesse H. Neal

Certificates of Merit for Journalistic

Excellence

Look, listen and learn

MICHAEL LEVANSGROUP EDITORIAL

DIRECTOR

THIS MONTH IN MODERNEDITORIAL OFFICES111 Speen Street, Suite 200Framingham, MA 01701-2000(800) 375-8015

Michael LevansGroup Editorial dirEctor [email protected]

Bob TrebilcockExEcutivE Editor

[email protected]

Noël P. BodenburgExEcutivE ManaGinG Editor

[email protected]

Josh BondassociatE Editor

[email protected]

Sara Pearson SpecterEditor at larGE

[email protected]

Roberto MichelEditor at larGE

[email protected]

Jeff BermanGroup nEws Editor

[email protected]

Mike RoachcrEativE dirEctor

[email protected]

Wendy DelCampoart dirEctor

[email protected]

Daniel Guideraillustration

[email protected]

Brian CeraoloprEsidEnt and Group publishEr [email protected]

pEErlEss MEdia, llc www.peerlessmedia.com

Kenneth MoyesprEsidEnt and cEo Eh publishinG, inc.

MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONSStart, renew or update your FREE magazine subscription at www.mmh.com/subscribe.Contact customer service at:Web: www.mmh.com/subscribeEmail: [email protected]: 1-800-598-6067Mail: Peerless Media P.O. Box 1496 Framingham, MA 01701For reprints and licensing please contact Tom Wilbur at Wright’s Media, 877-652-5295 ext. 138 or [email protected].

ENEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONSSign up or manage your FREE eNewsletter subscriptions at www.mmh.com/enewsletters.

®

www.peerlessmedia.com

m m h . c o m MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M A R C H 2 0 1 4 9

Modern Online Follow

facebook.com/mmhmagazineTwitter | @modernmhmagWeb | mmh.com

TWO RECENT STUDIES by The Freedonia Group anticipate contin-ued growth in demand for fuel cell and 3D printing technologies. Ac-cording to the international business research company, U.S. demand for battery and fuel cell materials is ex-pected to grow 4.3% annu-ally through 2017 to $6.1 bil-lion, and world demand for 3D printers, related materi-als and software is projected to rise 21% per year to $5 billion in 2017.

Lead-acid, lithium-ion and fuel cellsIn a recent interview, Freedo-nia analyst Nick Cunningham said fuel cell technology has been making steady gains in materials handling and other applications, despite its faltering history. “It’s al-ways about 10 years from breaking through, and they’ve been saying that for 50 years,” said Cunningham, who said the largest setback right now is the use of platinum as a cata-lyst for the types of fuel cell engines

used in lift trucks and cars. “The perfor-mance gains are widely accepted. Ev-eryone agrees it can be more effi cient than lead-acid battery alternatives, but the cost problem is holding it back.”

Cunningham said scientists are looking for a different catalyst, but

there’s no telling when that break-through might come. For now, the Freedonia report predicts the fuel cell segment will “rise at a rapid double-digit annual pace due to the increas-ing adoption of fuel cells in electrical generation and industrial/motive power applications.”

However, lithium-ion alternatives to lead-acid batteries have already expe-rienced a defi nite cost breakthrough, Cunningham said. “The cost per hour has fallen dramatically, but the extent

of lithium-ion’s popularity will depend on the initial cost, which remains high,” Cunningham said. “I feel much more bullish about the prospects for lithium-ion.”

3D printing, or additive manufacturingThe appeal of 3D printing, on the other hand, remains robust, even if the real-world applications are still largely undefi ned. According to the Freedonia report, profes-sional uses such as prototyp-ing will continue to account for the majority of demand, but the more rapid growth will be seen in production and consumer applications. The U.S. will remain by far the largest national 3D print-

BY JOSH BOND, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

TECHNOLOGY

Once-peripheral technologies take center stage in new researchSTUDIES PROJECT THE NEXT FEW YEARS FOR THE LIFT TRUCK FUEL CELL, LITHIUM-ION LIFT TRUCK BATTERY AND 3D PRINTER MARKETS.

Markets for both fuel

cells and 3D printers

are expected to grow at

double-digit rates until

2017.

10 M A R C H 2 0 1 4 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING m m h . c o m

if industrial growth of 3D printing methods will continue to grow as rapidly if the government withdraws its fi nancial support.”

Even by 2017, 3D printing will only account for a miniscule share of man-ufacturing output, said Tung. “We do not see 3D printing as a threat to tra-ditional high-volume manufacturing and by extension its supply chain, but the technology is certainly competi-tive in lower volume production runs that feature very complex design ele-ments,” she said. “In those scenarios, some sub-component suppliers could be supplanted as the need for them is eliminated.” �

ing market in the world, accounting for 42% of global sales by 2017.

The technology has been around for 25 years, according to Freedonia analyst Pauline Tung, but like LEDs and solar technology before it, the meteoric rise of 3D printing is in large

part due to government fi nancial support. “In recent years, the govern-ment has zeroed in on 3D printing as a potential remedy to domestic manufacturing losses. As such, the government has invested tens of mil-lions in 3D printing, but it is unclear

PACKAGING

RPA to establish new standards for reusables in food supply chainTHE REUSABLE PACKAGING Asso-ciation has established a new indus-try-wide committee to establish sani-tation standards and guidelines for reusable containers used throughout the food supply chain.

The RPC Food Safety Standards Committee will include membership and input from providers of reusable plastic containers (RPCs), retailers, growers and shippers. “The reusables industry already has rigorous clean-ing and testing protocols that meet or exceed accepted standards, and these have proven to be highly effec-tive,” said Paul Pederson, director of food safety and compliance for IFCO Systems and committee chair. “How-ever, we want to establish common and public standards that will further increase confi dence in the sanitation and food safety of RPCs.”

Pederson said the initiative was driven in part by retail supporters of reusables who need documented guidelines to share with members

m m h . c o m MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M A R C H 2 0 1 4 11

INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS

FROM AKRO-MILSFROM AKRO-MILS

Multi-Load Tote

Akro-Tilt Trucks with Forklift Channels

ShelfMax8™

©2014 Akro-Mils/Myers Industries, Inc. #AKM401

Follow Us

18˝ Louvered Rack with AkroBins®

THE AKRO-MILS ADVANTAGEDiscover how Akro-Mils’ innovative new products — Multi-Load Tote, ShelfMax8, Akro-Tilt Trucks and 18˝ Louvered Rivet Rack — can add efficiency to your material handling application. Call us at 800.253.2467 or visit us at akro-mils.com.

See us at MODEX

Booth #6508

“This agreement is tripling Walmart’s commitment to Plug Power’s fuel cells, and is encouraging because it comes from a company with so much experience using our product,” said Andy Marsh, CEO at PlugPower. “This is a milestone for

Plug Power and its ongoing business relationship with Walmart.

Walmart currently has 535 Gen-Drive fuel cell units in operation at sustainable refrigerated distribution centers, including two sites in Canada and one in the U.S. �

of their supply chains. Currently, the providers of reusables and cleaning services follow their own individual sanitation and food safety standards. Their practices are not made public and likely vary by provider. IFCO Systems, Tosca Ltd, and Polymer Logistics are all members of the com-mittee and will work to determine best practices, and then agree to follow them in order to increase food safety. �

FUEL CELLS

Plug Power receives milestone order from WalmartPLUG POWER HAS ANNOUNCED a multi-site purchase order from Walmart to roll out its hydrogen fuel cell solu-tion to power electric lift truck fl eets at six North America distribution centers.

The fi rst of six sites will be deployed by the second quarter of 2014, and onward to a total of 1,738 GenDrive fuel cell units over two years. The order also includes GenFuel infrastructure construction and hydrogen fuel supply and a six-year GenCare service con-tract for each site.

“We are pleased with the perfor-mance of the hydrogen fuel cells that we have been operating and are ex-cited to expand our program with Plug Power,” said Jeff Smith, senior director for Walmart Logistics.

The fuel cells are bound for Walmart’s lift

truck fleets in refrigerated warehouses in

the U.S. and Canada.

FLUX POWER HOLDINGS, a supplier of lithium energy storage systems, has received approval to sell its lithium battery solution for Toyota and Ray-mond “walkie” lift trucks.

According to Flux Power CEO Ron Dutt, lithium-ion battery packs have a lower total cost of ownership as com-pared to traditional lead-acid batter-ies. They require no watering or other maintenance and can be opportunity-charged in two to seven hours.

Although the batteries come at a higher initial cost than lead-acid alternatives, their longer life span is a contributor to their lower cost of ownership. Dutt also confi rmed that each battery comes with a fi ve-year

warranty—the average lifespan of a walkie lift truck.

Dutt said the Toyota testing and approval process does not substan-tiate Flux Power’s product marketing claims, but does confi rm functionality and compatibility. Certain models of Toyota and Raymond walkies will sport stickers indicating the units are compatible with Flux LiFT-24V-TRW

lithium-ion packs and will not com-promise a warranty.

“Flux lithium batteries, as com-pared with lead acid batteries, last longer between charging and deliver

a higher sustained performance level,” said Dutt. “Our solu-tion addresses cus-tomers’ pressing need for longer runtime. We’ve found that the initial adopters are the purchasing managers of larger fl eets who are very sensitive to total cost of ownership

compared those who are focused only on acquisition price. It’s a very compelling option for them, and we think the balance of the market will move to taking that sort of longer term view.” �

LIFT TRUCKS

Lithium battery packs approved for use in Toyota and Raymond lift trucks

“ Flux lithium batteries,

as compared with lead

acid batteries, last longer

between charging and

deliver a higher sustained

performance level.”

—Ron Dutt, Flux Power CEO

Imagine your warehouse operations with greater precision.FORTE transforms distribution centers into precision instruments. With the industry’s

most respected methodology combined with advanced, cost-effective warehouse

execution software, FORTE designs, engineers, implements and supports distribution

operations that make many of the world’s fastest growing companies tick.

See how FORTE can deliver the precise solution your operation needs at forte-industries.com.

©2014 Forte Industrial Equipment Systems, Inc. (FORTE)

Warehouse Automation / Warehouse Execution Software

Make Distribution Your FORTE

14 M a r c h 2 0 1 4 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com

NEWER LIFT TRUCKS boast an assortment of design features and technology aimed at improv-ing operator comfort in their mobile office. But for

those fleets made up of older units, there are a number of ways to improve ergonomics, productivity and operator satisfaction without replacing a lift truck outright.

The appropriately named Susan Comfort, product manager for The Raymond Corp., says no detail is too small when working to improve the operator’s safety and productivity. A thorough cleaning is a good starting point, including the removal of any stickers. A new seat might be in order if the existing one is worn or torn. Updated tires or wheels can improve the ride, and eliminating any hanging papers, screens or other attachments should cre-ate better visibility for the operator.

Next, it’s time to start looking at what additional things an operator will need to be most effective in the specific environment of the application. A cooling fan can do wonders in a warm environment, much like a few lights can make life easier in a dark one. For rider-up applications, Comfort advises reviewing the advances (and new regula-tions) for fall protection equipment. Features like retract-able tethers can enhance mobility during day-to-day work while reducing the severity of injuries in the event of a fall. Whatever the environment, Comfort identifies three must-haves that will be almost universally beneficial.

With the increase in the number of accessories and materials an operator will need onboard, dedicated stor-age trays can help organize items like pens, coffee, shrink wrap and RF scanners. Second, side-shifters are very use-ful and create a direct increase in productivity, Comfort says. Third, a fork-tip laser guide is a big help whether working at height or ground level. “A laser guide gets more useful the futher a pallet is from the operator,” says Comfort, “but even on the ground, you’re trying to put a 1.5-inch fork through a 3-inch opening. If that is made easier, that operator will be more productive.”

And while a radio or other music player might boost spirits, it is more often a distraction that can compro-mise safety, Comfort says. To help ensure operators will embrace any changes, it is often valuable to solicit their input from the beginning.

“They are the ones who know what it takes to get the job done. They’re also the highest cost element of mov-ing a pallet, so making them more effective is important,” says Comfort, who adds that ergonomic considerations are much more commonly discussed than in the past. “Customers realize it is important and becoming more so,” she says. “They are forming cross-functional trams including operators and managers to evaluate new equipment or accessories. Better than half of the time, the decision is made based on ergonomics and operator feedback.”

Teaching an old lift truck new tricksFleet owners have plenty of options for improving the ergonomics and productivity of aging equipment.

LIFT TRUCK TIPS

By Josh Bond, Associate Editor

Josh Bond is Modern’s associate editor and can be reached at [email protected]

LET THERE BE WORK.LET THERE BE BLUE COLLARS AND STEEL TOES. LET SWEAT-SOAKED BROWS AND BACKBREAKING FORTITUDE BE THE FUEL

THAT PUTS FOOD ON OUR TABLES, ROOFS OVER OUR HEADS, AND FRESHMEN IN COLLEGE. MAY OUR WORKING DAYS

FOREVER END DRAINED, BUT ACCOMPLISHED. AND MAY WE GREET EACH DAY WORTHY FOR THE WORK AHEAD.

WranglerWorkwear.comWRANGLER WORKWEAR is a trademark of Wrangler Apparel Corp. and is used under license.


PACKAGING CORNER

With mixed stock keeping unit (SKU) order picking and palletizing only getting more complicated, interest

in—and application of—robotic palletizing is on the rise. That’s because robotic palletizers flexibly address complexity, particularly when building mixed pallets to customer- or store-specific reverse sequencing requirements.

“Whether the pallets need to be built so that each layer represents a different stop on a delivery route or to match store aisles, ro-botic palletizing systems are flexible, fast and accurate,” says Brian Keiger, general industry sales manager for Grenzebach Corp. “Further, robotic palletizers easily adapt and expand to match changing consumer demands.”

Building custom, mixed pallet loads re-quires a delicate balance between a customer’s depalletizing needs and the stacking force limi-tations of each case. Previous options include building the load by hand, using a traditional system limited to handling one or two cases at a time, or employing multiple robotic units.

Advances in the robotic palletizing tech-nology can now enable a single robot to deftly build the pallet load. That’s because some of the newest, most advanced grippers used to stack the cases handle up to six different case sizes as a single layer, simultaneously.

“Picture a city skyscraper; that’s the variety of plane fields in a layer profile this gripper can handle,” he says. “Each ‘finger’ of these advanced grippers functions inde-pendently in multiple axes to adjust each case to fit the profile of each mixed case layer.”

The advanced gripper works in tandem with palletizing software that builds the pallet load ahead of time. The software knows what SKUs are required, in what order they will be unpalletized, and their individual characteris-

tics (weight, height and stacking rules). Not only do these increased system capabilities save

space and reduce costs, they also eliminate labor. “Particularly with an aging workforce, it’s too physically

demanding for warehouse workers to manually build a pal-let,” Keiger says. On the other hand, younger employees who have grown up around computers and technology are very comfortable working with automation. That also makes the systems more attractive to prospective buyers, he adds.

Robotic palletizing addresses mixed load challengesAdvances in the robotic palletizing technology can now enable a single robot to deftly build the pallet load.

PACKAGING CORNER

By Sara Pearson Specter, Editor at Large

Sara Pearson Specter is an editor at large with Modern and can be reached at [email protected].


MODERN system report

ou’ve heard the old saying: The only constant is change. Few industries have experienced as much change in recent years as retail, especially fashion retail. The best retailers have reinvented their business models to keep up with changing tastes and new consumer expectations. For many, that strategy has led to reinventing the way they replenish their stores and fill customer orders.

DSW Inc., one of the country’s best known retailers of shoes, footwear and accessories, is a case in point. The acronym stands for Designer Shoe Warehouse, but over the last decade, the Columbus, Ohio-based company has transformed itself from a closeout retailer selling last year’s styles at bargain prices to a specialty fashion retailer carrying this season’s styles. Today, only about 10% of the inventory is overstock merchan-dise. Product categories have expanded to include socks, hosiery, handbags, scarves and jewelry.

This evolution in the store demanded a new approach to distribution. “When we were an opportunistic close-out business, the range of sizes in the store wasn’t important because we didn’t know what we were going to get from a vendor,” says Jeff Girard, vice president of dis-tribution and fulfillment operations. “As we began buying more direct, in-season merchan-

dise from our vendors, we realized we could order the sizes we wanted and replen-ish the stores with the sizes and styles that were selling.”

To replenish by size, DSW implemented a broken-case picking and packing solution in its 700,000-square-foot Columbus distribution center. The facility is used for store replenishment; a separate facility in Columbus manages e-commerce sales.

The solution features a cross-belt sorter (Beumer Corp., beumergroup.com/en) installed on a 140,000-square-foot mez-zanine that had once been used for value-added services. The sorter feeds 500 packing chutes—enough to dynamically serve DSW’s 394 stores and 356 leased stores located in department stores operated by regional chains such as Stein Mart and Gordmans. DSW’s capacity to replenish at the size level increased six-fold, and more importantly, productivity for that process doubled.

Y By Bob Trebilcock, Executive Editor

For DSW, a cross-belt sortation system has reduced labor costs, improved productivity and increased in-stock levels in the store. More importantly, it is setting the stage for future growth.

DSW sorts it all out



A cross-belt sortation system is at the heart of DSW’s initiative to replenish

its stores by size, resulting in a better selection of shoes that are in demand.

Right: Jeff Girard, vice president of distribution and fulfillment operations.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS CONE/GETTY IMAGES


“The sorter will play a big role in our future growth,” says Girard. “As we embrace an omni-channel view of retailing, it gives us more options.”

From Designer Shoe Warehouse to DSW While the company’s roots were estab-lished in the 1960s, the first Designer Shoe Warehouse store was opened in Dublin, Ohio, in 1991. Targeting women with an interest in fashion and an eye on their checkbooks, the company was a closeout, opportunis-tic retailer: At the end of the season, it would buy up the excess inventory from designer shoe companies and hold it until the next year, when customers could buy last year’s hot styles at dis-counted prices.

Over the next 10 years, distribution expanded across facilities to support the company’s growth. By 2001, Designer Shoe Warehouse was operating out of five small warehouses in one industrial park. Four were dedicated to storage and shipping took place out of the fifth. Information was manually keyed into a homegrown warehouse management system (WMS). “When we wanted to ship, we trucked everything over to the shipping facility then reloaded it onto outbound trucks to ship to the stores,” says Girard.

That year, the company launched an upgrade of its distribution capa-bilities, which has been ongoing. The first step was to consolidate activities into the Columbus distribution cen-ter and to implement a best-of-breed WMS, bar code scanning, conveyor, automated print-and-apply system for shipping labels and a shipping sorter. At that stage in development, pallets were removed from storage, cases were placed on a conveyor and then sorted to the shipping dock.

By 2004, Designer Shoe Warehouse was receiving advanced ship notices from vendors and cross-docking pre-allocated merchandise from a new conveyor in the receiving area that tied into the shipping sorter. “We had reached a point where a

significant portion of inbound merchan-dise cross-docked through the facility in about 10 minutes,” Girard says.

At that point, allocating by shoe size wasn’t a priority because the warehouse didn’t know what its vendors might have left over at the end of the season. “We tracked sizes, but we didn’t use the information,” says Girard. “If the vendor sent a full case with the same style, color and multiple sizes, we could send that directly to the stores. If we received deliveries with just one size in the cartons, we’d break them down and build a case of mixed sizes.”

Over time, however, the business model evolved. As the volume of in-season merchandise grew, so did the importance of having the right sizes in the store. For instance, if a store sold out of men’s sizes 8, 9 and 10 in a style and the warehouse simply sent another full case, the store would now have too many larger shoes. “Before long, a store would have five size 11 shoes on the floor that had to be discounted,” says Girard. “We realized that if we could replenish at the size level that was sell-ing, we could eliminate the unproduc-

tive inventory and reduce markdowns.” In 2010, following a successful pilot

test of the concept in a small number of stores, Girard’s team invested capital to convert some racking into a put-to-store process. “It was completely man-ual,” he says. “We picked merchandise to a cart, walked to a store location and filled the shipping container.” However once it went live, the program proved so popular with the stores and buyers that DSW was on track to do five times the original target. “We couldn’t handle the volume,” Girard says.

In 2011, the warehouse team began looking for a more automated process to increase the volume. “We looked at Kiva and a more automated put-to-light concept,” Girard says. “At the end of the day, we decided that a cross-belt sortation system was the best fit for our building.”

