case study presentations warehouse management

These carts are used to cluster pick orders both on and below themezzanine floor.để phân cụm các đơn hàng lấy hàng cả trên và dưới tầng lửng.. Oncepicked the orders are transported to th

Case study Presentations Warehouse Management

The content of the presentation will include:

- Contents of the case study

- Lessons learned from case studies

- More in-depth studies of the techniques or machines applied in the case studies

Case study Presentation Groups – Allotment List

Case study No 1:

Consumer Electronics

The client is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances

When it set up its new European central parts operation it installed a mezzanine floor with shelving (đặt một tầng lửng với giá đỡ,), a conveyor system (hệ thống băng tải) and the Inther

LC Pick to Cart system to manage over 70,000 spare parts (phụ tùng thay thế)

To increase productivity and reliability (năng suất và độ tin cậy) a total of 10 pick carts were introduced initially These carts are used to cluster pick orders both on and below the mezzanine floor.(để phân cụm các đơn hàng lấy hàng cả trên và dưới tầng lửng.) Once

picked the orders are transported to the packaging and shipping department via a conveyor system

When an operator logs on to a pick cart the Inther LC system will generate a batch of picking instructions (một loạt hướng dẫn lấy hàng) from all the available orders in the database When

generating the instructions the system will use logic to provide the picker with orders in the same area and produce the most efficient picking route through the warehouse It will also instruct the picker to pick the highest priority orders first

The operator is instructed to load the pick cart with empty totes (thùng rỗng) Each tote must

be scanned for the system to register the tote against the pick cart After loading the totes the operator can start picking The central display on the pick cart will show the location to pick from After the operator confirms the location by scanning its barcode, the corresponding pick lights light up with the requested quantities to pick The operator must pick the articles and confirm the pick by pressing a button Omitting and shortage functionalities are also available After the products from the first location are allocated to the totes, the next location is shown on the central display

When all orders are picked the operator unloads the totes from the pick cart onto a conveyor that transports the totes to the packing workstations When the pick cart is empty, it is ready to start a new cluster of picks

Each pick cart can be used, without recharging, during a full eight-hour shift A battery is installed on the pick cart to provide power for the pick lights, hand scanner and wireless controllers

In the above example plastic totes are utilized These may or may not be the final shipping containers The totes can be replaced by cartons thus reducing the number of touch points by not having to decant the totes A check weigh system can be used at the shipping area to ensure accuracy

Although having the advantage of being able to pick several orders at the same time and reducing overall travel, it does need experienced pickers if a putto-light system is not utilized There is a possibility of putting the wrong product or wrong quantity of product into a container and therefore a check system needs to be in place to ensure picker accuracy

Cluster picking can also be used with conveyors, where a tote containing multiple orders diverts into a pick zone As the tote passes a barcode reader its unique ID is read and all the picks for the current tote are displayed on the individual pick-to-light terminals

Each terminal indicates both the quantity to be picked and the tote location where it is to be placed A pick of eight pieces into the B compartment would be displayed as B8 When all picks for all compartments in the current zone are complete, the tote is returned to the conveyer belt and it proceeds to the next zone, where additional picks for any compartment are required

The number of orders per cluster will depend on the number of lines, units per order, total cube and the capacity of the totes, cages or trolleys

As seen above we have a combination of technologies and pick strategies

Case study No 2:

SSI Schäfer and Yankee Candle

Picking efficiency has improved by 50 per cent and picking errors have significantly reduced at Yankee Candle’s European distribution centre in Bristol as a result of SSI Schäfer’s paperless pick-to-light system installation

Yankee Candle are distributors of the world’s largest selection of scented candles and home fragrance product scents to retail stores, export organizations and the consumer via the internet They wanted to improve overall picking accuracy and efficiency by building upon the existing KDR (push-through conduit shelving) flowracking system previously installed by SSI Schäfer The original KDR flow racking, designed to hold forward-picking stock in over 1,800 locations,

is divided into pick zones in a U-shaped layout with a conveyor running through the centre Originally supporting paper-based picking, the KDR flow racking has been significantly enhanced by the addition of SSI Schäfer’s pick-to-light system

