A SERIES OF ACQUISITIONS HAS LED TO CONSIDERable growth for independent family-owned and -operated
spirits producer/supplier Heaven Hill Brands—but it also
left the company’s Bardstown, Ky., warehouse bursting at
the seams recently, with the facility operating at full capacity and limited expansion options. That’s when Heaven
Hill turned to York, Pa.-based warehouse automation
specialist Westfalia Technologies for a solution that would
increase storage capacity, improve
productivity, and accommodate
growth. Heaven Hill installed
Westfalia’s automated equipment
at the Bardstown warehouse last
year and has since seen dramatic
improvements in storage capacity
and shipping capabilities, the companies said.
GETTING STARTED
As the companies explain, what
Heaven Hill needed was a way
to accommodate growth and improve upon the manual
process it was using to run the facility. The answer was
Westfalia’s high-density automated storage and retrieval
system (AS/RS) with an integrated layer pick system and
the company’s Savanna.NET warehouse execution system
(WES). The solution allows Heaven Hill to meet throughput requirements, boost shipping efficiency, increase its
warehouse storage capacity, and scale up as the company
expands. Specifically, the combination of the AS/RS and
layer pick system enables Heaven Hill to seamlessly convey
pallets from palletizing to storage and on to truck staging
lanes, streamlining the order fulfillment process. In addition, the WES directs all activities in the warehouse and
provides real-time inventory visibility and tracking.
MAKING SPACE
Space savings is at the heart of the new solution. Westfalia’s
high-density AS/RS maximized storage capacity at Heaven
Hill’s existing site with a rack structure that covers three
aisles with more than 27,000 pallet rack positions, serviced
by four tandem pallet storage/retrieval machines (S/RMs).
The system features storage blocks of multiple storage-lane
depths, including two outside storage blocks that can hold
pallets six deep and middle storage blocks that hold up to
10 pallets. This gives Heaven Hill the flexibility to configure
the middle storage blocks with varying lane depths, based
on the inventory levels of each stock-keeping unit (SKU),
according to Westfalia.
“A key benefit of a high-density AS/RS is its unique ability to
improve space utilization in an
existing facility without the need
for a costly expansion or off-site
storage,” Westfalia Technologies
President Dan Labell said in a
statement describing the project.
“This is especially appealing to the
wine and spirits industry, as many
producers and distributors, like
Heaven Hill, are operating at maximum capacity, while handling a
growing number of SKUs. Westfalia’s AS/RS, integrated
with our Savanna.NET WES, will provide Heaven Hill with
additional operational efficiencies, cost savings, and a competitive advantage.”
SEEING RESULTS
Both companies say the Westfalia/Heaven Hill project is
yielding impressive results. They report that the spirits
supplier has increased its storage capacity by 40 percent and
is shipping products 400 percent faster than it did before,
improvements that will help Heaven Hill meet its long-term objectives.
“Our ability to significantly cut down our dock time
and truck turnaround time is a big step in moving toward
being the shipper of choice,” said Cindy Mouser, Heaven
Hill’s director of supply chain and bottling operations, in
the statement. “At Heaven Hill, we expect future growth
for both our company and our brands, and Westfalia’s
Savanna.NET really gives us the systems and leverage to be
able to accommodate that growth.”
Following a string of acquisitions, distilled spirits supplier Heaven Hill Brands faced a space
crunch. An automated storage and retrieval system combined with warehouse execution software
changed all that.
Spirit of innovation