The goal for the project was to lay the foundation for growth. In addition to 394 DSW stores, for instance, the company is managing the shoe depart-ments for other retailers in 356 leased stores with plans to grow that part of the business. “With this system, we


An associate inducts shoes onto a motor-driven belt conveyor. The conveyor delivers the boxes to an induction station for the cross-belt sorter.


increased our capacity at the size level six-fold,” Girard says.

The implementation of the sorter began in late 2011. At the same time, some of the pallet storage and the pick-ing area was converted to case storage. Ultimately, about 30% of the building was reconfigured for unit-level replen-ishment, all while continuing to sup-port the business. The sorter went live in December 2012. By March 1, 2013, it was operating at full service.

Sorting it outFor DSW, cross-belt sortation had a number of advantages over alternative technologies. For one, the system fit on a 140,000-square-foot mezzanine that had once been used for value-added services but was now largely dormant. “It gave us the largest increase in capac-ity and improvement in productivity in the smallest footprint,” Girard says. “This allowed us to increase the utiliza-tion of the building.”

Another important advantage was that cross-belt sortation could accommodate a variety of shoebox sizes and styles without scuffing the boxes, which are on display in

the stores. To that end, a lot of time was devoted to getting the right chute size and angle so that shoes and accessories would both glide down to the packing area.

Several months was also spent work-ing with the warehouse control system

(WCS) provider to design the best way to stage cartons to keep the sorter full when running a wave. In addition, processes were developed so that new associates could quickly learn their tasks and become productive. As an example, the case pick staging area is enabled with lights; when the sorter is ready for a wave of product, lights turn on to indicate which product needs to be inducted onto the conveyor.

In addition, an overhead scanner was installed just before the divert that sends a carton up to the mezzanine level for processing. “Since the same staging module feeds the shipping sorter, the WCS determines whether the carton goes up to the mezzanine or is diverted to the shipping sorter under the mez-zanine,” Girard says. “If the associate picks the wrong carton, the system diverts it to another area where it’s pal-letized and put back into storage.”

When a wave begins, the WCS dynamically assigns packing chutes to stores. A big store, for instance, may be assigned three or four chutes for that wave. On the next wave, those chutes may be assigned to another store. Lights also enable this area. If no light is on, the packer knows there’s no merchandise in the chute. A blue light indicates that product is present, but not enough to fill a shipping container. A green light indicates there is enough product to fill a shipping container, but the chute isn’t yet full. A flashing red light indicates that the chute is full and won’t accept any more merchandise until its emptied by the packer.

The replenishment process itself is straight forward. Waves are run based on product categories, such as men’s casual shoes. To prepare for the wave, order selectors are directed by the WMS to pick cases to a pallet in a case storage area. Those cases are then delivered to a four-level case pick module for staging until they’re ready to go through the sorter. Once the sorter is ready to accept the wave, lights identify which cases are to be placed on the conveyor. There are four


Full cases are stored and picked in a very narrow aisle, rack storage area.

The cross-belt sorter feeds 500 packing chutes, enough to dynamically serve DSW’s 394 corporate stores and 356 leased stores.



High-speed, cross-belt sortation enables better customer selection and service at DSW’s retail stores.

Optimized replenishment

At DSW’s 700,000-square-foot distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, a cross-belt sortation sys-

tem delivers increased capacity and pro-ductivity improvements in a compact footprint. The result is a better selection of shoe styles and sizes in its retail stores.

Receiving: Inbound merchan-dise arrives at the receiving dock floor loaded in trailers or containers. The facility manages several receiv-ing processes: A fluid unload pro-cess receives (1) cartons that will be cross-docked through the facility and a manual unload process (2) receives cartons that will be used for unit replenishment or replenishment at the size level.

Fluid unload receiving/cross-docking: During this process, the first case of a SKU is scanned by a receiver. If the item isn’t already in the system, the receiver opens the case, inspects the merchandise and enters it into ware-house management system (WMS). Once received, merchandise already allocated to the stores is inducted into the cross-docking system (3). Following an overhead scan, a case is diverted to the cross-dock conveyor line (4). Once a shipping label is automatically gener-ated at the print-and-apply station (5), the case is diverted by the sliding shoe

shipping sorter (6) to a shipping lane (7) and placed onto an outbound truck at the shipping dock (8).

Full case pallet storage: Cases that will replenish stores at full case quantities are inducted on the conveyor system (3), scanned and diverted to a separate conveyor line, where an 11-digit bar code label is applied. After traveling around a conveyor loop, a second label with a large, easily read two-digit code is applied to the case. Associates sort cases with the same two-digit code to a pallet. Once a pallet is full (16 cases to a pallet), it is delivered to a staging area for the pallet-level storage area (9). There, it is picked up by a wire-guided turret truck working in a very narrow aisle pallet-level storage area. The WMS suggests a storage location. The operator confirms the putaway by scanning a location label.

Manual unload receiving/unit level replenishment: Cases that will replenish stores at the unit level are processed in the manual unload receiv-ing area (2). These cases are stored in a carton-level storage area (10). A second carton-level storage area (11) adjacent to this area is designated for full cases of one size that are sent to the stores. Cases are manually scanned to a pallet

as they are unloaded. In this instance, a pallet may have multiple SKUs. Once a pallet is full, it is picked up by an orderpicker and delivered to the carton-level storage area (10, 11). There, the cases are scanned into a putaway loca-tion. Associates can scan more than one SKU into a putaway location.

Value-added processing: Some newly received inventory may require value-added services, such as pricing, before it is sent to the store. Those services are managed in a value-added processing area (12) next to the manual unload receiving area (2). Once the services are complete, the inventory is palletized and sent to one of the two carton-level storage areas (10, 11).

Full case picking: To replenish stores at the full case level, the WMS creates an order wave. Pallets with 16 cases to a pallet are pulled from the pal-let-level storage area (9) by a turret truck and dropped off at an induction station for the conveyor system (13). Associates load the cases onto the conveyor, which are then scanned by an overhead scan-ner. After a label is printed and applied (5), the cases are sorted by the shipping sorter (6) to a shipping lane (7) where

case break workstations on the mez-zanine, with two associates at each workstation. When a case arrives, an associate inducts all shoes onto the cross-belt sorter. Once on the sorter, the shoes are diverted to the right packing chute by store. After an order is packed, a conveyor delivers cartons

to the shipping sorter where they are sorted and conveyed into a trailer.

In addition to the productivity gains, Girard says the sorter has deliv-ered more sales to the top line and set the stage for DSW’s future changes. “The in-stock position in our stores has increased significantly,” he says.

More importantly, “it enables us to replenish in a way that we couldn’t in the past. That might be attractive to other retailers that want to do busi-ness with us as a leased business.” After all, in retail, as we know, what-ever you’re doing today is likely to change tomorrow. M

DSW Inc. Columbus, Ohio SIZE: 700,000 square feet

PRODUCTS: Footwear and accessories

EMPLOYEES: 220 expanding to 350 during

peak seasons

SHIFTS PER DAY/DAYS PER WEEK: 3 shifts

per day, 5 days per week

Inspiration.

P 866-233-9640 | F 330-393-4401www.millwoodinc.com

Sometimes even the littlest things inspire us to develop the optimal unit load for our customers.Millwood and Liberty Technologies are your single-source for pallets and industrial wood products, stretch/shrink films and equipment, strapping machinery, case packaging and palletizing solutions. If you are interested in a fresh approach to your supply chain profitability and performance, contact us today for a unit load optimization discussion.

Visit us at Modex in Atlanta, GA at Booth #9517



they are floor loaded onto an outbound trailer (8).

Unit level picking: To replenish at the unit level, the WMS creates an order wave by category. An associate is directed by the WMS to pick cases to a pallet from the unit replenishment area in the carton-level storage area (10). Once the pallet is complete, it is delivered to a four-level wave stag-ing area (14) until it’s time to run the cartons through the cross-belt sorter (15) located on the mezzanine level (16). At the appropriate time, a light system in the wave staging area (14) indicates where the required cases have been staged. An associate goes to the lighted areas and places the cases on a conveyor that feeds the routing sorter (17). The sorter diverts the cartons to the mezzanine (16). Cases go first to one of four workstations (18), with two associates per workstation. Associates open the cases, remove the required

number of shoes from the case and induct (19) them onto the cross-belt sorter (15). The system sorts the shoes to the appropriate store chutes associ-ated with the sorter. In all, there are 500 chutes, stacked two chutes to a slot. Any remaining shoes not required at that time are sent to a residual area next to the sorter (20).

Packing: When the sortation pro-cess begins, the cross-belt sorter con-trol system dynamically assigns chutes to stores. Each packer is assigned to multiple chutes. To initiate packing, a packer removes a corrugated carton from an overhead monorail. The packer scans the bar code label on the carton ,which associates that carton with the product in a chute. The packer then scans the bar code label on each item before placing it in the container.

Shipping: When a carton is full, a packer tapes it shut and pushes it onto a takeaway conveyor (21). It is then

automatically labeled in the print-and-apply area (5) and then sorted (6) to a shipping lane (7). At shipping (8), it is loaded onto an outbound trailer. M

Residualshoe staging 20

Cross-dock induction3

Shipping sorter 6

Routingsorter

17

Print and apply5

Takeawayconveyor

21

Sorter induction 19Workstations

18

Cross-beltsorter 15

Four-levelwave staging area

14Carton-level

storage

11

Full caseto shippinginduction

13

Carton-levelstorage

10

Unit-levelreplenishment

Fluid unloadreceiving

1

Manual unloadreceiving

2

Value-addedprocessing

12

Pallet-levelstorage

9

Pallet-levelstorage

9

Shipping8

Shippinglanes

7

Cross-dock line4

16 Mezzanine level

System suppliers CROSS-BELT SORTATION: Beumer Corp.,

beumergroup.com/en

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Sedlak

Management Consultants, jasedlak.com

CONVEYOR: Intelligrated, intelligrated.com

SHIPPING SORTER AND CONVEYOR:

Dematic, dematic.com

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

Manhattan Associates, manh.com

WAREHOUSE CONTROL SYSTEM AND

PRINT AND APPLY: Pyramid Controls, pyra-

midcontrols.com

LIFT TRUCKS: Crown, crown.com

PALLET RACKING: Speedrack Midwest,

speedrackmidwest.com

Modern Materials Logistics Management Supply Chain Management

• Automation

• Conveyors & Sorters

• Inventory & Picking

• Loading Dock Equipment

• Mobile & Wireless

• Shipping Pallets

• Storage Systems

• Containers & Totes

• Energy & Sustainability

• Lift Truck & Fork Lift

• Handling & Warehouse Ergonomics

• Packaging

• Software & Technology

www.mmh.com/criticaltopics

Critical Industry News at Your Fingertips!

Critical Topic areas help you develop strategies and expand your knowledge. Each topic provides you with the news, information, and resources you need — each day.

CRITICAL TOPICS

Modern Materials Logistics Management Supply Chain Management


Last year, nearly 40% of the respondents to Modern’s annual con-veyor and sortation sur-vey told us they plan to increase the amount of

conveyor equipment over the next two years; only 5% were planning reduc-tions. Twenty-six percent (26%) of these readers said they would increase

their use of sortation equipment. This year, the results were an

almost mirror image of 2013. Once again, 40% of respondents say they plan to increase their level of conveyor usage while 25% plan to increase the level of sortation usage during the next two years. While some may see that consistency as evidence of a flat market, we see a silver lining. To us, it indicates stability in one of the compo-nents of an automated materials han-dling industry that grew by 7% in 2013 and is projected by the industry group MHI to grow by 12% in 2015. After all, wouldn’t most of us get an “attaboy” at work if we could tell our bosses that 40% of our customers plan to increase their use of our products in the coming years?

For further evidence of stability, consider that the average planned expenditure on conveyor systems, parts and accessories in the next 12 months is $233,875 compared to $236,480 in 2013.

By Bob Trebilcock, Executive Editor

Manufacturers and distributors have been on an automation binge. We asked Modern’s readers what those plans may mean for the conveyor and sortation industry.

Conveyor technology’s

Survey profile The conveyor usage study was conducted by Peerless Research Group (PRG) on behalf of Modern Materials Handling. The survey was e-mailed to subscribers to Modern Materials Handling who are personally involved in the evaluation and purchase of conveyor equipment for their companies. The results were based on the responses of 247 qualified materials handling professionals.

The average company revenue was $832 million; however, 17% of respondents reported revenues greater than $1 billion and 12% reported revenues between $250 and $999.9 million.

The average facility size was 285,230 square feet, with 19% of respondents working in facilities with 500,000 square feet or more, and 13% working in facili-ties with between 250,000 and 499,999 square feet.

Reader Survey Report/WebcastCONVEYOR USAGE STUDYMonday, March 31, 2014 @ 2:00 PM ETmmh.com/2014conveyor


Source: Peerless Research Group (PRG)

Which best describes yourconveyor system implementation?

What were/are theconsiderations in doing this?

Within the last year we have highlyintegrated our conveyor system into ouroverall materials handling automation system

18%

Within the next 2 years, we'll probablyimplement/upgrade/integrate a conveyingsystem as a core component to our overallmaterials handling automation system

31%

Other14%

We have not done anything within thelast 12 months, nor do we haveany plans in the foreseeable future

37%

We expanded/are expanding our manufacturing operationss 30%

We expanded/are expanding our e-fulfillment capabilities 20%

We have/we're gaining a new manufacturing/warehousing/distribution facility y 18%

We consolidated/are consolidating warehouses 14%

Other 18%

Both years showed a marked increase from the $164,000 readers planned to spend on average on conveyor equipment in 2012. And, 21% plan to spend more than the average, including 12% who plan to spend more than $1 million on conveyor systems in the next 12 months.

Reader plans for conveyor spending was only one of the questions we asked in our annual survey. We also looked at how Modern readers plan to deploy conveyor technologies in the future and whether they plan to re-evaluate their distri-bution processes—changes that could affect how conveyor technology is put to use. To answer those questions, we sur-veyed e-mail subscribers of Modern as well as a sample of recipients of our e-newsletters.

As in years past, respondents represented a number of different industries, a range of company revenue sizes and a healthy mix of manufacturing (42%), distribution centers (24%) and warehouses (22%). Here’s what we learned.

From belt to towlineFrom belt to towline conveyors, the conveyor industry offers a diverse mix of products. Modern’s readers are employing them all, including

• 73% are using belt conveyor,• 49% are using roller conveyor, • 49% are using gravity flow conveyor, • 47% are using accumulation conveyor, and • 46% are using motor-driven roller conveyor.Those systems are used to convey a variety of products,

indicating the importance of flexibility. For instance, 58% of respondents are handling cases and boxes; 43% are handling pallets including mixed SKU pallets (14%); 37% are handling items; 29% are handling plastic totes and pallets; 16% are handling poly-bagged items; and 10% are handling beverage cartons.

The systems are also configured to handle a variety of

MODERN reader survey


What types of conveyors are in use?

73%Belt

49%Gravity flow

49%Roller

47%Accumulation

46%Motor-driven roller

35%Chain

32%Pallet

19%Spiral

7%Other

3%Towline

8%Slat

11%Power-and-free

Medium-speed sortation(50-150 cpm) 17%17%

High-speed sortation(150 cpm and up) 16%16%

Low-speed sortation(up to 50 cpm) 15%15%


sizes with 56% of respondents handling pallets of varying sizes and 85% of respondents handling unit loads, cartons, totes or items of varying sizes.

Reliability counts As in years past, the survey looked at the factors that are important in the purchase of a conveyor system and the factors users say they are willing to pay more for in conveyor equipment.

Reliability remains at the top of the list as very important (91%) or some-what important (8%) to almost every respondent. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that 99% of respondents also say that uptime is very (83%) or some-what (16%) important; or that 98% indicate that ease of repair and mainte-nance is very (76%) or somewhat (22%) important.

While we were hardly surprised that 98% of respondents look at the price tag,

we also found that design flexibility (97%) and seamless inte-gration with other conveying systems (89%) are also consid-ered very or somewhat important to respondents.

Of less importance are the reputation of the supplier, ranked as very important by just 53% of respondents, and leading edge technology, which is very important to just 26% of respondents.

Most respondents say they are willing to pay more for fea-tures they deemed most important: 60% say they are willing to pay more for reliability; 58% say they are willing to pay more for ease of repair and maintenance; 53% say they are willing to pay more for design flexibility; and 40% are willing to pay more for seamless integration with other conveying systems.

The emphasis on reliability, flexibility and ease of main-tenance likely reflects the real-time nature of today’s opera-


How important are the following factorsin your conveyor purchase consideration?

Very important Somewhat important Not important

Reliability

Uptime

Ease of repair/Maintenance

Price

Design flexibility

Seamless integration with other conveying systems

Equipment availability

Reputation of supplier

Lead times

Noise

Leading-edge technology

91% 8% 1%

83% 16% 1%

76% 22% 2%

64% 34% 2%

63% 34% 4%

55% 34% 11%

53% 44% 3%

53% 41% 6%

35% 58% 7%

34% 56% 10%

26% 60% 14%


What is the nature of the items beinghandled on your conveyor systems?

58%

37%

29%

29%

16%

14%

10%

17%

Cases/boxes

Individual items

Plastic totes

Pallets

Poly-bagged items

Mixed SKU pallets

Beverage cartons

Other


Use of metricsDo you use anymetrics to assessyour conveyingsystem?

(Yes, use metrics)

What are you assessing?

2013 2014

32%30%

80%71%Maintenance costs

66%63%

Accuracy/reductionin errors

63%72%

Manpower needed tooperate/man hours

59%50%

Time savings

59%75%

Units moved on anhourly/daily basis

54%43%

Energy efficiencies

51%51%

Space requirements

46%43%

Reduction indamaged goods

2013

2014

Reader Survey Report/Webcast

CONVEYOR USAGE STUDY: Monday, March 31, 2014 @ 2:00 PM ETGo to: mmh.com/2014conveyor


tions, especially facilities filling e-commerce and direct-to-consumer orders with tight order cutoff times. If a conveyor system goes down, there is no time to recover and get orders out the door.

In a related question, 30% of respondents say they are using metrics to assess their conveyor systems:

• 80% are measuring maintenance costs, • 75% are measuring the units moved on an hourly/daily

basis, • 72% are measuring the man hours needed to operate

the system,• 63% are measuring the accuracy or reduction in errors, • 51% are measuring the space requirements for the sys-

tem, and • 50% are measuring the time savings realized from the

system.

Are distribution processes changing? Conveyor and sortation systems are no longer used as simple transportation of product from point A to point B, such as from the receiving dock to storage, or a pick zone to the ship-ping dock. Today, they are integral component of an overall order fulfillment solution. While that may not be the case in all facilities, it is certainly true of retailers and industrial distributors ramping up e-commerce activities and manufac-turers filling drop shipment orders or shipping smaller and more frequent orders.

This year, 40% of respondents say they are extremely likely (8%), very likely (13%) or somewhat likely (19%) to evaluate changing their order fulfillment processes within the next two years. While that is fewer than half of respon-dents, its important to remember that there is a continuum in all industries, from competitors at the early stages of their journey toward automation to sophisticated competitors who have recently completed projects that are now going live. The fact that 40% of respondents plan to re-evaluate their pro-cesses indicates a significant amount of activity.

The answers to other questions support that conclusion. For example, nearly a third of respondents say they have implemented or are considering the implementation of a goods-to-person order fulfillment solution, an approach that uses automation, including conveyors, to eliminate walking by delivering totes, cartons or pallets to a picking station.

Moreover, 44% of respondents agree that the way in which businesses are handling distribution processes is changing.

• “Most businesses need to adjust to the competition,” wrote one respondent. “Those that do not will lose competi-tiveness.”

• “The shift toward omni-channel fulfillment creates more needs for flexible processes,” wrote another.

• “There are fewer people and more automation and robotics in warehouses today,” wrote a third.

In fact, 49% of respondents say they made some change to their conveyor system. And, 18% say they highly integrated their conveyor systems into their overall materials han-dling automation system in the last year and 31% say they expected to implement/upgrade/integrate a conveyor system as a core component to an overall materials handling system in the near future.

There are a number of catalysts for these projects, including:

• 30% are expanding manufacturing operations, • 20% are expanding e-fulfillment capabilities,• 18% are adding a new manufacturing or distribution

facility, and • 14% are consolidating facilities.“Our order fulfillment methods need to be assessed to

ensure they are appropriate for each of the channels we serve,” one respondent explained.

