Sharpie

Sharpie needed to put a finer point on their distribution operations.

The Challenge:

Sharpie is a leading manufacturer of writing instruments. They ship an average of 30,000 cases a day, spiking to 60,000 cases per day during the peak of back-to-school season. After consolidating three facilities into their TN location, the system was being put to the test. Sharpie's process during the peak season was very manual and relied heavily on temporary labor. This resulted in excessive labor costs, throughput issues and a high level of chargebacks due to a drop in shipping accuracy.

The Solution:

FORTE's material handling engineering experts retrofitted and expanded the one-year-old sortation system with two new sorters serving a total of 100 lanes. The increase in lanes and decrease in pallet positions per lane eliminated manual RF scanning. A label with a bar code to identify the pallet position on each carton allowed their warehouse management system (WMS) to automatically route the carton to an assigned position. When a pallet position is complete and ready to be taken to the dock, a flashing beacon alerts the team. Sharpie then integrated their shipping system with their existing WMS software using FORTE's Automation Director™ warehouse control system (WCS) software.

The Result:

In less than 120 days, the entire system installation was performed in the same footprint as the existing shipping system while Sharpie continued operations. Over a three-day weekend FORTE de-installed the existing system and commissioned the new one resulting in increased productivity and throughput without added labor. Sharpie also increased their shipping accuracy to nearly 100%.

Key Services Employed Warehouse Control System (WCS) Software Operational Performance Analytics / Metrics