Five years ago, nothing much came between the Calvin Klein Cosmetics DC and a looming operational disaster. But a flashy pick-to-light system brought some much-needed direction to the order pickers' daily rounds.
John Johnson joined the DC Velocity team in March 2004. A veteran business journalist, John has over a dozen years of experience covering the supply chain field, including time as chief editor of Warehousing Management. In addition, he has covered the venture capital community and previously was a sports reporter covering professional and collegiate sports in the Boston area. John served as senior editor and chief editor of DC Velocity until April 2008.
When Mark Farrell first arrived at Calvin Klein Cosmetics in 1998, he realized he was looking at a candidate for a serious makeover. But the subject wasn't a customer in need of some eyebrow shaping, a little contouring powder or a new color palette; rather, it was an order-picking process that had fallen sadly behind the times.
At that time, the company, now a subsidiary of Unilever Cosmetics International (UCI), was about to launch a new product line, Calvin Klein's color enhancing makeup and skin care products. Farrell, who had just been hired as the company's operations manager, knew that if he didn't do something fast, the 120,000-square-foot Mt. Olive, N.J., distribution center would almost certainly be overwhelmed. "When I started with UCI," he says, "we were picking these kinds of products manually, with paper." But paper wasn't going to cut it when orders for the new cosmetics started pouring in.
What turned things around in short order was a flashy "pick-to light" system from Acworth, Ga.-based Kingway Material Handling, which provided beacons mounted in the storage racks to direct the order picking. In a pick-to-light operation, a computer electronically reads the order pick tickets, determines the best picking sequence and transmits signals to lights on the storage racks. Those flashing lights then guide workers to the items to be picked and indicate the quantity needed. Once the items have been selected, the order picker presses a button so that the computer can verify that the order was picked correctly.
Kingway's system, called Computer Assisted Picking System (CAPS), is designed specifically for operations like UCI's that require split-case—as opposed to full-case—picking of medium-and fast moving items. In recent years, customers like the Dillards and Saks Fifth Avenue department store chains have stepped up the frequency of t heir orders and begun ordering smaller quantities than they did in the past. Today, split-case orders make up almost three-quarters of UCI's domestic order volume.
That only makes the DC manager's job harder. Picking split-case orders accurately requires more time and more labor than picking full cases. Accuracy is an issue too. In the cosmetics business, product packaging for different stock-keeping units tends to be similar, making it tough to distinguish one from the next and making it all too easy for pickers to select the wrong item.
A pick-to-light system addresses those problems: UCI reports that its picking accuracy is now greater than 99.99 percent, provided that the pick locations are replenished promptly and correctly. Productivity has soared, too. The initial implementation of CAPS doubled picking productivity, the cosmetics company reports, and enhancements made in 2000 resulted in another 50-percent improvement. Today, says Farrell, "there's never idle time for the pickers. They're always productive. But without the pick-to-light system, I don't know how we'd do it."
Easy picking
There's no question that CAPS makes workers' lives easier: Since the pick display is mounted and stationary, the picker doesn't have to carry a piece of paper, pencil, RF terminal or other data-collection equipment. Pickers quickly get into the rhythm of identifying which pick-faces contain the items needed for the next order, picking the correct quantity, and pushing the display button to indicate the item has been picked.
Errors are down, too. "We don't see the number of picking errors that we did before because the systemen ables pickers to stay focused on the product and quantity they need to pick," says Farrell. "Under the old sys tem, the pickers had to carry pick slips, drop their eyes to read them, and then l ook up again at the product; it was easy to make mistakes. Now, with the pick-to-light system, pickers can use both hands for order selection."
Not only has CAPS reduced SKU picking errors, but it has made quantity picking errors a thing of the past. CAPS passes each order over an inmotion scale that can determine the expected weight for the designated quantity of items for each order. If the scale detects a weight discrepancy outside of the allowed tolerance, the system kicks the order to a side conveyor for auditing.
"We did a study with our pick-to-light system,and whenever a box is kicked out it's almost always a case error," says Kevin Whalen, a system engineer at UCI. "We never have SKU substitutions with the pick-to-light system."
