FEATURE COVER STORY
FROM ZERO TO FULL AUTOMATION D
Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) has installed a complete sortation solution from BEUMER to move from manual, cross-dock distribution to an automation-driven logistics operation
esigner Shoe Warehouse (DSW) is a leading footwear and accessories
retailer. With over 430 retail outlets in the US, 370 leased departments for other retailers and extensive online sales channels, DSW has been seeking to deliver more value to its customers. “As the company evolved and our relationship with vendors became stronger we became less of a close-out, opportunistic company and started buying in-season merchandise,“ says Jeff Girard, senior VP of distribution & fulfillment. “That meant we were able to tell our vendors what sizes we wanted and realised we had a big opportunity to change the way we replenish.”
DYNAMIC STORE REPLENISHMENT The Distribution Center in Columbus, Ohio is the company’s main facility for retail replenishment of footwear. In the past store inventory was replenished through a seasonal push strategy serviced by a manual case-based, cross- dock operation. When a store sold out of several sizes of a popular shoe the only way the store could restock was to order an entire case of the full size range. This limited DSW’s ability to consistently offer a full range of high quality products to its customers. To reduce lost in-store sales DSW created a pilot program that used in-season unit replenishment by shoe size; initially this was only for selected, fast moving stock keeping units (SKU). A manual process where sizes would be
pulled from open cases of the selected products, demand exceeded expectations: DSW planned to replenish up to 1 million units the first year and ended up shipping 4.3 million. This ‘success’ pushed the manual labour-intensive system for unit level size replenishment beyond its limits. DSW was convinced that unit replenishment could be a successful and profitable business model but that warehouse automation was essential to making it happen. The company considered warehouse automation options including robots and ‘put to light’ but concluded that unit sortation represented the best technology for the Columbus Center. Cross-belt sorters offer the high throughput rates for the company’s current and future requirements. DSW selected BEUMER to provide a
complete sortation solution and to work closely with the Distribution Center
S4
management and other key warehouse automation vendors to take it from manual, cross-dock distribution with zero automation to an automation- driven logistics operation. “BEUMER was selected for its proven state-of-the art technology and use of brushless track for their carriages,” says Girard. DSW personnel had the opportunity to
see the BEUMER technology handling shoe unit sortation effectively. Girard felt that the flexible design of the chutes would allow variable sizes of footwear boxes to be run through the system.
INTEGRATING INTO EXISTING STRUCTURE One of the most daunting challenges facing the team was the building; built during World War II for aircraft manufacturing it was converted to warehouse use by DSW in the early 2000s. The optimal location to place the sorter was on an under-utilised mezzanine located above the main floor - and it was a tight fit. “The problem with the mezzanine is its
1400 feet long and only 100 feet wide,” says Girard. “It was the best place to put a sorter because it would be out of the way. The challenge for BEUMER was to design it to fit on the mezzanine and they actually did a fantastic job.”
AUTOMATION DRIVES MULTIPLE CHANGES When going from zero to full automation a further challenge is managing all the required changes for the people, processes and physical equipment. Working together DSW leveraged BEUMER’s technical experience and know-how to efficiently plan and implement the necessary changes. The
MARCH/APRIL 2015 | MATERIALS HANDLING & LOGISTICS
Conveyors carry the cases to the de-casing area where associates cut open and decase the individual shoes and put them on conveyors to be carried to the sorter
DSW operations team spent many hours defining what processes needed to change to generate maximum return on the new automation.
“Prior to the sortation system a lot of the full cases that we sent to the stores cross-docked,” explains Girard. “We didn’t need to store them in the distribution center and this changed the way we operated so we had to put up more storage. In addition, we had to find a way to stage our merchandise so that we could keep the sorter fed and be as productive as possible.” DSW expanded and modified the racks
where cased footwear is stored prior to sortation. New racks and conveyors were set up to create a pallet-based wave bank and full case pick module. DSW is able to release pallets of different shoe styles staged in specific order for de- casing and induction on the BEUMER sorter. This allows DSW to sort product by store layout, making the in-store stocking process extremely efficient. Conveyors carry the cases to the de-
casing area where associates cut open and decase the individual shoes and put them on conveyors to be carried to the sorter. Separating these processes allows for efficient labor utilisation while leveraging the high-speed BEUMER inductions. The sorter’s performance mirrors the successful partnership BEUMER established with DSW and other consultants and vendors who were part of the team that brought full automation to the Columbus Center.
BEUMER Corporation T: +1 732 893 2892
www.beumergroup.com
Enter 300 / MATERIALSHANDLINGLOGISTICS
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