Forecast calling for significant retail volume growth and shifts in distribution handling practices?
Afraid your existing material handling systems won’t be able to keep up with associated throughput, accuracy and productivity requirements in order to serve your stores’ replenishment needs?
It might be time to consider an upgraded warehouse execution system (WES) and control hardware/software—like Pyramid’s customer did when retrofitting and upgrading its sole store replenishment distribution center (DC) in the Midwest.
The solution for these challenges was to install Pyramid Director WES along with the Pyramid Controller series of control hardware and software in order to direct picking and routing of inventory to retail stores. The two work together to integrate with the facility’s Manhattan Associates’ warehouse management system (WMS) to supervise and direct all the equipment as orders flow through a variety of processes.
Unitized cases are picked and staged by wave in pallet form, then the WMS downloads the waves to Director WES for processing throughout the facility. Director WES manages all wave staging, then drives case throw-on to the package conveyor. This ensures that each individual case is scanned, tracked and controlled for wave sequence integrity.
Sortation, supervised by Director WES, occurs across a high-speed pop-up wheel sorter to bombay packing sorters, where the WES directs de-casing and induction of individual articles across 48 induction workstations. Operators using radio frequency (RF) terminals position store shipping cartons at packing sorter chutes; controlled by the Pyramid Loop Sort Controller, articles are automatically identified on the bombay loop sorters and directed to required chutes.
As articles are sorted to their respective chutes and shipping cartons, their arrival is confirmed and automatically credited to the store for subsequent shipment. The WES continuously monitors the disposition of all items, then communicates all pack-out activity to the WMS. From there, shipping cartons are conveyed to an automatic, high-speed shipping label print/apply area, where Pyramid’s Auto Print/Apply Controller ensures that compliance labeling occurs at throughput rates of 100 cases per minute across two lines.
Want to learn more? The complete application brief is available here.
