AS REPORTED IN THE COVER STORY OF THE
February 2015 issue of DC VELOCITY, American Eagle
Outfitters (AE) has opened a new distribution center
in Hazle Township, Pa., which is located in the eastern end of the Keystone State. The facility introduced
a new concept for the company, as it fills both store
and Web orders from the one building and the same
pool of inventory.
When it first opened (and
at the time we wrote our
story), the facility was only
that time, retail distribution has been added to the
mix at Hazle. We thought it would be interesting to
check in with the company to see how operations
have been going since the changeover.
The first store shipments actually began last June
from Hazle. Currently, some 416 stores are being
served from there, with the remaining stores handled
by AE’s other main distribution center in Ottawa,
Kan. Typically, Hazle handles store fulfillment east
of the Mississippi, while Ottawa serves stores in the
West. However, either distribution center can fill
orders to any store as needed, which allows flexibility
in the network.
A unique feature in Hazle is that products are
not stored, but are immediately sent upon receipt
to six fulfillment modules, where they are avail-
able for filling either store or Internet orders. The
modules hold 250,000 cases of shared inventory.
Vargo’s COFE warehouse execution system directs
picking wavelessly. Two different types of totes
are used, depending on whether the orders are for
retail replenishment or Internet orders. Full cases
are also picked for stores. The cases and totes ride
on Dematic conveyors that
wind through the middle of
the pick areas. The items are
later sorted using put-to-light systems from Dematic.
(For a full description of the
process, see the original article at www.dcvelocity.com/
articles/20150126-fashion-
forward.)
This past holiday season was the first in which
the facility handled both the retail and e-commerce
channels under one roof. During that season, AE
experienced a high level of sales, including high-er-than-expected e-commerce sales. “It was a good
year to be omnichannel,” says Christine Miller,
director of operations. “We ended up using about
220,000 units of inventory that we had originally set
aside for our stores for direct-to-consumer fulfillment.” She adds that since the inventory is shared,
the division of original assignments really just exists
on paper.
That ability to share resources, though, proves
the value of the concept from AE’s perspective. “It
increases our flexibility to service the customers
wherever they are at,” says Miller.
After initially handling e-commerce fulfillment, AE’s Pennsylvania facility recently added
store fulfillment to the mix. Here’s a look at how it’s all working out.
American Eagle DC spreads
its wings
