On a fast track schedule, design and build a consolidated national distribution center following the purchase of ISOTONER® by totes®. Previously totes operated one DC in Cincinnati, OH, and ISOTONER operated two DCs, one in Virginia and one in New Jersey.

FORTE provided the consulting engineering and systems integration for a fully automated, new 450,000 sq. ft. distribution center. By studying totes’ and ISOTONER’s business, paying particular attention to the SKU movement of over 4,500 different units, FORTE supplied a unique automated picking and shipping material handling system, tightly integrated with a WMS program. FORTE studied totes»ISOTONER®’s business operations and analyzed current and projected sales and order profile data. FORTE then designed a new 450,000 sq. ft. automated distribution center to handle totes»ISOTONER’s current and future supply chain needs. The project included highly scalable material handling systems and a flexible warehouse management software program.

• FORTE’s CONTINUIMi™ DC Automation Director middleware module automatically routes split case cartons through 24 picking zones.
• Fast Track Schedule: 12 months from the first planning meeting
  with FORTE to systems commissioning.

• 99.9 percent order fulfillment accuracy
• Facility easily “flexes up” to handle 80 percent of annual volume in 100 day pre-holiday period

“The FORTE people are not only experts in designing and installing material handling automation, they’re experts in the application and integration of warehouse management system software as well. FORTE’s program and their post-installation start-up support worked very effectively for us.”

- Vice President, totes»ISOTONER®