“We are looking at making our manufacturing more lean, with touching the parts fewer times and moving them in smarter ways,” said another.

While conveyor systems in the future may require less conveyor —as manufacturers and distributors alike get lean, touch parts fewer times and move product in smarter ways—they will continue to be an integral part of solutions that drive efficient distribution. M

MODERN reader survey


How much do you estimate you willspend on conveyor systems, parts andaccessories in the next 12 months?

Less than $50,000 45%

$50,000–$75,000 12%

$75,000–$100,000 11%

$100,000–$250,000 11%

$250,000–$500,000 4%

$500,000–$1 million 5%

More than $1 million 12%

Average spend 2013

Median spend 2013

$236,480

$62,000

Average spend 2014

Median spend 2014

$233,875

$60,715

Copies of the complete research can be found at: mmh.com/peerlessresearch

30 M A R C H 2 0 1 4 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com

anufacturing facilities are continu-ously looking to get lean while meet-ing the increasing expectations of consumers for mass customization of products. Couple those challenges with an aging workforce and—in many parts of the country—a diffi-culty attracting and retaining quali-fied workers, the resulting solution for some companies has been the implementation of a designed lean material flow system.

The key to those systems, accord-ing to Larry Tyler, vice president of sales and marketing for K-Tec/Kinetic Technologies, is the reduc-tion of a facility’s current fleet of fork trucks by replacing some of them

with tugger and cart systems. “A fork truck is a vital component of a com-plete materials handling system: It’s not the bad guy,” Tyler says. “It’s just one way to move materials, and as long as 15 years ago, fork trucks were the most efficient way.”

Today, however, tuggers and carts have evolved to the point where they can be flexibly engineered to support some, or all, of a facility’s handling needs. Both manned and unmanned tuggers work with powered and non-powered carts in a virtually limit-less range of configurations. Their features and flexibility allow these systems to address production com-plexities previously only handled by

MBy Sara Pearson Specter, Editor at Large

Today’s tuggers and carts have evolved to the point where they can be flexibly engineered to support some, or all, of a manufacturing facility’s handling needs.

MODERN equipment report

productivity and

Tuggers, cartswork together to increase

ergonomics


Tugger and cart systems replace one-load-at-a-time deliveries by fork trucks to the production floor by acting as trains, or a linked series of multiple carts, carrying multiple loads in one trip.

fork trucks. In turn, fork trucks can be limited to the perimeter of a facil-ity—for shipping and receiving, and for inventory placement into and out of racks—to increase the safety of personnel in the area.

In manufacturing, tugger and cart systems replace one-load-at-a-time deliveries by fork trucks to the pro-duction floor by acting as trains, or a linked series of multiple carts, car-rying multiple loads in one trip. The carts themselves may be loaded by a fork truck, but a tugger handles the deliveries. Unlike a fork truck, auto-matic guided vehicle (AGV) style tugs travel along a pre-determined route and at a limited speed, while

manned-style driven tug operators have greater visibility because the loads trail behind instead of riding on elevated forks in front of the driver.

Changing roles of cartsDelivering smaller lots more frequently in kitted and sequenced cart orders is an engineered response to the com-plexity of mass customization. Building multiple product lines on the same pro-duction floor or offering a selection of options to customize a standard prod-uct, require the flexibility that carts can provide, Tyler explains. The carts have evolved into specialized tools used in engineered processes to move materials as efficiently as possible.



“For parts deliveries to a production line, horizontal space is at a premium,” Tyler says. “Production engineers can be reluctant to build fixed solutions, such as a conveyor, because the pro-cess may need to change going forward. That’s why the flexibility of cart-based solutions can make more sense from a return-on-investment perspective.”

Further, “I think of conveyor as being ideal for situations where you’re mov-ing more than 60 loads per hour,” says Chuck Russell, vice president of sales at Transbotics. “If you have a really long run, a conveyor breaks up the plant, crosses aisles, requires power—it can be really expensive. But to make a long run of anything more than 300 feet, or

if you have to snake in and out of exist-ing facility structures, then a tugger might be a better choice.”

Most tuggers can handle a total maxi-mum capacity of 10,000 pounds, includ-ing the load and the carts, when hauling across a flat surface, says Russell. While, in theory, the number of carts pulled behind is limitless, the actual number of carts that can be towed is limited by the hauling capacity of the tugger. If you require the tug to travel up or down an incline, across a rough surface, or out-side from one facility to another, a whole host of additional complicating factors come into play.

“It’s very important to consider the stopping distance required by a tug-

ger pulling a train of carts, particularly down a ramp. Traveling down an incline produces more kinetic energy, and the tugger’s brake system has to be able to handle it,” Russell says.

Another limitation to the number of carts a tugger can pull is aisle width. Whenever a train of carts pulled by a tugger has to make a turn, the more carts in the train, the more clearance the system will need. That’s because of cart drift.

“If you put two carts in a train, they’ll follow the tugger on the same path,” explains Russell. “If you add a third, the last cart has a slightly different turning radius; the more carts you add, the wider your aisles will need to be.”

In response, four-wheel steer carts have been engineered mechanically so when the front wheels turn, the back wheels do, too. This design minimizes the radius issue, keeping all the carts more in-line with the tugger when it turns. These systems cost more, but for a facility with narrow aisles, they might be necessary.

Carts and the workerIn addition to productivity improve-ments, in the past five years more manufacturers have emphasized proper


Automatic guided vehicle tuggers travel along pre-determined routes at limited speeds, making them safer and more predictable than forklifts.

In warehousing and distribution appli-cations, particularly for piece-picking operations and e-commerce (where one- and two-line orders are com-mon), specialized carts can improve productivity. That’s because they allow a single picker to fill sev-eral orders at the same time during a single pass through the ware-house, while following the shortest route.

Equipped with hand-held radio-frequency (RF) scanners and voice- or light-directed picking technologies, these pick carts allow an operator to pick

from stored inventory into labeled slots or bins engineered into the cart. “Because they support batch picks of multiple orders simultaneously, mobile picking carts dramatically

increase picking speed by up to 200%, while improv-ing worker ergonomics by reducing the num-ber of trips through the warehouse,” says Bernie McCabe, sales force manager for Lightning Pick, a part of Matthews Fulfillment Systems.

For example, when the picker arrives at an assigned storage area, the cart’s light-directed pick-ing modules indicate the

picked items that should be distributed to each bin riding on the cart, McCabe says. To improve accuracy, items can be scanned to confirm the correct pick and placement in the right bin. “This cart-based batch picking process can increase picking speeds up to 40% over conventional, paper-based pick-ing, and reduce travel by up to 70%—depending on the order profiles,” he says.

When the picks are completed and the cart is full, it can be pushed to the packing area. In larger operations, filled carts may be pushed to the end of the lane where it is then picked up by a tugger. The tugger tows several completed carts in a train to the pack-ing where the orders are packaged for shipment.

Specialized picking carts increase throughput in order fulfillment


worker ergonomics when creating tug-ger and cart system solutions. The combination of an aging workforce and the challenge of filling production and warehousing jobs have driven this trend.

Once the carts are delivered line-side by a tugger, they typically have to be finessed into position by a worker, says Dave Lippert, president of Hamilton Caster, Cart & Trailers. “If a person is going to be pushing or pulling a cart—even just a short distance—it’s probably not going to weigh much more than 3,000 pounds loaded,” he says. “So it has to be safely maneuverable. That makes the wheels an important part of the cart’s design.”

Wheels come in myriad different polymers, sizes and treads that offer varying degrees of rolling resistance based on their hardness, shape and contour. The choice of trailer steering mechanisms and handles also impacts the ability of a worker to maneuver the cart and its load manually, Lippert says.

Once the cart is in position, a worker has to be able to access the parts stored within it easily and ergonomically, adds Lippert. To minimize bending, stretch-ing, reaching and strains as much as possible, customized carts account for multiple of ergonomic factors. Today’s carts can elevate, rotate, tilt and present materials to the user at the ideal height and distance through cubicles, gravity-

fed shelves, rollers, inte-grated carousels that spin, and pneumatic-assist lifting devices. On-board power lets some carts maintain its contents at a certain temperature if required.

Cart conceptsSeparating a cart from a train can be a challenge. If the cart needed is between two others, it has to be discon-nected from both, manually dragged away, and the other two carts recon-nected. Mother/daughter cart solutions have grown in popularity as a means to address that problem, says Ed Brown, CEO of Topper Industrial.

“These are two-part cart concepts. The mother cart is a larger unit that cor-rals the smaller carts inside and they all move together in a train,” he explains. “At each stop along the production line, the worker just pulls out the smaller cart wherever it’s needed from either side of the mother cart, which remains connected in the train.”

In certain cases, existing carts can be converted to a mother/daughter system, says Brown. He also notes that this type of system can often be less expensive than adding tow-bars and hitch mecha-nisms to a standard towed cart design: “That’s because there’s more engineer-ing into fewer mother carts, while the process deploys more of the simpler, less expensive daughter carts.”

To ergonomically move the heavi-est loads up to 250,000 pounds, man-ual power movers can be deployed in place of a motorized vehicle. The units are built to produce torque rather than speed, supplying the ini-tial push force required to get such a

heavy load to move in the first place, says John Adams, vice president of sales for Nu-Star’s Power Pusher divi-sion. “Plus, because these manual tugs are designed as walk-behind systems, they don’t require a licensed driver,” he says.

As much as 75% of the time, this style of tug is employed purely to con-vert a manual process into an assisted one for ergonomic reasons, Adams says. For example, due to their compact size, “some users will implement a manual tug at each workstation on an assem-bly line to help operators move the cart to and from the aisle, where it can be picked up by a larger tugger in a train, or by a forklift,” he says.

Powered, manual movers typi-cally use electricity, further enhanc-ing worker safety and environmental comfort because they don’t create emissions. “About 25% of our instal-lations do replace forklifts because of safety and emissions concerns,” Adams adds. M

In a mother/daughter cart system, smaller (daughter) carts are corralled inside a larger (mother) cart and pulled alongside production areas.


Companies mentioned in this articleHAMILTON CASTER, CART & TRAILERS: cartsandtrailers.comK-TEC/KINETIC TECHNOLOGIES: ktecinc.com LIGHTNING PICK, A PART OF MATTHEWS FULFILLMENT SYSTEMS: lightningpick.comNU-STAR’S POWER PUSHER DIVISION: powerpusher.com TOPPER INDUSTRIAL: topperindustrial.com TRANSBOTICS CORP.: transbotics.com

Once the carts are delivered lineside by a tugger, they often have tobe finessed into position by a worker, making the maneuverability of the wheels a critical component of the cart’s design.


C

Thank you for your order. Your items will be shipped in seven

to 14 days.

“Doesn’t that seem archaic?” asks Lance Anderson, director of

North American sales for Beumer Corp.

onsumer expectations are decidedly more stringent than they were even two years ago. The impacts of demands like next-day shipping, perfect accuracy and integrated mobile shopping expe-riences are transforming practices in manufacturing, warehousing and dis-tribution, and brick-and-mortar stores for businesses of all sizes. Retailers, and the suppliers of materials handling equipment who serve them, are work-ing to quickly deploy solutions that turn the e-commerce problem into an opportunity.

“Establishing e-commerce or multi-channel capabilities is pretty much do or die,” says Anderson. “It’s that impor-tant. Those businesses who get it are pulling ahead pretty fast, and those who don’t, well, I don’t know how long they’ll be around.”

From the highly automated likes of Amazon to inexperienced opera-tions just now dabbling with batch carts and put walls, there are retailers

at various stages of e-commerce evo-lution. Because traditional processes often break down in the face of multi-channel pressures, both beginners and sophisticated e-tailers are facing chal-lenges that impact each of the func-tional areas of the supply chain. While automation and software are useful tools for meeting these challenges, labor management is critical. To keep up, too many operations have resorted to throwing bodies at the problem.

“Over last two years or so, the scale of e-commerce volume has ramped up considerably, and now a lot of compa-nies have reached the breaking point,” says Roy van Putten, manager of sales engineering for Vanderlande. “From a supply chain perspective, the e-com-merce revolution is just beginning.”

Multiple channels, single inventoryOn the surface, the most apparent obstacle to e-commerce success is mechanical. What is the best way to pick and pack eaches when the facility is accustomed to handling cartons and pallets? But the real underlying issue is


As Internet sales surge and customer expectations intensify, companies

are working to create a web of inventory visibility, fulfillment speed

and order accuracy.

e-commerce:

The race for perfection

MODERN best practices


Voice infrastructure has proven an effective tool for handling batched orders and peak volume with the same headcount.


managing the flow of orders. The creation of a shared inventory for orders across all channels is one of the central objectives for e-commerce success, and one that is heavily dependent on a strong software infrastructure.

But unified inventory goes far beyond simply eliminating the “ware-house in a warehouse,” the practice of handling orders bound for stores and those headed directly to consum-ers as parallel processes with distinct inventories. The concept of distributed order management (DOM) turns the linear supply chain into a supply matrix that includes production, warehous-ing, distribution, store shelf as poten-tial supply points for order fulfillment. With visibility into all available inven-

tory, DOM could see manufacturers or retail stores ship direct-to-consumer orders. With DOM, a DC will only receive orders that software has opti-mized for the speed and cost of fulfill-ment in that facility as compared to others in the network.

According to Anderson, a single inventory is a defining characteristic of a multi-channel or omni-channel supply chain. “You’d be surprised how many businesses have to keep two inventories because their software doesn’t recognize the distinctions,” he

says. “Software might purchase and store one red shirt only for the retail chain and one red shirt only for e-com-merce. They could be right next to each other on the shelf but they might as well be two different products.”

Any new software will also need to be flexible enough to process orders as they arrive in real-time as well as order volumes that might be coming years from now. In the old days, ware-house management systems (WMS) and other software projects were completed with a “set it and forget it”


mentality, says Chuck Fuerst, direc-tor of product strategy for HighJump. Eventually a large, disruptive and costly update would be in order, but everyone was happy with that. Fuerst now sees a trend toward the gradual adding of lay-ers and capabilities. “After you design your system for what you need to do today and sort through your homegrown workarounds, updating each in turn, you should be enjoying some increased efficiency,” he says. “Now what? Do you need to add labor-planning mod-ules? Reverse logistics?”

If a company must invest in some-thing that could very likely need to change in six months, Fuerst advises customer to ask a simple question of software suppliers: If I need to make some sort of change, what would that look like?

Since they’ve come, we will build itFor all its benefits, new software is a big expense and a potentially disruptive

change. But there are plenty of small steps that can help e-commerce begin-ners keep up. In fact, Chris Arnold, vice president of operations and solu-tions development at Intelligrated, favors an incremental approach over a radical one.

“You don’t have to change every-

thing,” Arnold says, “but don’t be afraid of change. Operations folks should be aware of any fear of trying something new, because their competition is try-ing it.” As many DCs rapidly transi-tion into fulfillment operations, Arnold suggests using voice, pick-to-cart or put-wall solutions to add basic fulfill-


Boots UK, a member of Alliance Boots, is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer offering a variety of services

and products. The company recently made a significant investment to purchase and refurbish a new automated service center. By deploying a new, custom fulfillment solu-tion targeted at the demands of e-commerce customers, the company is now efficiently handling multi-channel retail distribution.

All customer orders are filled in the facility, whether they are bound for a store, next-day direct-to-customer, or in-store pickup. The business is characterized by a large inventory with small orders made up of a mix of items and a very high seasonal peak. The company wanted a solution that improved customer service, enabled future business growth and reduced ful-fillment operating costs.

The new automated solution (Knapp, knapp.com) includes a new warehouse management sys-tem, warehouse control software, manual packing area for value-added services, dispatch ramps for efficient sortation and delivery and a shuttle system. The shuttle is a half-automated storage and picking system with goods-to-person tech-

nology for containers of slow and medium-moving products up to 15 kg. A second shuttle handles containers up to 25 kg.

Fast-moving products are picked in the flow rack area, guided by pick-to-light. Faster moving lines are located in flow rack channels or pallet locations in the flow rack picking area. Cartons are automatically routed to the appropriate picking area based on the customer order profile where the items are picked directly into the cartons. Well more than half of customer orders do not require manual packing and are automatically finished.

The facility is designed to support business growth—including seasonal peaks —until 2017. It has minimized manual handling, reduced costs for pack-aging such as cardboard and void fill, increased picking accu-racy and added order traceabil-ity. In total, the new automated service increases time efficiency by 65%.

“This project has been a sig-nificant step change in our multi-channel business,” says Chris Holyland, head of e-commerce for Boots. “It will provide a plat-form for future growth and will

enable us to further improve our service to customers.”

Retailer meets multi-channel challenge with new automated facility

Once focused on store replenishment, the company’s new distribution facility efficiently handles orders for multiple channels.

Some consider a unified inventory as a defining characteristic of an e-commerce supply chain, and that unity starts with software.


ment capabilities. “Then you can look at things like postponement,” he says. “If an order comes at 7 a.m. and you can turn it around within an hour, then it might sit on truck until 7 p.m. Why not release that order at the best time of day?”

The problems start with receiving, where it’s no longer simply a matter of unloading pallets and ferrying them to storage locations. Van Putten says he is seeing more sorters in these areas. “We have customers with value-added services, inspections, labeling and kit-ting happening right at receiving before items go into storage.”

As the volume of smaller and more frequent e-commerce orders grows, picking processes will start to break down early, says Jeff Ross, vice presi-dent of consulting for Forte. “A shift from discrete order picking to batch picking will serve these order profiles with less labor, but then the pressure moves to the pack area,” he says. “To offset that early, you might segment single-line orders away from the rest of orders, picking and packing them dif-ferently.”

Van Putten offers the example of a customer who already had a sorter after the packing operation that sorted for outbound trucks. The customer added spurs to direct e-commerce orders to dedicated stations for simple packing, gift wrapping or international orders.

Automated storage and retrieval sys-tems (AS/RS) are increasingly used to perform the sorting and buffering func-tions essential to e-commerce fulfill-ment. Rather than building a massive sorter for peak volume in a smaller, localized facility, Alex Stevens, business development manager for OPEX, says using the vertical cube in a smaller foot-print doesn’t leave dead space through-out the rest of the year. Unlike a con-veyor buffer with one batch per lane, an AS/RS can handle larger batches with access to individual items.

The ability to handle larger batches is critical during seasonal peaks, which


www.palletizing.com1-800-628-4065

High Speed, Inline Palletizer

> Flexibility: Add or modify patterns through the HMI using the adjustable programmable laner (standard)

> Performance: 75 to 120 cases per minute and “Zero Time” changeover from one pattern / SKU to another

> Safety: Industry-leading category 3 safety system with fully integrated guarding and dual latching hoist pin system*

> More standard features included from the industry’s largest palletizing solutions provider

NEWHigh SpeedlnlinePalletizer

Scan to learnmore! > > > > >

* Patent applied for

might create anywhere from a five-fold increase in order volume to a 20-fold surge. Whatever the needed capacity at the top of that curve, few customers will spend $30 million on an automated system designed only for those two or

three months of the year.That said, there are ways to justify

automation expenses for the rest of the year. Stevens says increased utilization of vertical space is a must for many customers who work to position DCs


closer to customers. “The cost of rent goes up exponentially if you’re not in a cornfield in Ohio,” he says. “Modular automation systems let you drop in a system to address certain SKUs or pro-cesses while continuing to use existing processes elsewhere in the facility.”

Steve Hoffman, supply chain spe-cialist for Dematic, described one customer who transitioned away from discrete RF scan-based store replenish-ment of split cases into totes. They now use voice to batch pick, followed by a light-directed put. “They took 20% of full-time labor hours out of the equa-tion, but that was not the biggest sav-ings,” Hoffman says. “If Monday was a 7,000-line day with 30 people on staff, they can do 10,000 lines the next day with the same people.”

Dynamic automation, dynamic laborWhether or not seasonal peaks are a concern, both manual systems and automated ones will benefit from a disciplined labor management system (LMS). As opposed to relying heavily on part-time or seasonal staff, busi-

nesses are strongly encouraged to lever-age automation and software to secure reliable workers, retain that talent and grow their skills.

“Large scale LMS projects were always kind of intimidating,” says HighJump’s Fuerst. “It seemed like the payoff might be there, but time and resources were required to pull it off. We’re now seeing interest in something

smaller, like an ‘LMS lite,’ just to man-age the workforce a little better.”