Adjustable CAPS
Of course, it's one thing to design a system that handles a reasonably predictable workload and quite another to set something up that can accommodate wide fluctuations in activity. UCI says CAPS has proved both flexible and scalable. When ever UCI has run up against a change in distribution requirements, Kingway has been able to modify CAPS to meet the challenge. For example, when the Mt. Olive DC began to stock more SKUs, forcing the company to start using all available pick locations, the facility encountered a problem with the pick locations nearest the ground. In the typical pick-to-light configuration, the light display is mounted below the corresponding pick-face. But with this configuration, the display for the floor locations would be close to the pickers' feet and leave the lights exposed to damage.
In a project dubbed the "color initiative" because it dealt with Klein's color-enhancing line of cosmetics, Kingway devised a way to mount two sets of light displays on one shelf about waist-high. The two sets of light displays were then individually color-coded to avoid confusion: red lights for product to be picked above the display, green lights for item s below. Without this modification, UCI would have been forced to abandon the pick locations at the pickers' feet.
Kingway has helped UCI out in other ways as well. Three years ago, the vendor scaled down UCI's pick displays from the 73/4 inch standard to 31/2 inches, enabling UCI to increase the number of pick locations per shelf from six to 12, doubling the number of picks per aisle.
"They wanted to set up an individual pick line for what they had forecast to be fast-moving, very small products," says Ralph Henderson, national sales manager for Kingway. "The challenge was the high density; they needed to put 10 items across in a carton shelf flow rack. In the past we couldn't do that because the electronic components were too big. So we redesigned that piece of hardware to accommodate their request."
As for the system's inner workings, the CAPS software resides on a Unix server that is interfaced with UCI's Trendsetter warehouse management system (WMS), which was developed by Computer Task Group's Melbourne, Fla.-based logistics division. With help from the WMS, CAPS is able to establish multiple pick locations for a single SKU when needed. This feature is especially helpful during a new product launch when demand for an item can be extremely high. Because it has a choice of pick locations for a single item across several zones,CAPS is able to balance the workload for picking that item. When an order is dropped, CAPS receives a message telling it the best location from which to pick the product in order to avoid congestion at a single pick location.
Time and temps
Because CAPS requires little training, it's an easy matter for the Mt. Olive DC to bring in temporary workers during peak periods."Other UCI DCs that don't use a pick-to-light system spend valuable time bringing temps up to speed," says UCI's Len Westerman, former project manager for CAPS. "We can bring in temps and not miss a beat."
The CAPS setup even helps UCI maintain package integrity. In the cosmetics industry, image and packaging are everything. If a box is even slightly crushed, consumers won't buy it. According to Farrell, other material handling shelving solutions - like A-frames - that facilitate picking productivity but require stacking of product don't measure up to pick-to-light solutions when it comes to ensuring package integrity.
"We're very conscious of our packaging," says Farrell. "You simply should not dispense fragrances and some cosmetics through an A-frame, which I've seen companies try to do, because you risk damage to the packaging. Pick-tolight is the best solution for our products."
States across the Southeast woke up today to find that the immediate weather impacts from Hurricane Helene are done, but the impacts to people, businesses, and the supply chain continue to be a major headache, according to Everstream Analytics.
The primary problem is the collection of massive power outages caused by the storm’s punishing winds and rainfall, now affecting some 2 million customers across the Southeast region of the U.S.
One organization working to rush help to affected regions since the storm hit Florida’s western coast on Thursday night is the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). As it does after most serious storms, the group continues to marshal donated resources from supply chain service providers in order to store, stage, and deliver help where it’s needed.
Support for recovery efforts is coming from a massive injection of federal aid, since the White House declared states of emergency last week for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Affected states are also supporting the rush of materials to needed zones by suspending transportation requirement such as certain licensing agreements, fuel taxes, weight restrictions, and hours of service caps, ALAN said.
E-commerce activity remains robust, but a growing number of consumers are reintegrating physical stores into their shopping journeys in 2024, emphasizing the need for retailers to focus on omnichannel business strategies. That’s according to an e-commerce study from Ryder System, Inc., released this week.
Ryder surveyed more than 1,300 consumers for its 2024 E-Commerce Consumer Study and found that 61% of consumers shop in-store “because they enjoy the experience,” a 21% increase compared to results from Ryder’s 2023 survey on the same subject. The current survey also found that 35% shop in-store because they don’t want to wait for online orders in the mail (up 4% from last year), and 15% say they shop in-store to avoid package theft (up 8% from last year).
