Automatic Identification and Data Collection in Consumer Goods Distribution

January 31, 2003 - Automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) has become a foundation technology essential for achieving efficiency and customer service goals in today’s modern distribution center. But, the impact of AIDC is more than proportionally magnified as the size and scope of distribution center, or DC, operations expand. This is especially true when automatic material handling technologies are employed to drive additional productivity and throughput.

It is easy to imagine, then, that a company embarking on a mission-critical initiative to combine three existing distribution centers into one high-speed, high performance facility, featuring an automated picking and order consolidation backbone, would find AIDC and high resolution material tracking essential for success. This is exactly the situation faced by totes Inc.—the world leader in the sale of umbrellas and related goods—when it recently purchased ISOTONER, the well-known maker of gloves and slippers.

The new totes»ISOTONER Corp. quickly made the decision to consolidate the existing totes DC and two ISOTONER facilities into one 500,000 square foot operation in Cincinnati, Ohio. The new company partnered on this fast track project with FORTE (also of Cincinnati) for the complete design and implementation of an integrated warehouse management system, automatic data collection network, and sophisticated material handling automation system. For this effort, totes»ISOTONER used FORTE’s CONTINUIM™ project methodology, which takes a project all the way from initial system concept through detailed design and full systems implementation.

The high-level goals were clear: improved productivity, greater throughput, the ability to meet peak Christmas season volumes cost-effectively in a very seasonal business. However, the overall design of the system and the combination of technologies needed to reach these objectives required an intense and detailed planning effort between FORTE and totes»ISOTONER. The ability for end-to-end tracking of product at the case level from receipt through shipping would include seamless data flow between the warehouse management system (WMS), from Manhattan Associates, and the conveyor tracking and control system—the CONTINUIMi™ DC Automation Director Module from FORTE. This integration would form the framework upon which the rest of the system’s advanced capabilities would be built.

These capabilities include a radio frequency (RF) network integrated with the WMS that, at peak times, employs more than 100 terminals in operation throughout the DC. Real-time data collection starts at receiving, where in general loose cartons are received in overseas containers and putaway pallets are built. Operators apply a unique bar-coded license plate label to each pallet, scan an I 2 of 5 case code for the SKU on the pallet, and enter the number of cases on the pallet. The WMS automatically converts to the number of units on the pallet based on the number of items per standard cases as defined in the WMS item master. The WMS then directs the operator to the optimal putaway location for that SKU, confirmed via a scan of the putaway location bar code.

Replenishment of forward-case-pick and split-case-pick locations is similarly RF-directed and confirmed via scanning, both during the process of pulling from reserve and the subsequent putaway into the appropriate picking locations. But the heart of the DC is in the picking and order consolidation areas, where both the design and operation of the WMS and material handling backbone are highly integrated, and totes>>ISOTONER has been able to achieve significant operational efficiencies.

“To be successful in an automated picking environment, the WMS and automation control systems have to be completely in synch, passing information about the movement of specific cartons in near real-time,” says Gene Forte, president of FORTE. “This is especially true at totes»ISOTONER, where the conveyor system is controlling the movement of split-case cartons through multiple zones as the product is being picked.”

Full cases are batch-picked per wave via RF and placed directly on a conveyor. At the time of the pick, the WMS assigns a unique UCC-128 bar code identifier to each carton, though the label has not yet been applied. This unique carton number, the corresponding case SKU bar code identification number, and other shipping label data are sent by the WMS to the FORTE conveyor control system. As the cartons go onto the conveyor, Downstream—a fixed-station scanner—reads the SKU bar code. The control system looks up the appropriate label record, directs an automated print and apply device to generate the correct label, and then applies it to the box. The print and apply system generates labels in multiple retailer-compliant formats (e.g., JC Penney, Federated, K-Mart.), and applies them at a rate of more than 25 per minute. The conveyor system then uses this unique tracking number bar code to direct each carton and sort it to its proper outbound pallet lane.

totes»ISOTONER has a significant volume of split case business. To meet this challenge, FORTE designed an automated split case picking system in which the WMS first predetermines exactly what items will go into which cartons at the start of each pick wave, based on the type of product and its volume. Due to the amount of split case activity and the high number of SKUs involved, product is stored in more than 5000 individual carton flow rack lanes in two two-level pick modules, divided into 24 separate pick zones.

When the wave is released, UCC-128 labels are printed at the starting zone for each carton. In total, the system has more than 50 Zebra thermal transfer printers throughout the DC, connected to totes’ AS/400 over an Ethernet network. After scanning the carton number, the RF terminal directs the operator to the appropriate locations within the zone for picking, with the picks confirmed by scanning the UPC code on the product.

At the end of the zone, the operator scans the carton number bar code again, and is directed to either put the carton directly onto the conveyor system (if more picks are still required) or to close the carton (if all picks are complete). Again, a tight dialog between the WMS and FORTE’s CONTINUIMi DC Automation Director Module is required, with the WMS sending the control system information about the routing and picking progress of each carton.

As cartons are placed onto the conveyor after picking in a zone, a network of fixed station scanners monitors the cartons’ travel within the split case modules, and they are transferred to the next required zone in sequence if additional picks are required. At any time, operators can perform an inquiry on a carton within the CONTINUIMi DC Automation Director Module and view the original routing and what zones have been completed should any questions arise.

As the completed cartons leave the split case modules, they merge with full case cartons past the print and apply system and are tracked via a scan of the UCC-128 number. The high-speed sortation system then diverts each carton to the appropriate outbound pallet build lane, pre-determined by the WMS based on the cube of the carton and the rules for each specific retail customer. At the end of each lane, operators first apply and scan a unique identifier for each outbound pallet, then scan each carton as the pallet is built. Fixed terminals indicate to operators when the pallet is complete. Dock operators then scan the pallet ID and are directed to an outbound staging lane.

“In an automated environment like this, data and information drive both the automated portions of the system and the operators’ interaction with it,” said vice president of consulting services at FORTE. “This is especially true in a consumer goods-retailer distribution environment, with the high levels of full and split case picking requirements and the focus on unique carton level identification tied to advance ship notice generation.”

totes»ISOTONER’s new distribution center has achieved the company’s goals for efficiency and throughput, and illustrates the power of integrated AIDC, WMS, and automated material handling systems. The requirements for this level of technology will only increase in the e-business world, as the speed of fulfillment, granularity of tracking information, and the need for value added services continue to rapidly accelerate.

Press Contact

William Taylor, associate director of marketing
FORTE
(513) 398-2800
www.forte-industries.com