Josef Mentzer, CEO of Knapp Logistics Automation, says LMS soft-ware can be paired nicely with auto-mation software to ensure effective workload management. “It will look at the order pool, inventory and the labor force at staffed workstations and bal-ance the workload through the system,”


Goods-to-person systems can increase productivity while making better use of available vertical space in a facility.

Research highlights fickleness of e-commerce consumerSurvey of 600 consumers suggests three in 10 will abandon a retailer after one inaccuracy.

Inaccuracy in e-commerce is costly, and while the cost of

returning, restocking or refunding an item might be quantifiable, it’s often less clear what damage has been done to the customer’s per-ception of the company.

According to a recent Voxware survey of 600 consumers, 62% are much less or less likely to shop with a retailer online or by phone for future purchases if an item is not delivered within two days of the date promised. As companies strive to improve service levels, the survey suggests they should be careful about the promises they make to consumers.

Some additional survey highlights:• 29% of respondents will abandon shop-

ping with a retailer altogether if they receive an incorrect delivery just once.

• 68% of respondents noted that their expectations for correct and on-time delivery of items that they purchase online or by phone are higher during the holiday shopping season.

• 30% of respondents intend to have more or significantly more holiday purchases delivered directly to them this holiday season.

• 38% of respondents said they expect holiday gifts purchased online or by phone to be delivered within three to four days.

Respondents were asked how quickly they expect a retailer to deliver an item they purchase online or by phone assuming the retailer is using standard shipping:

• 5% said 1-2 days,• 43% said 3-4 days,• 40% said 5-6 days, and• 2% said 7 or more days.

When asked what percentage of the holiday gifts they purchased last holiday season were delivered directly to them versus bought in store, they answered:

• 29% said less than 20%,• 22% said 21-40%,• 19% said 41-60%,• 12% said 61-80%, and• 19% said 81-100%.


he says. “It won’t release an order unless we can handle it immediately.”

Voice systems can be an effective way of relaying information and direc-tives to individual workers. “Peak or no, a divide and conquer strategy must be designed so that nobody ever waits for work,” says Hoffman. “Voice can help keep pickers picking and sorters sort-ing. They should never wonder what they’re supposed to do next.”

Continuous improvementDistribution operations will need to think about their changing role in the supply chain. “The DC now has the responsibility to predict the velocity of a SKU, whereas that used to come from the storefront,” Mentzer says. “That retailer cushion between the consumer and the distributor is going away. That consumer is your customer now, not the retailer’s.”

The importance of accuracy signifi-cantly raises the stakes for these facili-ties, which can more easily justify cap-ital expenditures instead of paying four times the cost of an item to handle its return and likely lose a customer. “You would think that cost would be the main driver for capital expenditures, but it isn’t,” says Mentzer. “It’s not an issue of problems with processing inside the four walls, it’s about the cus-tomer experience.”

There are still a lot of companies who are just now wading into e-commerce

Companies mentioned in this articleBEUMER: beumergroup.com

DEMATIC: dematic.com

FORTE INDUSTRIES: forte-industries.com

HIGHJUMP SOFTWARE: highjump.com

INTELLIGRATED: intelligrated.com

KNAPP LOGISTICS AUTOMATION: knapp.com

OPEX CORPORATION: opex.com

VANDERLANDE INDUSTRIES: vanderlande.com


THE PERFECT TWOSOMETO COMPLEMENT YOUR

WAREHOUSE SPRINKLER SYSTEM

toll-free: +1-866-400-8107

A PROVEN SOLUTION

INSTALLED & TRUSTEDWORLDWIDE -

COMBINES A SMOOTH STORAGESURFACE WITH RACK SHELF POROSITY

PUNCHDECK.COM

MAINTAINS 3” FLUE SPACE

A SIMPLE, COST EFFECTIVEWAY TO KEEP STORED

MATERIAL OUT OF REQUIREDRACK TRANSVERSE FLUE SPACES

FLUEKEEPER.COM

DACSinc.

FOUR

unsure what to expect, says Ross. But, he says, the volume of e-commerce business is almost always greater than they had forecast.

Regardless of the performance of individual channels, if a business is grow-ing it will need to make some investment

in its ability to store and manage SKUs. “You don’t want to make those invest-ments while doing things the same inef-ficient way,” says Ross. “The incremen-tal cost between that and making a real improvement in underlying capabilities is not very big.” M


ot long ago, voice technology suppliers and early adopters heralded the end of bar code scanning alternatives. Why use your hands to scan when you could speak the numbers? After operators uttered their first few 18-digit codes into the system, that fantasy rapidly faded. Scanning returned, wearable screens jumped into the mix and multi-modal voice-based solutions started to take hold.

In recent years, as the strengths of each mode and their interactions have been refined, voice platforms have proven adept at improving efficiency and accuracy for certain task profiles. Now that list is growing, presenting new challenges and opportunities for the technology.

“One of the interesting things I see is how customers merge voice with other technology to add incremen-tal benefits,” says Jay Armant, vice president of product management for Vocollect by Honeywell, “People are realizing the move to automation is expensive, the ROI might not be ter-ribly fast, and the solutions might not be terribly flexible. Companies are tak-

ing a crawl, walk, run approach before going to a fully automated warehouse, and voice emerges as an intermediate step in that direction.”

But in many cases, customers might be better off pursuing the disruption voice offers to re-engineer processes, since simply “voice-ifying” an existing process yields limited results. A scan-based picker moving at 80 lines per hour will still tend to produce 80 lines per hour using voice in the same pro-cess flow. It’s a different story if that person can fill multiple batched orders instead of discrete ones, or be directed from one task to another to ensure con-sistent workloads and product flow, or use voice commands to control semi-automated equipment.

Voice in concert with other instrumentsBefore branching out to voice-enabled robotic vehicles, most customers work to combine voice with the right tech-nologies for their basic processes. This might be as simple as voice-directed picking with a scanner, or as elaborate as wearable screens and scanners that

NBy Josh Bond, Associate Editor

By accurately capturing real-time data from a growing range of supply chain functions, voice technology can now play a role in decisions at the item and enterprise level.

MODERN information management

Industry changes tone of voice


Voice systems can help pickers identify the right pick, build the best pallet and even control the pallet jack.

communicate with lift truck-mounted terminals. “It’s no longer just about voice,” says Jennifer Lachenman, vice president of product strategy and busi-ness alliances at Lucas Systems, which delivered its first multi-modal voice-plus-scanning solution more than 10 years ago. “When we talk about multi-modal, we’re creating workflows that allow the worker to leverage the most appropriate technologies at various points in the work.”

Using voice to free up a worker’s hands and eyes improves ergonom-ics and the clarity of instruction can improve productivity. But as voice

software becomes more intimately connected to warehouse management systems (WMS) or warehouse control systems (WCS), multi-modal solutions provide even more benefits for pickers and managers.

“On the software side, very excit-ing things are going on,” says Mark Wheeler, director of industry solutions for Motorola Solutions, North America. Wheeler describes one customer who leverages the wrist-mounted screen to show item-ahead information so the associate can glance at his arm to see what the next pick looks like and whether it is on the right or left. “They

can stop the pallet jack in just the right location to grab two picks. Plus, the combined visual and voice cues can help them build a better pallet.”

If a facility’s orders tend to be smaller than pallet size, they might pair voice with carts and smart software to pick in batches. Many voice custom-ers find they can dramatically cut labor costs by using zone or batch picking approaches where each picker works 10 to 20 orders at a time. “This is a rela-tively minor change in an application,” says Marceline Absil, vice president of sales and marketing for topVOX. “To the voice-enabled operator, it’s




just as easy to pick one order as it is to pick 20. In addition, in a pick-and-put operation you have immediate confirmation that you picked the right quantity of prod-ucts, potentially eliminating an additional quality-control step.”

Voice around the warehouseWithin the warehouse, the spread of voice technology beyond the picking area has been slow to catch on. Those who targeted picking for the best ROI might feel the project is complete or are unsure how less repetitive and non-engineered processes might fit under the umbrella of their voice infrastructure.

Lucas’ Lachenman says many customers are opting to deploy voice in as many areas as pos-sible at the outset. Before 2005, she says, less than a third of customers were using voice anywhere other than picking. “Now close to 50% are doing more than picking right out of the gate,” she says. “We even had two recent customers start with replenishment and putaway because that was their pain point.”

According to Motorola’s Wheeler, changes in the industry are also strength-

ening the case for voice. As receiving operations grow to expect new GS1-compliant bar codes, they will enjoy more certainty on the inbound side, he says. This means voice could produce a good return in these areas with as few as four or five users. “The process becomes much more efficient and accu-rate than in the past when companies had to struggle to identify what was

coming in the door,” Wheeler says. “According to a Motorola survey, the number of bar coded inbound items is expected to increase from 66% to 83% in coming years, and that’s happening across multiple industries.”

TopVOX’s Absil says mainte-nance is another growing appli-cation for voice, since many pro-cesses are still largely paper-based. “Voice compared to paper is almost always a win for voice,” she says.

The conversation between DC and storefrontBy digitizing previously paper-based information, voice solu-tions can help build connections between departments, facilities, and even between DCs and retail storefronts. Keith Phillips, CEO

of Voxware, says voice recognition, busi-ness analytics and cloud-based soft-ware can connect a voice-enabled retail associate to the same WMS a picker is using inside the DC. Traditionally, the world of the retail store has been entirely divorced from life inside the four walls, but that is changing.

“Society is creating the most compli-cated demands on fulfillment and dis-tribution in history, and it’s not going to simplify any time soon,” Phillips says. “Increasing a picker’s productivity and accuracy are great, but what does that do for the consumer? The focus is mov-ing beyond the four walls to wider sup-ply chain activities. In that sense, voice can improve the effectiveness of the picker, manager, facility, storefront and customer experience.”

If a customer sees an item is unavail-able on the store shelf, he is unlikely to report that fact. But an in-store, voice-enabled picker will immediately send an order upstream. By connecting ful-fillment to in-store service, Phillips says, storefronts could even track orders en route to a customer in real time.

Multi-channel fulfillment is changing the ways consumers order and receive

Hi-Spec Lenses distributes eyewear products such as glasses, lenses,

and cases to more than 1,000 retail locations. After deploying a voice management suite (VMS) and ware-house management system (WMS), the company improved warehouse picking accuracy, productivity and safety while helping to optimize the customer experience.

Prior to implementing voice (Voxware, voxware.com), the company was using paper to locate and retrieve products in its warehouse. With thou-sands of orders received daily that have to be shipped the same day, the paper approach was causing produc-tivity and accuracy issues. Because products are delivered directly to stores based on individual customer

needs, first-time accuracy is absolutely essential.

“Voice technology is the best solu-tion to meet our business’s needs,” says John Rosser, general manager of Hi-Spec Lenses. “It’s like having a guide sitting on your shoulder telling you where to go and what to do next. Not having to constantly look in mul-tiple directions and carry paper or an RF device in your hands improves con-centration, speed and accuracy.”

The company simultaneously implemented the new WMS (JDA, jda.com) and VMS. In addition to speed and accuracy, the project improved shipping times to meet same-day or next-day delivery requirements and reduced employee training time from half a day to one hour or less.

Hi-Spec Lenses deploys voice software

Voice systems can be configured for more than a dozen languages in a single facility, including different languages for inputs and outputs.



goods, says Vocollect’s Armant. This can turn a retail store or grocery store into a mini-warehouse. “In both the store and the warehouse we also see voice used not just for picking, but for workforce management,” he says. Voice can direct workers to activities like “pick up a pal-let,” “clean the meat slicer,” or “set up an end cap or in-aisle display.”

Voice as a virtual coworkerBy its nature, voice is also a better conversationalist than paper. Some companies are using this fact to keep workers more productive and engaged. “Between the aging workforce and the new Millennials who are used to gaming and smart phone technology, the expec-tations are higher,” says Lachenman. “One customer wanted to do something fun with the voice system’s dialog, so if a worker reaches a certain level of pro-ductivity, the voice will say ‘woo-hoo!’ They’re trying to make the job a better experience for the worker.”

A hearing impaired employee—or one in a noisy environment—can issue voice commands like “louder” or

“softer.” A worker in need of a challenge can say “faster.” A picker unsure of the tar-get item can say “show me” and view it on a screen.

Multilingual employees can set up the system for Spanish inputs and English outputs, for instance. “You can also make an operator’s performance visible to the operator and fellow associ-ates,” says Absil. “This can drive friendly competition that further improves pro-ductivity.”

By accepting natural commands and keeping workers focused on the most critical task at any given time, voice can become a virtual coworker. It can also turn equipment into one. Some automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), or robotic versions of lift trucks and

pallet jacks, are capable of pairing with voice systems.

The pieces are there for effective AGV/picking solutions, but Armant says the trick is tying all the compo-nents together efficiently. “It ties into the Big Data concept and the push toward real-time capabilities,” he says. “How do you take all the data in the WMS, LMS, voice and asset database to work toward predictive analytics? Don’t just report on a past event, but identify trends and how to improve things preemptively. Voice can play a role in that.” M

Companies mentioned in this articleLUCAS SYSTEMS: lucasware.com

MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS: motorolasolu-tions.com

TOPVOX: top-vox.com

VOCOLLECT BY HONEYWELL: vocollect-voice.com

VOXWARE: voxware.com

Lucas Systems (lucasware.com), an independent provider of voice-

directed warehouse applications, recently conducted an analysis of multi-modal usage among the com-pany’s current customers.

More than half are using radio-frequency (RF) scanning within their voice picking and other voice-directed applications, and scan usage has grown to 80% of customers that installed a new voice solution since 2010.

According to the Lucas survey, the vast majority of customers are using standard mobile devices that support voice direction, speech recognition, bar code scanning, touchscreen dis-plays and keypads:

• 85% are using standard mobile computers with an integrated scanner. The remaining 15% are using devices

that can be paired with an external scanner.

• Every customer using standard computers uses the device screen for log in and user training.

• A growing number are also using the screen to present visual infor-mation to users such as view item/SKU number or product image; view and manage work lists (such as base items); detailed user alerts; and on-screen help and diagnostics.

• 58% regularly use scanning as part of their voice applications. The most common uses are to scan bar codes to identify equipment, verify item UPC codes, cart set-up, and car-ton/tote induction.

• The use of bar code scanning to capture item-level data such as serial numbers and lot numbers has doubled since 2010, to 28%.

Multi-modal: Among voice users, item-level scanning has doubled since 2010

Multi-modal voice-based platforms can be tailored to suit a variety of workflows throughout a facility.

✯


Since 1991, Modern’s Productivity Achievement Awards have honored those companies that have made outstanding operational improvements through mate-rials handling systems and related infor-

mation systems. Our editorial team selects finalists from among the monthly system reports published on Modern’s cover over the course of the previous year.

Finalists in the Manufacturing and Warehousing/Distribution categories are recognized for their abil-ity to provide outstanding customer service, quickly respond to changing business conditions, deliver orders that meet customer requirements, and improve opera-tions. The Innovation category recognizes compa-nies that successfully employed a solution that defies convention. This year, in addition to achievements in productivity, throughput, or efficiency, winners were also judged on how projects inside the four walls enable or complement the broader business objectives of the company. Three finalists in each category were then passed along to a panel of expert judges.

This year’s panel of Productivity Achievement Awards judges includes: Bryan Jensen, vice presi-dent with supply chain consultancy St. Onge; Andres L. Carrano, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Auburn University; Steve Simmerman, senior vice president of business development at TZA; and Jim Tompkins, founder and CEO of Tompkins International.

The winners are:

ManufacturingBraun Corporation

www.mmh.com/braun

Warehousing & DistributionWirtz Beverage

www.mmh.com/wirtz

Innovation*Genco

www.mmh.com/genco

Wirtz Beveragewww.mmh.com/wirtz

*This year in the Innovation category, two companies tied for points in the judges’ voting.

✯ ✯ ✯

✯ ✯ ✯

special report


MODERN special report

✯ Productivity Achievement Awards✯


With a new fleet of tuggers and carts, the updated storage system at Braun Corporation’s manufacturing facility gets more done in less space.

nside the Winimac, Ind., manufacturing facility for Braun Corporation, there is a real connection between the workers and the work. As makers of wheelchair- and scooter-accessi-ble vans and lifts, the facility’s 250 employees recognize they are providing goods that improve the lives of their customers. Workers are regularly reminded of this fact because the compa-ny’s founder, the late Ralph Braun, was the very first customer.

Under Braun’s guidance, the company grew rapidly, but the manufacturing facility’s material flow and assembly pro-cesses started to strain under the weight of incoming orders. Undisciplined storage practices and the habit of physically carrying parts to and from the line were cutting into productiv-ity, crowding the storage area and testing workers’ stamina.

In 2010, the company launched a project to streamline the 200,000-square-foot facility. Concepts such as 5S (sort, straighten, sweep, standardize, sustain) were introduced to streamline storage and delivery processes to the line. “Until then, things were changing so fast they were never able to stop and re-evaluate anything,” says Ken Morgel, purchas-ing and supply chain manager for Braun Corporation, who joined the company at the start of the project.

Over the course of the project, tuggers and cart trains

(tugger: Columbia Par-Car; carts: Creform, Topper, Braun Corporation) replaced one-off trips to storage for items carried by hand, reducing traffic in and around the warehouse area. Smart slotting replaced the hunt for lost items in storage. By the end of the project, nearly one third of the 34,000-square-foot storage space was handed over to manufacturing for an expanded assembly line, and 17% of warehouse workers had been redeployed to more value-added areas.

“The warehouse area is now an enabler for manufacturing to improve,” says Morgel. “We’re not a liability, and my main focus is to stay off the radar. I don’t want to be the issue holding up production.”

For the customer, by the customerBefore Braun Corporation was founded in 1972, Ralph Braun designed and built his own powered three-wheeled scooter in the 1960s. Driven by his need for mobility, Braun used the scooter for his daily commute in Winimac, his hometown. When he changed jobs and that commute lengthened, he simply modified a postal van by adding a ramp to accom-modate his scooter.

Word of mouth spread the news and Braun Corporation

Mobility in motionI

MANUFACTURING:

Braun Corporation


Ken Morgel, purchasing and supply chain manager for Braun Corporation, helped transition more than 10,000 square feet of storage space into productive manufacturing space. Above: The storage space behind the new expanded manufacturing line is a third of its former size, yet is more efficient than ever.

ultimately developed a line of scooters, wheelchair lifts and conversion vans. The company saw rapid growth in the 1990s when two forces converged. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act created standards for accessibility in employment, public transportation and other public accom-modations. At the same time, the minivan as we know it became immensely popular. These days, the company’s con-tinued growth is attributable to a growing customer base of veterans and aging baby boomers.

As his company grew from one employee to 800, Braun worked to stay personally involved. “I was incredibly inspired by Ralph,” says Morgel. “He was here practically every day,

out talking to folks on the floor. By seeing what we do and who we help, at the end of the day I know I’m putting some-thing good into the world.”

This feeling was shared by many of the assemblers in the facility, who put their share of elbow grease to use as the company expanded. A strong work ethic, however, was not enough to overcome the increasingly evident shortcom-ings of the facility layout and the flow of parts to the line. In addressing these problems, the company’s 2010 lean project had three major objectives:

1. Reduce or eliminate the need for line workers to retrieve their own parts from the warehouse space, carrying

Photos by Peter Wynn Thompson/Getty Images

them over their shoulders or manually pushing heavy loaded carts.

2. Improve storage efficiency in a random-location warehouse with no first-in, first-out (FIFO) capabilities.

3. Increase the use of reusable con-tainers and negotiate in-sequence parts from suppliers.

Morgel teamed up with materials handling supervisor Tim Kasten and materials manager Ben Hitchens to tackle these problems one at a time.

Increasing storage accessibilityWhen the warehouse project began, a lean initiative was already underway in the nearby manufacturing space. This provided a clear goal in terms of layout. In fact, the 34,000-square-foot ware-house space would need to be reduced by 10,000 square feet to make room for an expanded manufacturing line.

“The first step was housecleaning, in line with the 5S methodology,” says Morgel. “We finally started looking at stuff we had been tripping over for a long time.” Morgel and his team set about segregating productive inventory from non-productive inventory, such as maintenance, repair and operations

(MRO) supplies. “Both were in the same warehouse,

even though they flow completely differently,” says Morgel. “We never knew who was going through the most gloves, weld-wire or helmets. The overhead was spread across all workers evenly.” The MRO inventory was segregated to free up space, and scanners were deployed so that when someone asked for another helmet it was attributed directly to that person. Morgel says, “There was probably a six-figure savings, just because of that visibility and the new report-running capabilities.”