Yankee Candle is already reaping the benefits of the new paperless system which uses the latest

in Schäfer’s software technology by providing the advantage of flexible zone picking to balance

out workload, contributing to increased picking efficiency, meaning fewer labour hours and reduced picking errors, resulting in fewer missed or low-level product shipments

Mike Alibone, business development manager, SSI Schäfer, says: ‘As well as improving picking efficiency the system is designed to provide enhanced volumetric packing, multiple order consolidation, order progress optimization and shipping detail transfer to third-party carriers, taking Yankee Candle to a new level in operational excellence.’

Bruce Mitchell, operations manager at Yankee Candle, is delighted with the new system He says: ‘The system has lifted picking efficiency by 50 per cent whilst significantly increasing the accuracy of the pick In fact, shipping volumes are up by more than 40 per cent on this time last year while the number of errors is down by over 50 per cent of last year’s figure.’

In terms of packing, the system calculates the sizes and number of cartons required and prints labels in advance with the content The system is reliant on using a database of carton volumetrics/packing parameters and is enabled when the operator scans the barcode on the carton label Multiple orders can be consolidated for a single shipment to a customer

For order progress optimization, all defined pick zones are able to commence order picking simultaneously, even when a single large order is split across different zones It relies on operators in each zone picking in the printing sequence of the labels, which have been issued to synchronize order progression For each pick wave the system looks at the distribution of the picks and calculates a zone size for each operator to work in, thereby spreading the number of picks evenly across a maximum of 12 operators

Shipping detail transfer to third-party carriers allows cartons to be scanned and the details of the shipment to be transferred electronically via an interface between the SSI Schäfer system to any one of five carrier systems in order for the latter to generate their own despatch documentation Having installed the original, highly customized ‘flexible zone’ pick-to-light system, to improve picking efficiency and reduce picking errors, SSI Schaefer were contracted back in to support and work with Yankee Candle® Europe in their move to a new 175,000 square foot warehouse ensuring the necessary alterations and extension to the system within the new site

In just one month, SSI Schaefer dismantled the existing zone picking system made up of carton live storage, pick-by-light picking and conveyor-based carton sortation, transported it to the new

DC and reinstalled it in conjunction with a complete reconfiguration and extension At 175,000 square feet, this new DC is almost three times the size of the old facility and the addition of extra pallet positions has significantly increased storage capacity

There are now more picking locations in the carton live storage, an additional fullcase ‘pick to belt conveyor’, additional ‘sort-to-route’ sortation lanes for completed orders and separate shipping carton feeds from two zone picking areas The whole system has also been given a complete software overhaul including additional interfaces to contract carriers’ systems The extended automated system, which includes additional sortation capability and a new automated full-case picking area, has and will enable Yankee Candle® Europe to continue increasing its throughput efficiency of the picking operation and accommodate with ease, future requirements of its growing internet business

Case study No 3:

A case of UK clothing retailer

A UK clothing retailer installed a put-to-light system at one of its DCs Twenty stations were installed, each with a capacity of up to 24 stores Product is automatically delivered to each station, utilizing an automated storage and retrieval system

The light display at each location indicates how many items must be placed into each of the order totes, which means that a single operator can look after 24 store orders at the same time Once an order tote is full, the display instructs the operator to push the tote onto a conveyor system, which takes it to the despatch area

The high-rate put stations (up to 1,000 items per hour, depending on order profile) significantly reduce the time taken by staff travelling between store orders

Operators are fed with a continuous supply of products and each workstation is ergonomically designed

A leading sporting goods manufacturer introduced a put-to-light system at a UK operation in

2008, investing over £20 million in the project The company says: ‘Automation allows us to handle a lot of volume in a relatively small amount of space, which keeps overheads down automation allows us to flex the volume up and down accordingly High-rate put stations enable operators to achieve an average of 500 units per hour, with a potential capability of 1,500 picks per hour With over 70,000 SKUs the pick face for a manual operation would have been massive and given the seasonal nature of our business we would have been continually changing it – automation improves efficiency fivefold

