For more than 65 years, RIDG-U-RAK has been
the innovative leader in storage rack design and
production. Whether you need replacement beams
or a storage system covering 30 acres of warehouse
space, RIDG-U-RAK is the name to trust.
Trust RIDG-U-RAK with your next project
• One of the largest rack manufacturers
• Capacity in excess of 60,000 tons per year
• Project management and installation services
• Full array of storage
system solutions
• Unparalleled
innovation, design
and application
experience
Full Line Selection
Guide & More
Toll Free: 866-479-7225
www.ridgurak.com
R
E
G
.
#
5
1
0
5
Selective Pallet Rack • Drive-In • Push Back • Flow
• Pick Modules • Cantilever • Stacker Cranes •
Roll-Out Shelving • Seismic Base Isolation
scanning the individualized bar codes, and introduce them to
Intelligrated conveyors—no totes are involved. The goods
then move to a second sliding shoe sorter. In-line scanners
direct each product to the correct packing area.
“We have a tiered sort system,” Adkins explains. Single-item
orders go directly to pack stations specifically for that type of
order. Multi-item orders move to stations where employees
pick goods and place them in bins as directed by the system.
Once an order is complete, the system generates a packing slip
for the specific bin, which is then sent to a packer.
Completed packages move through Intelligrated print-and-apply modules for labeling, then travel along a third sliding
shoe sorter to the correct shipping lane, where they are conveyed directly onto a trailer. The sorter handles more than 100
cartons a minute.
Intelligrated also developed a customized conveyor system
that limits the amount of time a package spends traveling on
a conveyor to a maximum of five minutes. That was necessary
to meet Zappos.com’s requirement that all orders be processed
in an hour or less—a capability that allows it to fulfill its
promise to deliver orders the next day. (Most orders ship via
UPS’s Next Day Air service.) The overall system is capable of
shipping 300,000 products a day.
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Zappos.com also has developed a robust system for handling
returns. Its easy return policy—it pays for shipping and allows
returns for up to a year after purchase—means that about a
third of the goods it ships out are returned, typically on the
order of 15,000 to 20,000 items daily.
The retailer receives those returns, which usually amount to
several truckloads a day, through dedicated doors. Returns
that come back in the same carton they were shipped in (the
majority of returns) are unloaded manually and conveyed to
return stations. Items that arrive in envelopes or other packaging considered non-conveyable are placed in trays or hand
carried to the return stations.
At the return stations, the items are unpacked, scanned,
inspected, and, if still salable, returned to inventory. “One of the
things that really helps us is that individual bar code,” Adkins says.
ROOM FOR GROWTH
When Zappos installed the initial handling system back in 2006,
it did so with an eye toward expansion. In particular, the sortation
system included more diverts than were required at the time.
That proved to be a far-sighted move. Along with the company’s organic growth, the retailer’s acquisition by Amazon in
2009 opened up new fulfillment opportunities for the facility,
which had to double capacity.
Because of the advance planning, the transition proved relatively easy, Adkins reports. “We figured out what we needed,
built it onto the end, and backed into the system,” he says.
“Cutover was in less than a day. We cannot shut down operations. When we work with material handling engineering
companies, that is part of the deal.” ;