The existing storage system loosely tracked parts locations in a dynamic stor-age setup with random putaway into can-tilever racking, a mezzanine, floor storage and pallet rack. “It was haphazard,” says Morgel. “There wasn’t a defined standard on how we needed to store anything.” The accuracy of the storage was driven mainly by the integrity and discipline of individual employees.

One big change with the new system is the creation of dedicated storage for fast-movers. “We realized we had slow-moving inventory in our pallet racking and on the

floor, and we had fast-movers up on the mezzanine, which was hard to access,” says Morgel. “We did a fundamental, ‘Storage 101’ slotting. Slow movers went in reserve, fast-movers in front.”

In addition to adding 2 feet of height to each aisle, aisle widths

were also standardized from roughly 12 feet to a consistent 10 feet. Rack bridges in the middle of each aisle were removed, increasing storage density and reducing the number of blind turns for lift truck operators.

Partners in successWith storage methodologies updated, it was time to look at how parts moved in and out of the new system. On the inbound side, Morgel and his team approached their largest parts supplier, a fabrication shop across the street. “We pushed back to them to request items be containerized so we could make better use of space in the warehouse,” says Morgel. “We asked, ‘If we give you bins and tell you what we need in them, can you do it?’”

The supplier agreed, and a series of A, B, and C-sized reusable totes were rolled out. The tote sizes were based on ergonomic weight limits for lifting. They housed both loose parts and an increas-ing number of kitted in-sequence parts. Labels were applied to totes that could then be scanned to signal a replenish-ment or next order.

“That helped the other thing we weren’t doing well, which is FIFO,” says Morgel. “Now, we put totes on gravity fed racks and load from the back and pick from the front.”

The streamlined product flow enabled an increase in items deliv-ered to the line just in time. Once a sequence had been defined, Morgel and his team worked with suppliers to receive parts in order. Large, unwieldy and expensive plastic parts were the hardest to store and handle, so Morgel requested they be painted in sequence and put into a cell pack. “One day’s worth comes on a truck and is delivered directly to the line, just in time and in the sequence they will be used on the line,” he says. “We have greatly reduced the amount of storage needed for those items, while reducing damage resulting from handling and storing.”

Morgel estimates they have reduced inventory of painted exterior plastics by




Minimizing product damage, customized

storage containers can be safely moved and

stored by forklifts before carts and tuggers deliver

their contents to the manufacturing line.

at least $100,000. Inventory of interior plastics has been cut by “easily double or triple that,” he says.

Powered mobilityThe final step involved the retrieval of parts from storage and their delivery to the line. “There were instances where people at the manufacturing line would write down in a notepad all the things they needed from the warehouse,” says Morgel. “They’d go get as many as they could carry, bring them to the line, then go back for more.”

The small number of carts in use had to be pushed manually. “Since we didn’t have cut-throughs in the line,” says Morgel, “they would have to push carts all the way down and all the way back to where they had just been. I saw some of the things the materials han-dling guys were expected to do and it did not look very pleasant.”

If parts weren’t manually carried, or pushed on a heavily loaded cart, they were delivered lineside by a forklift, creating too much combined pedes-trian and equipment traffic. “We knew we needed to restrict and minimize forklift movement on the manufac-turing floor,” says Morgel. “We also wanted to eliminate the inefficient and unsafe manual tote movement, where associates often carried items hun-dreds of feet.”

The solution involved a fleet of four tuggers and carts to satisfy the majority of parts movement between the ware-house and the line. “It was as easy as that. By combining several trips into one it reduces the number of people

needed, reduces the number of trips, and keeps people out of the aisles.” Three of the 17 materials handlers were redeployed to value-added areas, including one who became the dedi-cated manager of the tool crib and new MRO space.

Each tugger has a three-cart limit, and each cart typically has one day’s worth of production loaded onto it. The new fleet of carts is modified to reduce parts damage by keeping them separate. Andrew Roberts, the manufacturing engineering manager, also helped with a redesign of the manufacturing lineside display to facilitate cart movements and part retrieval for assemblers. The facil-ity now operates more smoothly with one less forklift.

“The carts shorten walk times, address ergonomic issues at the line, and allowed us to reduce our forklift fleet from five to four,” says Morgel. “It created less traffic and a safer environ-ment throughout the facility.”

mmh.com

More parts are now delivered to workers just in time, moving from receiving directly to the line.

System suppliers SYSTEM INTEGRATOR: Braun Corporation,

braunability.com

TUGGER: Columbia Par-Car, parcar.com

CARTS: Creform, creform.com; Topper

Industrial, topperindustrial.com; in-house

PALLET RACK: Ridg-u-Rak, ridgurak.com

LIFT TRUCKS: The Raymond Corp.,

raymondcorp.com

MOBILE COMPUTERS: Glacier Computer,

glaciercomputer.com

HANDHELD SCANNERS: Intermec,

intermec.com



300 Newsome Drive • Yorktown, VA 23692Phone: (757) 898-1530 • Fax: (757) 898-1580VERTICAL CONVEYING SOLUTIONS

Save space and increase throughput with Ryson high capacity spiral conveyors. They are in response to our customer’s need to go higher and handle more weight. They can handle double the weight capacity of our regular spirals and still only need one drive. Most units ship fully assembled saving on installation costs.

Quality and service come first at Ryson. We are the number one spiral manufacturer in the USA. For application assistance or more information, give us a call or visit www.ryson.com.

Visit us a MODEX Booth 8123

High CapacitySpiral Conveyors

Adding automation to the distribution mix





With AS/RS, voice-directed picking and high-speed sortation, Wirtz Beverage Illinois takes the lead in wine and spirits distribution.

As the wine and spirits industry consolidates around fewer and larger distributors, leading players are looking to automation to trans-

form their businesses. An industry that was once characterized by lift trucks, floor storage and manual palletizing is embracing high-speed conveyor and sortation systems, voice-directed pick-ing, and a warehouse management sys-tem that can deliver cartons in the right sequence for delivery stops.

In suburban Chicago, Wirtz Beverage Illinois is taking that formula to the next level of automation. A family-owned, multi-state distributor with 2,500 employ-ees and revenues of $1.8 billion, Wirtz Beverage worked with a systems integra-tor (W&H Systems, whsystems.com) to consolidate operations from three facili-ties into one new 555,500-square-foot dis-tribution center near Midway Airport in Cicero. In addition to the above technolo-gies, the facility is one of the first in the industry to feature an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS; Westfalia,

westfaliausa.com). Operating in a 42-foot high area

with 22,470 pallet positions, the AS/RS stores and replenishes the 780 fastest-moving SKUs. In all, there are 1.3 mil-lion cases stored in just 110,000 square feet. These products represent nearly 75% of the case needs from the facility. The AS/RS is serviced by three tandem cranes, each of which is capable of han-dling two pallets at a time and a total of 200 pallet moves per hour. Pallets are stored 10 pallets deep. The cranes also replenish eight fully integrated pick-to-belt modules within the AS/RS.

Add in a voice-directed, split-case bottling picking operation, conventional pick areas for slower-moving SKUs, and a high-speed conveyor and shipping sorter, and the facility is handling more than 7,500 SKUs and 2.2 million cases in inventory. The facility picks and loads as many as 85,000 cases for delivery in a 10-hour shift.

“In our final year in our old facilities, we went from 50,000 to 84,000 cases a night with a shipping sorter that could run about 5,300 cases per hour,” says

WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION; INNOVATION: Wirtz Beverage

Adding automation to the distribution mix




From left: Wirtz Beverage team members Mike Brown,

Art Wirtz and Rocky Ruane



Rocky Ruane, regional director of ware-house operations. “That was taking too long for us to get our trucks on the road and service our customers.” Within four months of going live in the new facility, Ruane adds, Wirtz Beverage processed 85,000 cases in 10 hours. “Those were sustained rates that we hadn’t seen before,” he says.

What’s more, the system was designed with room to grow. For instance, the AS/RS alone can be expanded to store more than 2.2 million cases in the future. That was important to a family-owned business that plans for the next generation and not just the next quarter.

Consolidation and growthWirtz Beverage is the largest wine and spirits distributor in Illinois. In addi-tion, the company has operations in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada

and Wisconsin. The move to automate was

driven by business growth, says Art Wirtz, executive vice president of supply chain and operations and grandson of the founder. The company was founded in 1945, when Wirtz’s grandfather acquired Judge & Dolph in Illinois and Edison Liquor in Wisconsin. Soon after, Wirtz’s father and uncle entered the business. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the family business expanded to Minnesota and Nevada and acquired other alcoholic beverage distribu-tors in Illinois. In 1980, for instance, Judge & Dolph purchased Hiram Walker’s wholesale operations. In 1989, it bought the Fox River Distributing Company in Aurora and Jaenicke Distributing Company in Rockford.

In the 1990s, the com-pany expanded operations throughout the state of

Illinois. In 2003, the distributor began adding warehouses to support its operations after it was selected as the exclusive distributor for all of Diageo’s brands in Illinois.

In 2008, the company combined operations in Illinois with Glazers. “With that change, we went from ship-ping four million to eight million cases a year,” says Wirtz. “We were now oper-ating out of three metro warehouse facilities just in Chicago plus an addi-tional office building.” The company was also re-branded under the Wirtz Beverage name.

Each of the warehouse facilities in Chicagoland served a special purpose in a just-in-time order fulfillment pro-cess managed by Wirtz Beverage’s ware-house management system (WMS). One facility, with pick modules and a conveyor and shipping sorter system, was used to consolidate orders and load

trucks. A second facility was used for bulk storage, while a third served to consolidate slow-moving SKUs.

Pick modules in the order fulfill-ment warehouse were replenished with cartons from the bulk storage facility. In addition, slow-moving SKUs were pulled from the two satellite facilities and delivered to that facility. Those cartons were manually inducted onto the conveyor and sorter system and married with the items being picked in the facility. “If we sold 50,000 cases on Tuesday, on Wednesday we were bring-ing in as many of those 50,000 cases as we could so we could load the trucks,” says Ruane. “It was truly just in time.”

Although complex, the system worked. However, the company real-ized it had to consolidate its operations under one roof if it was going to con-tinue to grow. Wirtz, Ruane and Mike Brown, the regional director of finance, along with Anthony Iatarola from Wirtz Realty, spent a year and a half looking for land in the Chicago area suitable for the kind of facility they envisioned. They settled on Sportsman’s Park, a 35-acre site in the shadow of Midway Airport. Site of a defunct race track, the land was owned by the city of Cicero.

At the same time it was scouring the area for land, the Wirtz team researched a new approach to conventional bever-age distribution. “We toured other facili-ties and we met with several different potential partners to understand best practices in our industry,” says Wirtz. “We knew that we needed to design a system that would support the peaks and valleys of our business, reduce touches and work within our financial model.”

A balanced approachWhile the new facility appears to be a showcase for materials handling technology, Wirtz Beverage did not automate for the sake of automation. Rather, the distributor took a balanced approach to the design of the facility. “When we decided to build new, we had a clean sheet of paper,” says Wirtz. “We knew that we were still going to


Wirtz Beverage’s high-speed conveyor and sortation system processes as many as 85,000 cases in a 10-hour shift.



floor-load our trailers based on the order profile; that we were going to use the same type of delivery equipment; and that we would have very few pal-let deliveries. Knowing those things, we wanted to design a system that would accurately build our loads in the most efficient way.”

What they decided on was some-thing the Wirtz team refers to as a hybrid approach that combines conventional

distribution with automation where technology could be justified. “We were very comfortable with the traditional approach to wine and spirits distribu-tion,” Wirtz says. “We understand its limitations and we know the work-arounds for the seasonal spikes in our business.” Still, they wanted a facility that would optimize the available space, meet their new throughput require-ments and accommodate growth.


Wirtz Beverage Illinois’ new facil-ity brings together a variety of

materials handling and information technologies. They include:

• AS/RS: 24,000 pallets of storage are serviced by three tandem cranes. The system includes eight embedded high-volume, full-case pick modules with fully automated storage and replenishment capabilities. This signifi-cantly reduces labor while maximizing overall building space utilization.

• Two double-level pick modules: Slower-moving, full-case SKUs are stored in the general warehouse and picked from two double level pick modules.

• Zero-pressure, photo-eye accu-mulation conveyor: Accumulation conveyor maximizes the system throughput while lowering product damage over the 4 miles of conveyor.

• 3 pre-merges and a high-speed combiner: The pre-merges consoli-date the inputs from 14 infeeds. The high-speed combiner creates a single line of cartons properly gapped for the sortation process.

• High-rate shipping sorter: 23 divert lanes on a soft touch sliding shoe sorter minimize product twist-ing, jamming and damage and obtains high levels of system throughput. At peak, the system can handle more than 10,000 cartons per hour.

• 2 spiral conveyors: One spiral incline conveyor and one accumulating decline motor driven roller conveyor optimize space and efficient conveyor routing.

• Scan tunnel and vision system: To help maximize order accuracy and security, a five-sided scan tunnel captures bar code information while

a vision capture system photographs each carton’s artwork and matches that image against the SKU item for verification and order accuracy.

• 16 automated extendable truck loaders: These are set back off the dock for pallet insertion as well as loading both short delivery trucks and 53-foot long trailers.

• Bottle room for individual bottles with pick by voice: Individual bottles are picked by voice. The tech-nology maximizes split case picking productivity and accuracy rates. There are two picking lines in the bottle room;

• One express line for orders com-pleted from the floor-level racks makes up more than 80% of the volume

• One local line for orders that also need some of the slower-moving items on the second floor. This concept reduces the “touches” and improves throughput rates.

• Warehouse management sys-tem (WMS): The WMS manages approximately 8,500 SKUs including inventory management and tracks orders placed by customers. Orders are then fed to the warehouse control system.

• Warehouse control system (WCS): The WCS sequences pick-ing with many wave-based picking parameters. Routed delivery trucks are loaded in reverse stop delivery sequence.

• Monitoring software: This sys-tem monitors equipment performance and productivity, diagnoses system problems and assists maintenance personnel in monitoring alarms.

Automation highlights

Division is easier than you think.

1.800.888.9750www.tmi-pvc.com/mmh

Industrial Curtains separate different temperature zones, contain dust & debris and offer long-lasting energy savings.

INDUSTRIAL CURTAINS


As the company considered higher lev-els of automation, three criteria became paramount for now and in the future: Uptime, efficiency and financial feasibility.

The choice of automated storage technologies represented a leap forward for the industry. Up to this point, only one or two other wine and spirits dis-tributors had incorporated AS/RS tech-nology in their operations. For Wirtz, one of the first decisions was how high to build that portion of the building. “We priced out facilities that were up to 100 feet high,” Wirtz says. “We would have spent less money on land, but we would have spent more money on higher strength racking, the sprinkler system and a bigger concrete slab to handle the weight.” More importantly, Wirtz adds, “a 100-foot high building isn’t as versatile as a conventional build-ing should something change about our requirements in the future.”

For that reason, the team decided on

a maximum distance of 45 feet to the roof as the most cost-effective building for its purposes and its business model. Pallets are stored five high in the space. And while the AS/RS is currently stor-ing about 1.3 million cases, it can be expanded to close to three million cases in the future.

To streamline the receiving and put-away processes, the AS/RS was erected close to the receiving dock. It was also designed to handle both storage and replenishment duties to get more out of the system. Along with putting pallets away into storage, pallets are placed on flow lanes in each pick face. “On any given night, a pick location is going to go through 10 to 20 pallets,” says Ruane. “That’s a lot of lift truck moves if a driver has to go into reserve stor-age and replenish each pick location.” In fact, the labor freed up by automat-ing the replenishment activities in the AS/RS was a key factor in delivering the

ROI for the system. Voice-directed picking was another

new technology introduced in the Cicero facility. Previously, the com-pany used pick-to-light in its split case, bottle-pick areas in its order fulfillment facility. After visiting a voice reference site where an older associate was pick-ing 600 bottles per hour using voice, the Wirtz team adopted the technol-ogy. “The metrics made sense, and we get great reporting from the system,” Ruane says. “Plus the associates like it. They challenge themselves to improve

Voice-directed picking technology drives the processes in the split case picking area. At the end of the line, mixed cases are inducted onto the conveyor system and directed to the shipping sorter where they are matched up with full cases for outbound orders.

System suppliers SYSTEMS INTEGRATION AND

MONITORING SOFTWARE:

W&H Systems, whsystems.com

AUTOMATED STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL

SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED SOFTWARE:

Westfalia, westfaliausa.com

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

Manhattan Associates, manh.com

ERP: Microsoft Dynamics, microsoft.com/

en-us/dynamics/erp.aspx

ERP/WMS SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR: Blue

Horseshoe, bhsolutions.com

WAVE PLANNING SYSTEM: Contech

Systems

VOICE PICKING SYSTEM: Lucas Systems,

lucasware.com

CONVEYOR AND SORTATION EQUIPMENT:

Intelligrated, intelligrated.com

SPIRAL CONVEYOR: AmbaFlex,

ambaflex.com

ADJUSTABLE CONVEYOR: Stewart Glapat,

adjustoveyor.com

FIXED SCANNERS: SICK, sickusa.com

VISION CAPTURE SYSTEM: Numina Group,

numinagroup.com

MOBILE COMPUTING AND HANDHELD

SCANNING: Motorola, motorolasolutions.

com; Intermec, intermec.com

LIFT TRUCKS: order pickers & reach trucks,

Crown, crown.com; high bay order pickers,

reach trucks and walkie riders, Jungheinrich,

jungheinrich.com; forklifts, Mitsubishi

Caterpillar Forklift America, www.mcfa.

com/_mcfa/index.cfm




on their numbers.” The last improvement was a merge

and combiner in the shipping sorter that significantly improved the flow of cases through the facility. That system increased the after-sort buffer from 80 to 90 cases per truck to 425 cases per truck.

Integrating software Tying together storage, conveyor and picking technologies required the inte-gration of four different software sys-tems. “Prior to this new facility, the transfers between buildings led to a very complicated WMS,” says Brown. “In the new facility, we simplified the WMS, but we now have four different systems talking together to synchro-nize activities across the facility.” This was all accomplished with the support from a business partnership with Blue Horseshoe.

The software scheme begins with an

enterprise resource planning (ERP) sys-tem that manages processes at the high-est level. Incoming product is received into the facility and scanned into the warehouse management system. The WMS also directs put away processes into the conventional storage areas. Pallets that will be stored in the AS/RS are scanned and measured when they are inducted into the system by con-veyor. At that point, management of the pallet is transferred to the warehouse control system (WCS) in charge of the AS/RS. That system directs the cranes to put pallets into storage locations and directs replenishment of the picking areas.

A third software system creates wave picking plans that are shared with other systems. The WMS directs all of the picking operations. “Once the cranes fill the pick line, the inventory belongs to the WMS again even though

it’s still in the AS/RS area,” says Brown. “We want the WMS to manage all of our pick locations.”

Finally, a WCS manages the convey-ors, coordinates the delivery of cartons to the shipping sorter, and puts them in the right sequence for loading into trucks.

“Ultimately, we developed a busi-ness model when we were designing the system and we have executed that model with the labor we had fore-casted,” says Wirtz. “We’re meeting our budget from a manpower and over-time standpoint.”

What’s more, the distributor is fill-ing all of its orders and getting its trucks on the road ahead of the competition. “The key to the wine and spirits distri-bution business is to get your drivers on the road ahead of your competition,” says Ruane. “We’re doing that, with room to grow.”

ProStackProStackProStackProStackProStackProStackProStackProStackProStackProStack®®ProStack®ProStackProStack®ProStack® Pallets Pallets Pallets® Pallets®® Pallets® Pallets Pallets Pallets Pallets Pallets Pallets Pallets Pallets40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE40x48 PERFORMANCE LINE

EdgeRackable

Available in Solid Top Design Available in lower height/reduced weight version

Polymer Solutions International, Inc.Where Ideas Become Solutions

EdgeRackable

EdgeEdgeEdgeRackableRackable

EdgeRackable

EdgeEdgeRackable

Edge

ProGenic

EdgeEdgeEdgeRackableRackable

EdgeRackable

EdgeEdgeRackable

Edge

Double Leg Ratchet

Reduce the Risk of Product Recalls “Food, beverage and pharmaceutical processors are increasingly implementing

plastic pallets as part of their inspection and quality control processes.”