Case study No 4 LPT

LPT, the Liverpool-based fresh-produce terminal, has partnered with ATMS, its WMS provider,

to help to bring the ATMS GlobalTrack service to market

The ATMS STP WMS is a key part of LPT’s operation, helping to optimize the receipting, warehousing and despatching operations LPT’s warehouse is a state-ofthe-art, brand new, temperature-controlled facility with 5,000 locations and caters for cross docking as well as added-value services ATMS’s system supports and optimizes all of these processes, including dock, yard and vessel management

‘LPT needed to go one step further to provide a level of service for its customers far ahead of anything in the market place,’ states Andy Rickard, operations director of LPT ‘One of the reasons we selected ATMS was because of their strategy of developing their WMS to become the core of a global tracking and supply chain visibility offering – in the form of GlobalTrack; we’re very pleased to be one of the first companies to work with them to prove the benefits of GlobalTrack in the real world.’

Stephen Cross, ex-managing director of ATMS plc, says: ‘GlobalTrack is a hosted solution that provides improved control and visibility across the supply chain It is designed to be exceptionally easy to use and exceptionally low cost; for instance, users can pay for system usage on a per transaction, pay as you go basis It is fully multilingual and is supported by offices

in UK, Dubai, Singapore, China and Manila.’

The system helps users improve the control of their import-tracking process Order and fulfilment requirements can be logged onto the system The system then allows producers and manufacturers, wherever they are in the world, to log their production and productivity against these orders and call-offs A facility is then provided for remote labelling of cartons, pallets and unit-load devices Labelling is carried out to the global GS1 standard, the barcode on each label

is unique and identifies the carton, pallet or other item and its contents; the system records quality, traceability and other conformance information Pack sizes, weights and dimensions can also be recorded The system can then be used to generate and share packing lists, manifests and advanced shipping information Information can also be provided to and from customs authorities, freight forwarders and logistics providers

Pre-labelling and electronic advanced shipment notices help LPT receive stock accurately and swiftly Any errors are alerted automatically

The system not only assists the upstream operation but can be used downstream as well, from the point of despatch from LPT, through re-warehousing and crossdocking operations, to proof of delivery GlobalTrack supports proof of delivery and has a remote warehouse control module that allows warehouses to be controlled with the use of hand-held terminals communicating over mobile phone GPRS networks

The system is designed for in-house and third-party use – for instance, the system is designed to allow clients of third-party logistics providers to view their own stock and their own supply chain information – and only their own Information visible across the web includes production information, receipt and despatch information, stock status, quality control status

Documentation can be downloaded remotely Stock call-offs and other action requests can be entered remotely

David Hughes, who heads up business development at ATMS, comments: ‘We are proud to be a strategic partner of LPT They are a highly innovative operation with a superb management team, with the dedication and focus to deliver a first-class service from a first-class facility.’ James Woodward, managing director of LPT, comments: ‘LPT is in a unique position geographically to reduce customer costs whilst reducing their carbon footprint and now is in a unique position technologically to provide the highest levels of visibility, traceability and control

Case study No 5 Narrow Aisle Flexi

The international automotive supplier Brose has been using Flexi Euro articulated trucks in their JIS factory supplying Mercedes in Sindelfingen since August 2008 These trucks are suitable for very narrow aisles and have created more space in their existing line side warehouse

The products produced at the Brose factory are door systems for the Mercedes S, C and E ranges

A further order for a new Mercedes range as well as the increasing production depth urged manager Jan Francke, who is responsible for the two Brose factories in Sindelfingen and Rastatt,

to react early enough An external canopy for the factory in Sindelfingen for storing empties had already been planned when head of logistics at the Sindelfingen factory, Dana Mühlenhof, came across the concept of the Flexi articulated forklift trucks