THIRD PLACE WINNER

Student Design Team

Ashley Benedict, Robert Lunn, Shanna Goodson

A hybrid design incorporating both traditional and automated materials handling equipment is key to this award winner’s high accuracy and efficiency

THE DETAILS

• Bi-directional horizontal carousels improve picking efficiency and increase order accuracy to more than 99%

• Creating pods consisting of multiple carousels eliminates operator wait time, improves picking throughput

• Use of narrow-aisle (seven high) pallet rack maximizes use of vertical space

• Single-deep pallet rack provides easy access to pick faces for inventory requiring only moderate depth

• Segregating stock by SKU activity level and order type optimizes picking efficiency and facilitates flow of orders through the facility

• WMS maintains tight control over inventory, order management, and physical flow of inventory

o be able to manage future growth, Sneaky Sneakers needs a system that can handle a variety of SKUs and order types,” says Student Ashley Benedict. “Our team looked at many materials handling techniques. The hybrid layout that we ultimately selected delivers the best trade-off in terms of cost versus benefits. Although the upfront cost is higher than a purely traditional system, it drastically reduces the number of employees required to process an order, and thereby reduces the chance of human error.”

The Material Flow
Incoming merchandise is taken either to pallet racks (85% of stock) or directly to a forward picking area consisting of horizontal carousels. Inventory is segregated by activity level and by type of order—retail vs. Internet. Picked cases from carousels are placed onto live roller conveyor and transported to a queuing area for order consolidation and palletizing. Internet orders and low-quantity SKU picks are processed at workstations. Bar codes and a WMS are used to control all warehouse activities.

FACILITY LAYOUT