Visit us at: www.prostackpallets.com • Call Us! Toll Free (877) 444-7225Email: [email protected] • P.O. Box 310, Newtown Sq., PA 19073 USA • (609) 714-3390 • FAX (610) 356-6327






f a new process for handling consumer electronics con-tinues to deliver results, the future of materials han-dling may include a striking red robot with big digital eyes, bushy digital eyebrows and a quizzical expression that makes you want to smile.

At Genco’s campus in Ft. Worth, Texas, Baxter, as the robot is known (Rethink Robotics, rethinkro-botics.com/products/baxter/), is working side by side with team members on a packaging line. The campus includes 1 million square feet of distribution space spread across three buildings and handles the return, repair and refurbishment of consumer electronics products such as cell phones and GPS navigation sys-tems.

In this process, employees load four products—one at a time—into a form that goes into the sealer. When they come out the other side, Baxter picks and places four packages at a time on a takeaway conveyor that delivers them to the next step in the process.

Why the interest in piece-picking robots? “The cost and flexibility of the technology has lowered the barriers to entry for robotics,” says Jeremiah Miele, a Pittsburgh-based project engineer who is leading Genco’s robotics efforts.

“There’s an ability to do things with robotics that didn’t exist five or 10 years ago,” adds Pete Rector, executive vice president of technology and lean solu-tions for Genco. “We think it’s just a matter of time

before robotics are mainstream in materials handling. It’s going to happen faster than people think.”

The journey to lean distribution As a rule, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) such as Genco are reluctant to adopt mechanized equip-ment. The short contracts common to the business aren’t compatible with the multi-year payback associ-ated with automation, something Rector and Miele acknowledge. “If you’re 18 months into a three-year contract, you’re going to be reticent to make an invest-ment in something with a two-year payback,” says Rector, “especially if the customer won’t help you capitalize the cost of the new technology.”

What’s more, the most common mecha-nized technologies, such as conveyors, sorters and carousels, are bolted to the floor. If a customer brings the processes in-house at the end of the contract and doesn’t need the equipment for its uses, the 3PL might


Genco is looking to piece handling robots and automatic lift trucks to take its business to the next level of materials handling.

Is there a robot in your distribution future?

INNOVATION: Genco




Jeremiah Miele, project engineer (left), and Brian Morris, director of engineering, Ft. Worth, Texas (right).

a robot in your

PHOTOGRAPHY BY jUSTIN CLEMONS/GETTY IMAGES



not be able to repurpose the equipment for its next client.

As the largest U.S.-owned 3PL in North America, with 40 million square feet of distribution space, Genco is rethinking that traditional approach to automation. In part, the exploration of automation is driven by a commitment to lean distribution and continuous improvement focused on three areas.

1. The elimination of waste: “Most organizations are good at adding processes but not so good at taking them away as the need changes,” says Rector. Over time, even lean processes that have not been “refreshed” can become cum-bersome. “We want to remove anything that no longer adds value,” Rector says.

2. Centralize processes: Whenever possible, Genco wants to centralize com-

mon tasks in one place. “We’d rather have three people doing something in a single centralized location than more people doing that same thing in multiple facili-ties,” Rector explains.

3. Mechanize where possible: As described by Miele, Genco looks for applications where automation can be a workforce multiplier. That is a task where one piece of equipment can do the work of several people, ideally across multiple shifts. “We want to reserve for people tasks that people do well and reserve for machines those things that are repeti-tive and standardized in nature,” Miele says. “In situations like removing pack-ages from forms, machines help people perform better.”

The evolution of some types of mate-rials handling automation is putting it in

reach of 3PLs. For instance, robots like the ones being used in Ft. Worth have come down dramatically in price. “With end effectors and warranties, the robot we’re using costs around $35,000,” says Miele. “You don’t need an engineer to program it—a team member can train it. Then, it can work side by side with a team member from a safety perspec-tive, and it is very reliable. If the func-tion is no longer needed, we can put it on a truck, ship it to another facility and get it up and running in a very short period of time.”

What’s more, some new technolo-gies are more flexible than conveyors and sorters—or even other materi-als handling robots. Baxter does not have to be fenced off like a palletizing robot. It can work side by side with a


Robots are used in Genco’s Ft. Worth campus, which features three buildings totaling 1 million square feet of space to handle the return, refurbishment and redistribution of consumer electronics.

Find everything you need when researching companies, trends, and industries.Supply Chain 24/7 is the ultimate online business resource for transportation, distribution, logistics and supply chain professionals.

Your best business resource for:• News• Best practices• Trends• Case studies• White papers• Webcasts• Research• Special reports• Blogsand much much more!

Visit supplychain247.com. Begin your experience today.

Featured companies that are relevant to the

specific topicTrending news and features

Search engine can search across content elements and by specific

companies

supplychain247.com




team member. It is not bolted to the floor, which allows it to be easily moved from one workstation to another within a facility. “You can train the robot to do a task, like run 50,000 things that need to be packaged and shipped,” says Miele. “When that job is done, you can unplug the robot, move it to another area, retrain it and you’re done. We’ve never had that type of agility before.”

Adopting robotic technology The Genco robotics project began to take shape when Rector read a press release about the Baxter robot. Following a conversation with the manufacturer, a local distributor gave the Genco team a demonstration of the robot’s capabilities. They were intrigued. “The user interface is so easy to use that the opera-tor working next to the robot can make simple modifications to how the robot operates just by moving the robot’s arms,” says Miele. “In the past, that is something would have required engineers and technicians to do during a shift change.”

By the time they visited the Rethink Robotics booth at ProMat last January, the team was fairly certain it wanted to run a pilot program. They chose the Ft. Worth, Texas, facil-ity because it was a “target rich environment”—a facility with a lot of manual handling. And, Brian Morris, the director of engineering for the technology group in Ft. Worth, was willing to give it a go.

Following a visit to Rethink Robotics headquarters in Boston, a robot was shipped to the Ft. Worth facility in June. The Genco team did a safety assessment to find out if the robot safely did what it was advertised to do. Convinced that the robot could indeed work side by side with a teammate,

they looked for an application within the Ft. Worth facility for a pilot and chose unloading the packaging sealer.

Before launching the pilot, Miele and Morris emulated the application as closely as possible in a laboratory envi-ronment. They mocked up dimensions for the sealer and the fixture and used live product. “We were checking the full

range of the robots motion and moni-toring cycle times,” says Morris. “We wanted to be certain that if we did roll out into a live pilot on the line that we’d have a high probability of success.”

During the lab process, they designed a new hand for the robot. The one that came stock could support a variety of applications, but was not ideal for this application.

In mid-July, roughly a month after receiving the robot, the pilot went live. The process is relatively simple (see page 25). Upstream, Genco teammates place the consumer elec-tronic devices and accessories such as power cords and collateral material into a clam shell package. When the clam shells arrive at the workstation,

a teammate loads four pack-ages—one at a time—into a turntable fixture. Then, they indicate to the sealer that it can rotate to the next position. The robot communicates with the sealer through a programmable logic controller (PLC). Once product is sealed, the turntable rotates and presents the fixture to Baxter. The robot removes four packages at a time from the fixture and deposits them on a takeaway conveyor.

According to Miele, the Genco team took a cautious approach to the pilot. “We bab-ysat it for the first two weeks,” says Miele. “But after that, the robot was going full speed.” Teammates got the hang of working with it quickly—some in as little as half an hour. “We weren’t sure how our team-mates would react to work-ing with a robot,” says Morris. “But, the teammate in charge of Baxter had no problems, and we found that other teammates were excited about seeing the robot at work.”

By the end of the month-long pilot, Miele and Morris were

convinced the robot could meet the reliability and cycle times required to go live on the line and that they had enough data to make a business case for robots.

Getting an ROI What then was the business case? First, because the robot can be used across multiple shifts, Genco has seen an

One of the features that attracted Genco to this robot was the ease of training. No special programming is required. A teammate can walk the robot through its motions.




What’s next for Genco? Automatic lift trucksWith robots on the line, the 3PL is preparing to experiment with automatic lift trucks

Piece-handling robots aren’t the only automated technol-ogy Genco is piloting. The 3PL is also preparing to pilot

automatic lift trucks at one of its larger facilities.These are not automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) in the

traditional sense of a specially built AGV. Instead, Genco is working with Balyo (balyo.com), a French technology provider that has developed a navigation and communica-tions system that converts a mass-produced lift truck into a vehicle that can operate in a conventional mode with an operator or communicate with a warehouse management sys-tem (WMS) to operate without a driver. In this case, the lift truck is being produced by Yale (yale.com). However, Balyo’s technol-ogy is OEM agnostic and can be added to any lift truck brand.

What’s more, unlike conven-tional AGVs, the vehicle does not require laser reflectors or magnetic tape to navigate in a building. Instead, Balyo has adapted a technique known as SLAM (simul-taneous localization and mapping) to navigate. This approach relies on lasers to create a map of the areas of the warehouse where the lift truck will work. That map is then stored in memory and becomes the reference point for the vehicle’s vision guidance sys-tem. Special algorithms enable the vehicle to account for changes in the landscape between when it was first mapped and the present to precisely navigate. For instance, a load of pallets may have been stacked in front of a rack that weren’t there when the space was first mapped. SLAM takes the pal-lets into consideration.

In the pilot program, the lift truck will transport pallets up to 800 feet from the receiving dock to storage loca-

tions, and from pick zones to shipping. “We want to use lift truck drivers in value-added tasks that require thinking, like picking or putting away a pallet into difficult racking,” says Andy Hunter, Genco’s director of engineering for lean solutions and the manager of the project. “We want to automate tasks that don’t require thinking, like long travel times and simple pick ups and drops.”

According to Hunter, Genco has been investigating automatic vehicles for the past several years. Conventional

AGVs were deemed too expen-sive. Genco also considered but rejected a competing mobile industrial truck technology because it doesn’t fully integrate with a WMS. “Our objective was to find a navigation system that could fully integrate with a WMS and eliminate long operator- dependent travel distances at an affordable cost,” Hunter says.

After a presentation from Balyo and visit with senior execu-tives at Yale, Genco decided to move forward with a pilot. If that is successful, Genco is also consid-ering other potential applications. For instance, Balyo is developing a solution in which the pallet truck will follow a picker through a pick zone, keeping the pallet at the right ergonomic height for pick-

ing. Once the pallet is built, the pallet truck will automati-cally deliver the pallet to its next location and a truck with an empty pallet will be dispatched for the next picking task.

As with robots, Genco believes that technologies like automatic lift trucks are a precursor of things to come. “We believe that if you can take a standard lift truck that acts like an AGV and can take instructions from a WMS, we’ll have something very special,” Hunter says.

In addition to piece-picking robots, Genco is investigating the use of lift trucks that can operate in automatic or manual mode.

increase in productivity. More impor-tantly, the pilot revealed other oppor-tunities to take waste out of the overall process, such as the addition of a new conveyor line to feed downstream pro-cesses and opportunities to combine or eliminate tasks within the existing process. “We now have a roadmap and a plan of attack to make those changes,” Miele says. They have also identified other processes where the robot can be applied—expanding that multiplier effect.

As with any new technology, there are limitations to what the robot can

do, says Rector. “It’s a little slow, and it has a limit on the payload it can pick up,” he says. At the same time, Genco is offering suggestions to the manufac-turer on how to improve the robot. “We want to be on the ground floor of this technology,” he says.

More importantly, Rector believes there is a future for robotic materials handling in distribution. “As people, we have a limit on how fast we can work on our own,” he says. “And when you look at robotics, there’s an ability to do things now that didn’t exist five or 10 years ago. Imagine if you take a

robot like Baxter and equip it with Siri. You now have a robot that can talk to you. How far is that? It’s closer than you think.”

“As a company,” he adds. “We want to be part of that.” M

System suppliers ROBOTS: Rethink Robotics,

rethinkrobotics.com/products/baxter/

AUTOMATIC LIFT TRUCKS: Balyo, balyo.

com; Yale, yale.com


Gravity roller replacement cuts noise, operating costs and maintenance in a small footprint.

MODERN productivity solution


Motion Industries Canada opened two new distribution centers in August 2011, one in

Edmonton and another in Montreal, replacing its single DC in Montreal and nearly quadrupling its size to 100,000 square feet. After installing an ultra-low-friction conveyor, the company has reduced noise, energy usage and handling inconsistencies.

Both new facilities have a conventional layout with shipping and receiving on opposite ends of the building and shelved inventory in the center. The shelves branch off at right angles to the shipping conveyor, which runs down the center of the layout to a 90-degree turn and then to a 180-degree turn leading to five shipping lanes, each for a specific Canadian province.

The facilities pick 2,000 to 2,400 lines per day for shipments bound for the company’s 70 Canadian branches. They also pick about 200 orders per day for direct shipment to customers. Each line may consist of many pieces of a specific product. Motion’s prior DC used two-level gravity

and powered roller conveyor. According to Tom Sawyer, Motion’s distribution center director, the new conveyor (Emerson Industrial Automation, emersonindustrial.com) is much quieter, vastly improving the work environment.

“The new setup has proven very reliable, con-veying totes without the drift that can occur on a gravity roller conveyor,” Sawyer says. “It is also ideal for a compact system layout. For example, we did a 180-degree turn in a 6-foot radius, measured on the outside of the conveyor.”

The new combination of conveyor chain and wear strips has a coefficient of friction of just 0.16, reducing energy consumption by about 25% com-pared to standard chains and wear strips. Each system includes a section of about 40 feet of accu-mulation conveyor with a specially designed surface that minimizes load, energy use and maintenance. Manual sortation to shipping lanes will soon be upgraded to automated sorting. M

Conveyor designed for beverage industry offers advantages in DC



Carolina Biological Supply Co. supplies class-rooms and laboratories with educational mate-

rials and resources. From living organisms to bio-technology kits and lab and safety equipment, the company offers more than 15,000 products to cus-tomers in more than 170 countries. After deploying a series of on-demand label printers, the company was able to ensure compliance with new chemical labeling requirements while improving inventory tracking and uniformity of branding.

The company ships thousands of items on a daily basis, making products available for delivery any day of the week. Known as the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, recent regulations rely on color print-ing and labeling accuracy to properly convey health and safety information for the handling of chemi-cal products. Initially, the company outsourced the label printing process, which proved to be expen-

sive, time-consuming and prone to inconsistencies. The company also considered adding an in-house indus-trial printer, but this option was logis-tically complicated for the various departments to cooperate and failed to meet GHS color labeling require-ments.

“Our old system was a labori-ous process that consisted of order-ing pre-printed color labels, loading them onto black and white labels and then making sure each label was cor-rectly sized,” says Fevzi Yalin, IT proj-ect manager at Carolina Biological. “Employees would often have to manually trim labels to ensure they fit products properly. The whole thing

was a huge drain on our time and resources. Now the entire process is just a single step.”

With a new on-demand color labeling solution (Epson, pos.epson.com), the company is able to provide color, compliance and accuracy for all its label operations. The printer creates a large variety of label sizes, up to 4.4 inches wide and at speeds up to 3.7 inches per second. The printers have been installed throughout the facility to create a dis-tributive network where each department can print product labels on demand in the exact formats and sizes needed.

The printers have helped reduce inventory upkeep of pre-printed label stock, minimize errors and print GHS-compliant color labels that can instantly reflect material safety data sheet changes. Yalin anticipates the company will reduce label-ing costs by about 50% and pay for the investment within the next couple of years. M

Networked printers ensure proper labels for 15,000 SKUs

Global supplier of educational materials streamlines labeling operations with on-demand color labels.



Baker & Taylor is an American wholesaler of books, videos and music supplies serving more

than 36,000 libraries, organizations and stores in more than 120 countries. For years, the com-pany used single-layer paper as protective packag-ing. In the fall of 2012, its distribution center in Indianapolis switched to a paper-padding machine. Since then, the company has improved ergonom-ics, increased productivity and lowered the cost of packaging materials.

Depending on the season, Baker & Taylor sends between 2,000 and 5,000 packages per day. The old single-layer paper machines were located in line directly adjacent to the roller conveyor. An employ-ee activated a foot switch to cut off the padding section and then stuffed the paper into the package using both hands.

During peak periods, the machine, employee and workstation had trouble keeping up, result-ing in inconsistency and mistakes. On average, an

employee required 11 touches for the protective packaging. In addition, the company did not have a system to calculate the actual per-unit cost of mate-rials and labor for protective packaging.

A new machine (Storopack, storopack.us) now creates paper tubes that occupy more volume with less paper. Without the need for a foot pedal, each pad can be automatically supplied to the worker, who uses fewer touches per package. Because the new machines are smaller, the workstation can also be reconfigured more easily. As a result, employ-ees are 25% faster, the total cost of packaging has decreased by 40% and packages are more than 30% lighter.

“Instead of the 18% the supplier had guaranteed us, the packaging cost has decreased by more than 40%,” says Tyler Baumgardner, operations manager at Baker & Taylor. “Plus it’s easier. Anyone who saw the new workstation wanted to have theirs upgrad-ed as quickly as possible.” M

Paper-padding machine starts new chapter for wholesaler

Workers and equipment are no longer bound to unmeasurable and inconsistent protective packaging.



The world’s leading fair for intralogistics

CeMAT 2014:The entire world of materials handling at one venue 1,100 exhibitors from 38 countries

More than 55,000 visitors from 39 countries

Forums and special displays on port, retail, production, transport, chemicals and pharmaceuticals logistics

More than 1,000 innovations

More information at cemat.com

cemat.comHannover Fairs USA, Inc · Tel. +1 773-796-4250 · [email protected]

Save the date:19 – 23 May 2014


A mature market by supply chain software standards, warehouse management systems continue to play a prominent role in the ever-changing shipping and distribution environment. Here are five market drivers that are sure to keep usage on the rise.

FACTORSdriving WMS growth

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO:

Positive feedback...Every time

[email protected] | 800.541.8506 x100

www.idlabelinc.com

Spring cleaning is just around the corner...

WAREHOUSE SIGNS

RACK LABELS

PREPRINTED LPN LABELS

NATIONAL INSTALLATION SERVICES

It’s time to rejuvenate those tired, cluttered beams.

Instill new life with Beam Renew™

and relabel your locations for a fresh new look.

Ask about our FREE white paper:

6 Steps to Successful Label & Sign Installation


If ARC Advisory Group’s predic-tions are on track, the warehouse management systems (WMS) sec-tor of the supply chain software market is bracing for more growth

after recently experiencing an 8% expansion.

De� ned as the systems that man-age a warehouse’s resources—includ-ing space, labor, equipment, tasks and material � ows—these solutions also rely on radio frequency identi� cation (RFID) and real-time location sys-tems to gather and disseminate critical information about the activities taking place within the four walls.

According to Clint Reiser, the ARC research analyst who recently completed a � ve-year WMS market analysis and technology forecast, the market is largely being driven by the need to replace or upgrade existing systems and retailers’ growing need for omni-channel management and visibility.

“Retailers are recon� guring tra-ditional warehouses with new zones focused on e-commerce and purchas-ing in-store WMS solutions to improve store-level inventory accuracy and expand order and ful� llment options,” says Reiser.

Calling WMS a “maturing enter-prise software market,” Reiser says that the worldwide market for these solutions has been “extremely volatile” over the last few years. That volatility could level out over the next few years as adoption of add-on modules—labor management, slotting optimization and warehouse analytics—grows and as supply chain professionals extend their WMS footprints to increase warehouse productivity.

However, we can expect WMS suppliers to step up to the plate and come up with solutions that meet users’ changing needs. “Incumbent WMS suppliers will support this trend,” Reiser predicts, “with ongoing product development to meet existing customers’ evolving requirements.”

Whether WMS repeated its 2012 performance of 8% growth in 2013 or not, the software sector is de� -nitely garnering more attention across numerous industries and being used by a range of logistics organizations. Here are � ve more market drivers to keep an eye on in 2014.

1 More “out of the box” WMS solutions.

With technology advancing at the speed of light, there is a certain expec-tation that supply chain solutions will come out of the box ready to use and � tted perfectly for the user.

This expectation has grown over the last year, says Brian Flynn, a manager at Capgemini and a WMS implemen-tation solutions architect. “There’s de� -nitely an expectation that WMS func-tionality will be a closer � t right out of the box,” says Flynn. “The best WMS solutions deliver on that promise, but in most cases we’re seeing an 80% to 90% � t for any particular site.”

