Case Study (Automotive) – Increase Order Filling Capacity

System Overview

The Challenge

Because of acquisitions and steady sales growth, a regional distributor of automotive parts located in the South Central U.S. needed to expand the inventory capacity of several distribution centers. The changes had to provide increased storage capacity of both product and SKU’s, while improving productivity.

System changes had to be implemented while maintaining normal shipping operations. To help offset the required Total Investments, changes needed to generate increases in productivity while meeting growth targets.

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The Customer’s View

We have partnered with Siggins to upgrade all of our distribution centers. Working as a team, we have identified incremental improvements in space utilization, productivity and other areas. The resulting changes have had a major impact on our growth and success over the years.

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The Solution

Efficient U-Shaped layouts for product flow were designed for each site, and correct storage media types were applied in multi-level picking modules to manage growth.

New automatic sortation systems were applied to maximize shipping efficiency. Sortation systems were elevated above the dock doors, with overhead gravity lanes and gravity spirals feeding shipping tri-lanes. The design increased the capacity of the shipping lanes and simplified consolidation of all products at shipping.

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