Material Handling AUTOMATION
BY AMBAFLEX | WWW.AMBAFLEX.COM
As the market leader in spiral conveyors
in the logistic industry we think of solutions
for handling cases & SKU’s. It’s what
we do. At AmbaFlex it’s not just about
building the right equipment, it’s about
developing a special solution for you.
Here’s to spiral conveying.
Spiral elevators for goods-to-man systems,
picking modules and sorting systems.
Spiral conveying. Straight up!
AmbaFlex_ad_shipping-logistics_102x284.indd 1 21/03/18 11: 17
44 DC VELOCITY MARCH 2019 www.dcvelocity.com
DC, routing e-commerce orders in batches to one of several
put-to-light walls, where employees sort them into predetermined slots, also referred to as “cubbies.” Employees on the
other side of the wall remove and package the final orders.
The DC design includes several put walls with a range of
cubbies per wall. The system handles hundreds of orders per
put wall at a time and can adjust depending on surge and
peak needs. The layout of the system allows one loader to
reach all of the cubbies on the put side of the wall, while a
packer has access to half of the cubbies at a time on the other
side. The packing process is longer and more time-consuming than loading the put wall, Davidson explains, so this process allows a single loader to support two packers, boosting
productivity.
Bommer emphasizes that the WES controls everything at
the put wall—from determining which products are picked
from totes and distributed to the wall, to suggesting shipping
carton sizes for those items, and then sending all the appropriate messaging back to Journeys’ warehouse management
system (WMS) so that a shipping label can be created, a
packing slip printed, and so on.
“[Companies] are moving toward WES capability because
they are looking to optimize flow through the building,”
he says, emphasizing that the WES allows companies to do
more “up front” planning so they can route orders more
efficiently and balance labor requirements.
Journeys has increased picking productivity by 40 percent since implementing the WES and the accompanying
automation changes. E-commerce throughput has increased
by 200 percent, while traditional retail throughput has
increased by 60 percent. With the new automation capabilities, Journeys cluster-picks its retail orders, which are routed
separately from its e-commerce orders.
The WES implementation gives Journeys plenty of room
to grow. As Davidson explains, “The system is expandable to
meet future growth based on certain milestones reached in
their consumer-direct business volumes.”
The facility’s IT manager, Nancy Harris, agrees.
“The Fortna WES solution gives us the necessary flexibility
and scalability to evolve and grow right alongside our business,” she says.
PLANNING FOR THE NEXT GROWTH WAVE
Moving forward, Fortna and Journeys will conduct yearly project reviews to make sure the retailer is meeting its
growth targets. Fortna designed Journeys’ automated system
so that it can accommodate modular expansion based on
how fast the company is growing. Davidson says Journeys
is currently exceeding its growth projections and plans to
expand those automation capabilities in two years.
“From a goal perspective, one of the biggest things
[Journeys] wanted was flexibility combined with 100-percent
ability to stay operational throughout the transition without
any service disruption,” Davidson says. “Most importantly,
this is technology the company can grow with.”