Thanks to this high percentage, Flynn says that his team has had to write fewer and smaller customizations during the implementation phase. “Because we get so close with standard WMS functions,” says Flynn, “we can close the gap with a week’s worth of work rather than a year’s worth.”

2 Closer integration of WMS and warehouse control

systems (WCS). In his recent feature story, executive editor Bob Trebilcock wrote that the new generation of warehouse control systems (WCS) are creating a lot of buzz and “taking on the order ful� ll-ment tasks once assigned to a WMS, especially in highly automated facili-ties with complex order ful� llment strategies serving omni-channel retail sales environments.”

Dwight Klappich, research vice president at Gartner concurs, say-ing that he’s seeing “a slow progress of WMS vendors moving down into

the WCS layer.” Oracle and SAP, for example, have both integrated “mate-rials handling interfaces” into their solutions. “They don’t call it WCS, but it is,” says Klappich, who expects the growing demand for automation to continue driving the closer convergen-ces of WMS and WCS. “Most WMS vendors aren’t there yet, but they could be,” Klappich adds.

3 Better WMS support for new distribution strategies.

While the fundamentals of product distribution haven’t changed much during the last 20 years, the number of consumer sales channels and poten-tial partnerships have pushed � rms to rethink the way they get items from Point A to Point B.

In October, for example, Amazon announced that it was using Procter & Gamble’s warehouses as the online retailer makes a push into household products like shampoo and toilet paper. According to the Wall Street Journal, the arrangement enables Ama-zon to cut the delivery time to con-sumers and to better compete against Walmart, Costco and others.

Such developments push the tradi-tional WMS into new territory, accord-ing to Simon Ellis, practice director at IDC Manufacturing Insights. “WMS has to become better at handling indi-vidual items as opposed to cases and pallets,” says Ellis. “It also translates into the potential for warehouses to become smaller, more frequent and more modular in nature.”

This trend dovetails with the omni-channel paradigm, which � nds retail-ers blending their online and of� ine distribution methods into a single, cohesive approach. “If manufacturers start to ship and sell directly to the consumers, then WMS providers will have to tackle functions like piece-picking,” Ellis explains. “At this point, most manufacturer DCs are dealing with truckload or LTL shipments, but not parcel.”

BY BRIDGET MCCREA, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

WMS growthA SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING

W a r e h o u s er a c k i n gs o lu t i o n s

(877) 632.2589

www.interlakemecalux.com

Pallet Flow Wide Span Drive-In / Drive-Thru

Selective Pallet Rack


4 Improved, highly customized analytics and metrics.

Defined as the skills, technologies, applications and practices used by companies to gain insight into past business performance and drive future planning, business analytics have come to the forefront for logistics profession-als that want to work smarter, better, and faster in today’s competitive busi-ness world.

The WMS sector isn’t immune to this trend, says Flynn, who is see-ing increased demand for such data. “Metrics, defined as any type of mea-surement used to gauge some quan-tifiable component of a company’s performance, are coming up more and more during WMS implementations,” says Flynn. “Everyone wants to have them in place and wants to be able to use them to make smarter business decisions.”

The fact that third-party logistics providers (3PLs) have had such infor-mation banks in place for years is pushing an increasing number of logis-tics managers to take the 3PL route, says Flynn, who expects more atten-tion to be paid to metrics and analytics in the WMS sector in the coming year.

And, we can expect those metrics to be highly customized, Flynn adds, noting that such measurements are not universal across organizations. “Every company measures things differently,” he says, “hence the need for a different approach for every implementation.”

5 Tighter focus on work planning.

A couple of years back, Klappich presented a session at a Warehous-ing Education Research Council (WERC) event entitled Putting the “M” in WMS. In the session he talked about how WMS should really be called “execution systems” because most lacked true manage-ment capabilities.

“They are focused on execution, with little or no management,” says

Klappich. “In fact, warehousing is about 25 years behind manufacturing in adopting constraint-based planning techniques.” That pendulum is begin-ning to shift slightly, says Klappich, who sees recent advances in work planning capabilities as a positive sign.

“Companies have been doing work planning, or the movement of labor around the warehouse as proj-ects and tasks change, by the seat of their pants for years,” says Klappich, “because WMS has not been good at looking at upcoming tasks and tell-ing warehouse managers how to plan ahead for those jobs.”

A WMS equipped with such func-tionality, for example, could help large retailers plan for extreme seasonal-ity—such as the need for a larger workforce over a 10-day to 15-day period ahead of the holidays. “Work planning is going to be a biggie for WMS over the next few years,” Klap-pich says. “We’re seeing some prog-ress in this area already.”

As one of supply chain’s most mature software markets, WMS isn’t likely to experience any major shifts or disrup-tive events over the next year, accord-ing to the analysts interviewed for this article. “Don’t expect the industry to change a great deal,” says Flynn, who adds that while technological advance-ments have made WMS implementa-tions easier and faster, “the process of putting in and using a WMS is still a major project for any company.” M

When he breaks the WMS market down into “established economies” and “emerging economies,” Gartner’s

Dwight Klappich says that the latter will be a particularly bright spot for suppliers in 2014.

“We’re definitely seeing marked increases in demand for WMS from the emerging markets right now,” says Klappich, who singles out Eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand as five of the particularly “hot” areas for new WMS implementations in the coming year.

And while those five regions may not be considered “emerging” in the traditional sense, most companies operat-ing in those areas are stuck in the 1980s when it comes to ware-house management solutions. “At this point, many of them are looking for basic systems that provide them with governance

and control,” Klappich explains. “They aren’t looking for a lot of bells and whistles, they just need something to get them from Point A to Point B.”

From their WMS, Klappich says that logistics professionals in the emerging markets are looking for better control over what’s happening in their warehouses, labor savings, and cus-tomer service. Many are also dealing with fairly high pilferage and damage issues, he says, and looking for solutions to those ongoing hurdles.

“Labor is cheap in those countries, but throwing labor at these types of issues doesn’t solve the problem of a missed shipment or damage,” Klappich says. “For that, they need better controls and many of them are looking to WMS for help.”

Emerging markets say: “We want WMS”

WMS growthA SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING

Let Dehnco Help You Evaluate and Integrate Workstations,Supply Storage and Equipment Needs with Your Automation,

Technology and Material Handling Systems . . . AT A PRICE YOU CAN AFFORD

• Increases Productivity• Increases ProductivityDehnco o�ers a simple 4 step evaluation process that:

• Creates E�ciency• Promotes Ergonomics

Contact Us:Call: 847•382•1579www.dehnco.com

Contact Us:Call:Call: 847•382•1579•1579wwww.dehnco.comm

Contact Us:Call: 847•382•1579www.dehnco.com

300 Lageschulte St P.O. Box 866 Barrington, IL 60010Ph: 847•382•1579 • Fax: 847•382•1615

Organization Creates Efficiency . . . Efficiency Promotes Productivity

SCAN TO SEENEW COMPONENTS

Identifying theProcess

IntegratingSupplies andEquipment

Required

Integrate Work Area Design with the Process

STEP : 2STEP : 2 STEP : 4STEP : 4STEP : 3STEP : 3

EvaluatingFlow

STEP : 1STEP : 1

P.O. Box 866 Barrington, IL 60010Ph: 847•382•1579 • Fax: 847•382•1615

Required

300 Lageschulte St P.O. Box 866

SCAN TO SEENEW COMPONENTS

• SPACE • STORAGE • HANDLING / DESIGN • ERGONOMICS • WORKFLOW • SPACE

Let Us HELP You De�ne and Resolve These Issues300 Lageschulte St 300 Lageschulte St • SPAPAP CECEC300 Lageschulte St

Pack Bench Systems®©


Tilt cart’s shelves up for easy access to contentsA drawbridge shelf cart is ideal for protecting and delivering totes, containers or unpackaged

parts from warehouse to sequential operations in production. The carts incorporate gas struts that enable the shelves to tilt up at a controlled speed, raising and lowering by counterbalanc-ing the weight of each tilt-away shelf. The carts are constructed with a pipe and joint system and can be equipped with a choice of accessories and a variety of shelf surface materials such as wood, plastic or metal. For part pro-tection and organization, the shelves can be enhanced with foam dunnage or shadowboards. Holding up to 600 pounds, the cart rolls on four 4-inch diameter urethane casters (two fixed and two with brakes), and can be fitted with a towing tongue for tugger or AGV delivery. Creform, 800-839-8823, www.creform.com.

FOCUS ON Tuggers/Casters/Carts

Safely move 2,500-pound loads on airUsing on-board compressed air to float a load across the floor, the LoadRunner unit allows a single operator to safely move up to 2,500 pounds. The system greatly reduces friction, requiring a frac-tion of normal operator effort to move the load. Offered as a replacement for hand trucks, pallet jacks and lift trucks, the unit is completely self-contained. It features a low-profile deck with 2-inch insertion height and intuitive, throttle-style fingertip controls. Quiet and emis-

Machined polymer wheel handles harsh applications

Backed by a three-year warranty, the Commander HD heavy-duty wheel is constructed of Nylatron high impact polymer

for use in wet, corrosive environments. To provide resilience and high impact strength, the wheels are machined instead of injection molded with a slight-ly crowned tread profile for easy rolling and floor protection. The wheel comes in diameters from 4 to 8 inches with 2-inch tread width; a 3-inch tread width is also offered for 8- and 10-inch wheel sizes. Capacities range from 2,000 to 7,200 pounds per wheel. Colson Caster, 800-643-5515, www.colsoncaster.com.

Run devices with powered workstation For efficient inventory management in warehouses, the NB series mobile-pow-ered workstation has onboard power to run a computer, printer and other devices simultaneously. Rolling easily on 5-inch rubber swivel casters with no cord trailing

behind, the cart’s cast-ers can be locked for stability once in place. It features a recharge-able battery that provides integrated, seamless power for up to 12 hours of nor-mal use. Power swap compatible, a low-power battery can be

Maneuver tilting cart on wheels or with lift trucksFully compatible with a variety of stan-dard forklift models, the Akro-Tilt line of tipping trucks features integrated fork channels for easy transport. The channels allow loaded trucks to be lifted, moved

or maneuvered by vehicle or by hand. Offered in 14 models—seven with fork-lift channels—the trucks are

engineered for heavy-duty work. They allow a single person to handle bulky, heavyweight loads up to 2,000 pounds with a wide mouth and low profile for easy loading. The one-piece plastic mold-ed body is easy to clean and won’t rust, chip or dent. Ideal for automatic dumper applications, the corrosion-resistant truck frame is fully welded and constructed of reinforced, powder-coated 13-gauge steel. Lids may be specified optionally. Akro-Mils, 800-253-2467, www. akro-mils.com.

Heavy-duty, six-drawer roller bearing racks Made of prime cold-rolled steel with a durable gray powder-coat finish, two new bearing racks incorporate six full-panel cradles that hold up to 75 pounds each. The cradles, when fully extended, allow the compartment box to be opened beyond a 90-degree angle to prevent accidental closure. Compartment boxes can be easily removed for transport to work area. To ensure that the trays do not slide out unintentionally, the racks have a positive closure feature. Model 321B-95 is offered without a door; model 321B-95-DR includes a locking door and two keys. Durham Manufacturing, 800-243-3774, www.durhammfg.com.

quickly switched out to a fully charged one for 24-hour operation across multiple shifts. Accessories include an additional shelf, drawers (including a keyboard drawer), laptop or LCD holder, bar code-scanner holder, desk organizer and more. Newcastle Systems, 781-935-3450, www.newcastlesys.com.

sion-free, the device is ideal for manufactur-ing, assem-bly, testing,

and warehouse applications requiring redundant and recurring load move-ment. AeroGo, 800-426-4757, www.aerogo.com.

mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M A R C H 2 0 1 4 73mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / M A R C H 2 0 1 2 49

Move up to

800 lbswith this!with this!with this!

One person can safely and easily lift and move 55-gallon drums.

www.powerpusher.com | 800-800-9274

client: NuStar | designer: [email protected] | project: 1/4-pg ad for MMH | size: 3.375 x 4.625NUS_MMH-Qtr-pg_Bv1.indd 1 8/24/11 15:55:13

TM

•••

www.positech.com800-831-6026

Reach for theReach for the provensolution.

Lift, rotate, turn, tilt,reach and positionwith confidence.Positech andConco brandmanipulators:• Increase safety• Boost productivity• Reduce injury

Find a proven solution atwww.positech.com

provensolution.

provensolution.

proven proven proven proven proven provensolution.

proven proven provensolution.

provensolution.solution.solution.solution.

provensolution.

provensolution.

provensolution.

proven provensolution.

proven proven proven provensolution.


provensolution.solution.solution.

provensolution.

provensolution.


provensolution.

provensolution.


proven

TGW Systems has installed more than 300 of its Stingray automated storage and retrieval shuttles over several facili-ties since its introduction in 2011, said John Clark, director of marketing, in an interview. “It’s a solution for ergonomic piece picking, where it brings the order to the picker in the right sequence and in the right order,” said Clark.

Ideal for highly dynamic storage and buffer applications, the shuttle

even works in applications with vary-ing ceiling heights for maximum storage density. The system enhances picking processes, including each picking and small case box picking, by delivering highly accurate storage.

“Because of its flexibility, the shuttle can work in facilities with low and high walls. With more facilities becoming landlocked, particularly in the metro areas, the system helps companies get

more storage out of the space that they currently have,” Clark said. “And it increases density in areas where pick-ers don’t have to travel into; instead the product comes out to them.”

Additionally, as TGW expands glob-ally to support its customers around the world, the company has opened three new offices in China, Switzerland and Brazil. “We recognize the importance of having a local office staffed by people who understand the unique needs of that particular region,” he said.

300+ shuttles installed by TGW

New features in Sapient’s Viper VLM increase storage density by 50%In a press conference, Sapient Automation unveiled a new automatic tray height scanning system and redesigned tray con-figuration in the Viper vertical lift module (VLM). The enhancements provide 50% more storage density, said Ed Romaine, chief marketing officer for Sapient.

“The automatic tray height scan-ning system automatically determines each tray’s exact storage height require-ment—down to a 1-inch increment—every time a tray is retrieved,” Romaine said. “That scan interfaces with the VLM’s control system to determine the

best storage position in the unit, based on optimal space and retrieval time.”

The new trays feature thinner side walls for more storage space; flat bottoms for use without tray liners; and unobstructed open storage areas with no dividers or support cross members. Trays come in 2-, 3- and 4-meter widths, making more parts avail-able for picking on each tray to increase productivity while reducing labor costs.

• 4-axis robot integrated with ARPAC’s PAC-4R5 pallet stretch wrap system

• 100 lb. arm capacity with interchangeable product handling tools

• Automated pallet dispenser and heavy-duty pallet transfer conveyer

• Allen-Bradley® 1400 MicroLogix PLC and PanelView user-friendly HMI

• Fast and easy product changeover

• Compact foot print

ARBOT Robotic Palletizer and Stretch Wrap Cell

847.678.9034 www.arpac.com media.arpac.com

See our machinesin action!

Check out our newliterature!

INDUSTRY LEADERS IN:

• Case Packing and Tray Loading

• Turn-Key System Integration

• Robotic Handling and Palletizing

• Pallet Stretch Wrapping

• Shrink Bundling

• Horizontal Shrink Wrapping

• Full Aftermarket Support

Our Integration — Your Success

MMH Feb 2014-r3.indd 1 3/4/2014 3:40:23 PM

Device rotates static carts without modifications Constructed of a low-profile structural framework built over a rotation bearing bolted to the ground, the Cart Rotate Platform turns static carts into rotating carts without requiring cart modi-

fications. The platform is equipped with ramps that line up with the cart’s wheels. To engage the sys-tem, a four-wheel cart is pushed onto the platform manually. Then, the opera-tor manually rotates the entire cart until it reaches

the soft detent pin position, securing the cart in place for work. Topper Industrial, 800-529-0909, www.topperindustrial.com.

Medium-duty casters with inch-size top plates offeredSix different series of high quality, RoHS-compliant casters with inch-size top plates have been added to the supplier’s line of metric wheels and casters. Suitable for medium-duty loads, the casters include fixed and swivel types with or without brakes. They come in a variety of wheel materials, including rubber, shock-absorbing Extrathane tread, nylon, pressed aluminum and pressed steel. J.W. Winco, 800-877-8351, www.jwwinco.com.


Stainless steel inline caster

Custom engineered from ultra durable, high-grade 316L stain-less steel, an all-stainless steel caster with inline wheels adheres to strict federal regulations for clean room environments. The material offers superior corro-sion and pitting resistance and performs well under continuous use due to less carbon content than industry-standard 303 or 304 stainless steel. Rated up to 15,500 pounds, the caster features back-to-back wheels that support each other as it rolls on rails. Special construction keeps the back wheel grounded should the front wheel travel over a small hump in the tracks. Hamilton Caster & Mfg. Co., 888-699-7164, www.hamiltoncaster.com.


Toll Free: 800.210.0141www.storevertical.com

Maximize the efficiency of your

plant or warehouse space with the

smallest cubed footage possible.

Intelligent vertical storage maximizes

productivity with optimized retrieval

times, increased security and

improved operator safety. Store

smart, store vertical for much less

than you think.

Scan to view the Pan

Carousel video.

STORAGE & RETRIEVALSolutions

Visit Us At Modex Booth # 3127

Dolly cart stacks 35 units high when not in useWeighing only 14 pounds, the Morgan stacking dolly makes moving and storing 800-pound loads easier. Each dolly is constructed of durable, 1-inch-thick plywood on hard rubber wheel casters with carpeted legs for spill-, slip- and scuff-free use. When not in use, up to 35 of the com-pact, interlocking dollies can be stacked into a single, 40-inch high column that moves as a single unit to take up minimal storage space. Features include a built-in handgrip for easy carrying and stacking in wheels-down orientation for moving, and wheels-up for trucking. Faultless Caster, 866-316-2163, www.faultlesscaster.com.

Position narrow carts with air-powered scissor liftRaise carts for ergonomic positioning line-side with a narrow profile cart scis-sor lift. The air-powered lift’s platform has integrated guides that direct the cart onto the lift for proper, efficient loading. A cart present switch prevents the lift from operating until the cart is properly placed. Offering a capacity of 2,000 pounds, the lift rises to 58 inches and can be customized to interface with exist-ing carts. Standard equipment includes captured rollers to prevent tipping, steel safety stop bolts, and a pressure relief valve to prevent over inflation of the air bags. Herkules Equipment, 800-444-4351, www.enkon.pro.

Heavy-duty wagon trucks sport fifth-wheel steeringCapable of hauling up to 3,500 pounds, the Little Giant line of heavy-duty wagon trucks features fifth-wheel steering, with the front wheels and axle assembly pivot on a center point. Because the steering wheels encoun-ter less friction when turning than a swivel caster, trucks with fifth-wheel steering are easier to maneuver under heavier load conditions. The units are equipped with soft, wide pneumatic wheels that easily traverse rough or uneven surfaces. The trucks come in a variety of sizes ranging from 24 x 48 inches to 36 x 72 inches. Outfitted with a T-handle and vinyl hand grips, the trucks can be pulled, pushed or towed at speeds under 5 mph with the addition of a 36-inch-long combination ring drawbar/T-handle. Features include heavy 12-gauge reinforced steel decks with a 1.5-inch retaining lip or a flush edge; full 1-inch diameter axles and roller bearing wheels; and a structural channel undercarriage for durability. Brennan Equipment & Manufacturing, 708-534-5500, www.littlegiant-usa.com.



Specializing in Exotic Customs.

The Toughest Trucks on the Planet.

Finally, 30 tons of load capacity with real flare. Introducing custom trucks from Hamilton. They thrive under unconventional pressure. From oversized trucks that haul submarine propellers and airplane wings, to smaller rigs for toting race car engines. Red-hot trim optional. See our custom trucks at HamiltonCaster.com.

© 2014 Hamilton Caster & Mfg. Co.

Untitled-1 1 2/20/14 3:22 PM

Maintenance-free, ergonomic caster offers limitless motionThe Swivel-EAZ Pro caster is engineered for limitless motion and ease of movement to enhance operator ergonomics. Offered in sizes from 3- to 8-inch diameters by 2 inches wide,

each caster handles loads up to 1,500 pounds. Features include the capability for independent motion in any direction, custom engineering options, reduced floor contact pressure and a three-axis system for effortless load movement. Aubin Industries, 800-324-0051, www.aubinindustries.com.

Stabilize electric pallet trucks with specialty casterEngineered for use with elec-tric pallet trucks, the STR5200 series stabilizer caster is easy to adjust, ensuring that the vehicle runs faster with higher maneuverability to increase the number of runs per day/shift. The caster can be adjusted without requiring the truck to be elevated. Accessible by socket wrench, a unique linear tread adjusting mechanism could be loosened or tightened to alter the height of the caster to accommodate for drive tire wear or caster wheel wear. To ensure consistent spring rate throughout the life of the caster, a patented polyurethane spring mechanism is employed. Further, a reinforced impact skid-plate protects the adjustment mechanism, and prevents impact damage from breaking the caster. The unit is offered as a drop-in replacement for rider pallet trucks. Superior Tire & Rubber, 800-289-1456, www.superiortire.com.


Durable, polyethylene recycling trucksDurable Poly-Trux 50P-16R recycling trucks speed material col-lection and increase efficiency in over-the-road transport. Three carts fit neatly across a standard trailer width to maximize space efficiency during shipping, reducing the number of trips required

for collection and delivery. Measuring 28.5 inches wide, the carts come in lengths from 42.5 to 53.5 inches. Constructed of rotation-ally molded weatherproof polyethylene in a single piece, each cart holds payloads up to 400 pounds. The carts ride atop a heavy-duty base of 0.625-inch-thick marine plywood mounted to six industrial strength swiveling

casters. Options include locks, a choice of 12 colors and a lockable lid. Meese Orbitron Dunne, 800-829-4535, modroto.com.


w w w. c r e f o r m . c o m • 8 0 0 - 8 3 9 - 8 8 2 3

WITH CREFORM PLACON ROLLER CONVEYORS.

Enhance roller conveyor flexibility. Creform® Placon® Roller Conveyors provide extra support and smooth flow for the difficult handling challenges of totes with soft bottoms, open cell designs or non-packaged parts. And, Placon has less vertical space requirements because precision rollers spin freely requiring less flow angle. Placon conveyors are quiet and easily combine with the Creform System of pipe & joints enhancing parts presentation ergonomics in manufacturing, kitting and order picking operations.

Make a smooth move and contact us today.

SMOOTH MOVES

CRE-391 4.5x4.625.indd 1 1/27/14 11:06 AM

Kingpinless casters lock completely, securely to enhance safety The Total Lock 65 series of casters fea-ture kingpinless construction in both locking plate and scaffold caster con-figurations. With wheels measuring 8 x 2 inches, the casters keep high-profile tooling completely and securely locked in place for manufacturing tasks. They accommodate high shock loads for safe-ty, while supporting high thrust and tow-ing capacities (up to 500 pounds). Ideal for use with heavy capacity tooling carts, composite molds or scaffolding that must be moved easily but secure completely in place for overhead work, the casters may be specified with a variety of wheel types, including rubber or urethane on iron or aluminum. RWM Casters, 800-634-7704, www.rwmcasters.com.

Powered hand truck helps operators move large loadsCapable of handling up to 1,000 pounds, a battery-powered hand truck gives opera-tors a boost of power when maneuvering large loads—such as drums and cylinders—up inclines or across uneven terrain. Its slim profile makes the device ideal for areas

where traditional powered machines will not work because of space restrictions. Equipped with a rugged, 24-volt DC

motor that switches on and off with a hand grip-mount-ed engagement switch, the unit provides forward

and reverse travel. It runs in two speeds: walk at 1.4 mph and crawl at 0.5 mph. High traction

pneumatic wheels (two drive and two pas-sive) traverse rough surfaces and stop

when the hand brake is applied. The unit may be outfitted with a flat or curved back and comes in five colors: black, gray, blue, green and yellow. Valley Craft, 651-345-3386, www.valleycraft.com.

Durable basket truck enhances organization, productivity Built on a compact, lightweight frame that collapses by 75% to improve orga-nization and facility storage capacity is

the X-Cart. The durable basket truck features a high weight-load capacity to increase produc-tivity, a choice of standard colors, and premium

swivel casters that reduce noise when in operation. The system comes in a vari-ety of models including a multi-stream option to divide and sort materials with ease. For easy cleaning, the cart incor-porates a detachable bag. Other options include color-coded ribbons to classify contents and bumper guards for extra protection during transport. Rubbermaid Commercial Products, 540-542-8322, www.rubbermaidcommercial.com.



Efficient. Productive. Safe.Increase your order picking productivity and minimize workplace injuries with Pallet Dispensers from Cherry’s.• Quick, no-touch pallet handling for

pick operators.• High speed dispenser: dispenses a

pallet/s to the ground every 10 seconds.• Dispenses GMA, stringer, rental, plastic,

aluminum, export and two-way pallets. • Single deep and double deep models.

Capacity: 40 pallets and 80 pallets• Organize & maximize warehouse space

by centralizing empty pallet storage.

PalletDispenser.com800-350-0011600 Morse Ave. Elk Grove Village, IL

Motorized Carts ★ Manufactured in the USA

Call Toll-Free TODAY: 1-877-498-0076www.americartusa.com email: [email protected]

Imagine if transport of heavy equipment, materials and supplies throughout your facility was not an issue.

What would that be worth to you?

Proudly Manufacturedin the USA

If your employees are transporting heavy equipment, supplies or materials:

• over rough/carpeted surfaces

• over long distances

• up or down ramps

AmericartUSA, LLC. Motorized Platform Carts

are the answer to reaching your employee safety goals for 2014!


Tug tows up to 8,000 poundsEquipped with a silent, zero-emissions 36-volt DC powertrain, the 8K Tug features two-wheel hydraulic brakes and simplified controls for safe use

and ease of operation in moving materials through factories, distribution centers and other indoor facilities. The vehicle tows up to 8,000 pounds, and can carry a payload of up to 650 pounds on its rear cargo deck. Reaching a top speed of 6 mph, the tug safely navigates tight spaces. Factory options and dealer-installed accessories include a steering wheel (instead of the standard handlebars), foam-filled tires, por-table charger, headlight, front hydraulic brake, hour meter, lift-out battery tray and a clevis or pintle hitch. Cushman, 800-774-3946, www.cushman.com.

Wheels, casters for industrial useA broad array of industrial casters and wheels address chal-lenging materials handling applications. Caster choices include light-, medium- and heavy-duty, spring-loaded, king-pinless, custom and specialty models and more. Wheels for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty applications may be speci-fied in a variety of styles and materials, including cast iron, drop forged steel, nylon, phenolic, polypropylene, standard polyurethane and Vulkollan polyurethane. Rubber treads and antimicrobial materials are also offered. Albion Industries, 800-835-8911, www.albioncasters.com.

Ergonomic pneumatic wheeled carts A line of fork-free equipment positions wheeled carts to give operators the most ergonomic access possible to parts on the assembly line. Equipped with pneumatic lift and tilt, the carts tip up to 85 degrees, turn, raise or lower to facilitate parts handling. Air Caster, 217-877-1237, www.aircaster.com.


Cut the Trash Talk!

Add a BloApCo Shredder above your baler and stop complaining about your Trash Line.BloApCo warehouse shredders greatly expand disposal capacity and:

www.bloapco.com 800.959.0880

© Blower Application Company, Inc., Germantown, WI 2012 REDUCING SCRAP SINCE 1933

Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Add a BloApCo Shredder above your baler and stop complaining about your Trash Line.Add a BloApCo Shredder above your baler and stop complaining about your Trash Line.Add a BloApCo Shredder above your baler

BloApCo warehouse shredders greatly expand disposal capacity and:

Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!Trash Talk!▲ Eliminate jams and ensure your production area is always clear of OCC▲ Increase bale density and lower your haul-away costs▲ Save energy and improve your environment with quiet, low HP, low dust performance

PMS 485

PMS 2728

CMYK 100M 100Y

CMYK C96 M66

Modex 2014

Booth #3532

ShredderAdMMH121913.indd 1 12/19/13 2:23 PM

Truck raises, lowers compressed gas cylinders ergonomicallyUsing a four-wheel, all-terrain wheelbase and two-frame con-struction, the self-supporting Rotatruck safely, easily and quickly lowers and raises high-capacity compressed gas cylinders. The device maneuvers loads off and onto stillages and transfers them to welding machines or floor positions. Loads are secured by magnets and controlled through a damper with no power pack; instead the system uses ergonomic levering to provide a safe alternative to lifting the load. This eliminates operator bend-ing and reduces load pull effort. Rotacaster Wheel, 61-2-4907-8100, www.rotacaster.com.au.

Low profile cart eliminates bending, dragging With its bottom standing 2.375 inches from the floor, the L44 low profile cart eliminates bending and moving heavy plastic totes or makeshift bins across a shop floor—preventing back injuries. Mounted on 4-inch phenolic casters that roll smoothly for easy maneuvering by one person, the cart’s push handle can be removed for placement in tight spaces. To fit snugly next to machine tools, under discharge, conveyor belts and tables, the cart’s overall height is 15.5 inches. It holds up to 6.9 cubic feet and can be dumped by a forklift when equipped with an optional dumping frame. Cecor, 800-356-9042, www.cecor.net.

Ergonomic wheels for use with hand push and towed carts

The ME series of ergonomic wheels are ideal for use with both hand push and towed carts. The wheels feature a crowned tread and sealed precision bear-ings for lower rolling resistance and mini-mal start-up force. The dual polyurethane tread is mechanically bonded to a heavy-duty cast iron core to absorb shock from impacts. To reduce noise, 95A durometer polyurethane is applied inside, while 60D durometer polyurethane on the outside maximizes weight capacities up to 1,200 pounds. Schioppa, 866-362-3226, www.schioppa.com.br.



Division of NuStar, Inc www.PowerPusher.com • 800-800-9274

The original Power Pusher pays for itself with improved productivity, reducing manpower and downtime, while protecting worker safety. Powerful, compact and rechargeable, Power Pusher replaces forklifts and tractors with a flexible and affordable solution for your biggest material handling challenges. See it in action at powerpusher.com

Over a dozen Power Pusher attachments are available to meet your load handling application

Aircraft Towbar Fifth Wheel Angle Plate Push Pad Pintle Hitch

Productivity push. With Power Pusher® one

person can effortlessly and safely move rolling loads from 500 to 50,000 lbs.

SPACS95-8/12

AS LOW AS US$6.75 EACH (48"x40" in T/LD quantities, FOB origin)

PRESSWOODPALLETS

Export and Domestic Pallet Solutions

LITCO International PalletsExport and Domestic Pallet Solutions855-296-2891 • www.litco.com

Which PalletWill You Choose?

PRESSWOODPALLETS

►Minimize Waste Cut Packaging CostsCut Packaging Costs

►Free of Bugs, Mold, TBP, Free of Bugs, Mold, TBP, TCP and TCA ChemicalsTCP and TCA Chemicals

►Reduce Fork Truck Reduce Fork Truck Traffic

►Reduce Shipping Reduce Shipping Costs

►Increase Product Increase Product Protection

►Reduce Shipping Reduce Shipping Damages

►Certified SustainableCertified Sustainable

MMH1301_FocusOnANDProducts.indd 2

PRODUCT Showcase

Stand-up trucks engineered for operator comfortEngineered with operator comfort and productivity, the 4150 and 4250 stand-up counterbalanced lift trucks offer high visibil-ity, increased maneuverability with agile steering and shorter head length. For a smooth ride, the vehicles’ suspension system automatically adapts to each operator’s weight, while a cushioned floor mat isolates operators from impact and vibration. The three-wheel trucks perform right-angle stack-ing maneuvers in less total area with dual-steer wheels; this allows one wheel to counter-rotate during turns for shorter turn radius, decreased tire loading and reduced steering fric-tion. The 3,000- and 3,500-pound capacity models’ short bat-tery compartment reduces head length for optimized maneu-verability in crowded docks and tight spaces. The Raymond Corp., 800-235-7200, www.raymondcorp.com.

Counterbalanced electric walkie stacker’s features put operator in controlSeven models of electric walkie stackers—including counter-balanced, straddle and reach versions—offer capacities rang-ing from 2,000 to 4,000 pounds. Versatile and easy to use, the vehicles feature a multi-function control handle incorporating large dual thumb wheels with lift, lower and horn buttons that can be activated by either hand. For a clear view of the fork tips, the high visibility mast has been engineered with wide channels. The vehicles include a metal oxide semiconductor

field effect transistor (MOSFET) controller and separately excited drive motor (SEM) for battery efficiency, stepless acceleration and smooth operator control. To reduce product damage and provide precise vehicle control, a fully programmable drive sys-tem is included standard. Toyota Material Handling USA, 800-226-0009, www.toyotaforklift.com.


PRODUCT Showcase

Pneumatic tire trucks 20% more energy efficient With capacities ranging from 8,000 to 11,000 pounds, the new 2EPC8000-2EP11000 series of seven electric pneumatic tire lift trucks offers a 20% increase in efficiency over the previous generation. Ideal for use in indoor and outdoor applications, the vehicles can run up to two shifts on a single battery charge. Engineered with a compact compo-nent layout, the truck’s planetary drive axles prevent damage caused by carrying heavy loads. Operator ergonomics are sup-ported with side battery extraction, a large cabin interior and full-suspension seat. Options include a joystick unitized hydraulic control, electronic power steering, non-marking solid pneumatic tires, closed cabins and keypad access. CAT Lift Trucks, 713-365-1000, www.cat-lift.com.

Universal track-mounted sectional door lockThe B-Lock track-mounted locking system traps the roller in a sectional dock door to secure a facility without jamming. Featuring heavy-duty construction, the lock has a hard-coated, anodized, billet aluminum mounting block, powder-coat welded steel housing, a tool-steel locking pin, and heavy-duty release spring mechanism. It can be used in both left- and right-hand installations, and accepts a standard padlock. Jamas Enterprises, 315-463-5356, www.jamasenterprises.com.

Biodegradable, compostable thermal protective packaging linersThermal insulated protective box liners provide precise tem-perature control and protection of mail order shipments of foods, wine, cosmetics, phar-maceuticals and other temperature-sensitive payloads. Constructed of patented, cotton-enhanced insulating materials, the packaging also provides soft cushioning. The insulating cotton padding is made from a blend of recycled cotton fibers that are super-absorbent to contain spills. They also contain a time-sensitive, EPA-approved antimicrobial additive for cross-contamination prevention. When in the presence of active micro-organisms, the cotton materials are completely aero-bic and anaerobically biodegradable, while the nonwoven cotton insulation fibers in the liners are compostable. MP Global Thermal Packaging Products, a division of MP Global Products, 888-379-9695, www.thermomailer.com.

Hazardous area LED lighting fixture backed by 10-year warranty The ATEX/IECEx-certified, 21,000-lumen SafeSite LED high bay lighting fixture for use in hazardous areas is backed by a 10-year full performance warranty. The

high output LED fixture offers bright illumination and efficiency for pharmaceutical and other applications. The fixture includes an integrated power supply with 10kV surge protection, reflec-tor-based optics, and dark-sky compliance for exterior hazard-ous use. Easy to install at heights of 36 feet (or higher) above the floor, the unit weighs 30 pounds and stands 13.8 inches tall. Dialight, 732-919-3119, www.dialight.com.


NO DESIGN COST. NO MOLD COST. NO LEAD TIME.

Fairlane Products, Inc.33792 Doreka DriveFraser, MI 48026(586) 294-6100FAX (586) 294-6822800-548-2935fairlaneproducts.com

Just rollers when you need them. No need to deal with the typical issues of special orders. Our in-stock lineup includes urethane covered bearings, press fit, solid, DuraSoft ® no-crush and finned rollers. They are available in a variety of styles, mountings and durometers and can be custom modified for your specific application. And they’re available when you need them. Call or go online to find a distributor in your area.

FRL-058B 3.375x4.625.indd 1 1/27/14 2:07 PM

classifiedFor classified advertising, or for more information contact: Jennifer Drevline, 847-223-5225, ext. 11, [email protected]

Label Holders

[email protected]

Label Holders

New England/East Coast: Steve McCoy 508-261-1120 [email protected]

Midwest: Bob Casey 847-223-5225 [email protected]

East Coast/Southeast: Greg Bolen 704-655-2119 [email protected]

West Coast: Brian McAvoy 508-808-9554 [email protected]

MAGAZINE ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

L O G I S T E R R A , I N C.

[email protected]

619-280-9992

Bumpy Rides?SecureYour Terminal

with a LOGISTERRA®

truck-mount Holder

and...

with a Gun Belt(left/right changeable)

Holster Your Side Arm

• Proven products• Years in service• Made in USA• Deployed worldwide

Scanner Holsters


Modern: One of the things we have noticed at Modern is that materials handling and packaging are working more closely together than ever. Why do you think manufacturers, distributors and shippers are now paying more attention to how their product is packed at the end of the line and loaded into containers and trailers?

Ampuja: That’s an interesting observation, and it’s on target. My two cents is that packaging is the last major frontier in the supply chain. So many companies have already focused on the low-hanging fruit, so there isn’t a lot of easy money left to save. What’s happening now is that supply chain professionals are realizing that packaging has an impact on warehousing and transportation. Do it right, and there are big benefits down the pipeline.

Modern: Since you began as a supply chain executive, tell us how you became interested in this area?

Ampuja: Back in 1992, I was a vice president at a wholesale food company in Buffalo. I happened to sit next to a gentleman at a conference who told me he was the co-founder

of a company that optimized packaging to make supply chains more efficient. I was skeptical, but he gave me the name of an executive at a famous potato chip company as a reference. He told me to give them a chance and they would find ways to take costs I’d never thought of out of my supply chain. I brought them in and gave them buying specifications for our shipping cases and supply chain costs for 25 SKUs. They came back with a way to save $3 million through optimized packaging. I stayed in touch and years later, I joined the company.

Modern: Where do the savings come from?

Ampuja: Freight. While most logistics professionals think their freight bill is driven by weight, they forget that it’s also driven by volume. If we can squeeze the air out of the box— make the box denser—we increase the density of the load and freight costs behave better. In the case of the wholesale food company I used to work for, we were able to get 45 cartons instead of 40 cartons on a pallet. That allowed us to ship out more product in a trailer load. We’re going to optimize the box around

what’s going in the box and then look at the impact on costs across the entire supply chain.

Modern: As our readers think about their operations, what is the starting point for them if they want to optimize their processes? What are some of the best practices?

Ampuja: The No. 1 consideration is that packaging is a shared responsibility. You need all of the key players involved—marketing, engineering and logistics. Ultimately, you’ll get a better decision out of that process. We worked on a kit that a major manufacturer created to give to a woman as she leaves the maternity ward to go home with her baby. We gave the marketing department four packaging choices. The difference in logistics costs between the low cost and high cost alternative was 75 cents per kit, and the manufacturer was going to give away 1.2 million kits a year. That’s a $1 million difference just in logistics costs. With that kind of information, they can make a decision about the tradeoff between logistics costs and how they market the product. M

MODERN 60 Seconds with...

Jack Ampuja

Supply Chain Optimizers TITLE: President

LOCATION: Buffalo, N.Y.

EXPERIENCE: 35 years in supply chain management with five Fortune 500 companies

PRIMARY FOCUS: Packaging optimization across the supply chain.

YOU HAVE TO LOWER OPERATING COSTS.

THEN YOU HAVE TO LOWER THEM AGAIN.

WITHOUT SACRIFICING PRODUCTIVITY.

hyster.com © 2012 Hyster Company. Hyster, and Fortis are registered trademarks of Hyster Company.

12HST5682

Lowering operating costs is what

the Hyster® Fortis line does best.

Hyster Company is proud to be

ranked #1 by current customers in

Total Cost of Ownership.* And when

you purchase a Fortis® lift truck,

know that each one comes with

the Hyster legacy of building tough

lift trucks. Lower costs. Better

ROI. Tougher trucks. Bring it.

For more information, visit hyster.com/TCO.

*Peerless Media Research Group, 2011

Scan to meet w i th us o r v i s i t b i t . l y /hy t ro l2014www.hy t ro l .com | b log .hy t ro l .com

EXPERIENCE THE ADVANTAGE AT BOOTH 7434

SUPPORTING THE HIGHEST QUALITY EQUIPMENT IN THE INDUSTRY

WITH UNMATCHED SERVICE

mmh.com march 2014 dsw sorts it all out · mmh.com productivity solutions for distribution,...

Documents