“Retail and e-commerce continue to evolve,” Jeff Wolpov, Ryder’s senior vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement announcing the survey’s findings. “The emergence of e-commerce and growth of omnichannel fulfillment, particularly over the past four years, has altered consumer expectations and behavior dramatically and will continue to do so as time and technology allow.
“This latest study demonstrates that, while consumers maintain a robust
appetite for e-commerce, they are simultaneously embracing in-person shopping, presenting an impetus for merchants to refine their omnichannel strategies.”
Other findings include:
• Apparel and cosmetics shoppers show growing attraction to buying in-store. When purchasing apparel and cosmetics, shoppers are more inclined to make purchases in a physical location than they were last year, according to Ryder. Forty-one percent of shoppers who buy cosmetics said they prefer to do so either in a brand’s physical retail location or a department/convenience store (+9%). As for apparel shoppers, 54% said they prefer to buy clothing in those same brick-and-mortar locations (+9%).
• More customers prefer returning online purchases in physical stores. Fifty-five percent of shoppers (+15%) now say they would rather return online purchases in-store–the first time since early 2020 the preference to Buy Online Return In-Store (BORIS) has outweighed returning via mail, according to the survey. Forty percent of shoppers said they often make additional purchases when picking up or returning online purchases in-store (+2%).
• Consumers are extremely reliant on mobile devices when shopping in-store. This year’s survey reveals that 77% of consumers search for items on their mobile devices while in a store, Ryder said. Sixty-nine percent said they compare prices with items in nearby stores, 58% check availability at other stores, 31% want to learn more about a product, and 17% want to see other items frequently purchased with a product they’re considering.
Ryder said the findings also underscore the importance of investing in technology solutions that allow companies to provide customers with flexible purchasing options.
“Omnichannel strength is not a fad; it is a strategic necessity for e-commerce and retail businesses to stay competitive and achieve sustainable success in 2024 and beyond,” Wolpov also said. “The findings from this year’s study underscore what we know our customers are experiencing, which is the positive impact of integrating supply chain technology solutions across their sales channels, enabling them to provide their customers with flexible, convenient options to personalize their experience and heighten customer satisfaction.”
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Two European companies are among the most recent firms to put autonomous last-mile delivery to the test with a project in Bern, Switzerland, that debuted this month.
Swiss transportation and logistics company Planzer has teamed up with fellow Swiss firm Loxo, which develops autonomous driving software solutions, for a two-year pilot project in which a Loxo-equipped, Planzer parcel delivery van will handle last-mile logistics in Bern’s city center.
The project coincides with Swiss regulations on autonomous driving that are expected to take effect next spring.
Referred to as “Planzer–Dynamic Micro-Hub w LOXO,” the project aims to address both sustainability issues and traffic congestion in urban areas.
The delivery vehicle, a Volkswagen ID. Buzz battery-electric minivan, will feature Loxo’s Level 4 Digital Driver navigation software, a highly automated solution that allows driverless operation. The van was retrofitted to include space for two swap boxes for parcel storage.
During the two-year pilot phase, Loxo’s Digital Driver will navigate a commercial vehicle several times a day from Planzer’s railway center to various logistics points in Bern's city center. There, the parcels will be reloaded onto small electric vehicles and delivered to end customers by Planzer’s parcel delivery staff.
Following the completion of the pilot phase, Planzer and Loxo will build on the program for rollout in other Swiss cities, the companies said.
The partners said the project addresses the increasing requirements of urban supply chains and aims to ensure the “scalability of their disruptive solution.” With largely emission-free delivery, it contributes to greater levels of sustainability for the city as a living space, they also said.
“The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that it will have a direct impact on society,” Planzer’s CEO and Chairman Nils Planzer said in a statement announcing the project. “We didn't just want to integrate automated technology into existing systems, we wanted to develop a completely new concept and a new business model.”
As the hours tick down toward a “seemingly imminent” strike by East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, experts are warning that the impacts of that move would mushroom well-beyond the actual strike locations, causing prevalent shipping delays, container ship congestion, port congestion on West coast ports, and stranded freight.
However, a strike now seems “nearly unavoidable,” as no bargaining sessions are scheduled prior to the September 30 contract expiration between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) in their negotiations over wages and automation, according to the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
The facilities affected would include some 45,000 port workers at 36 locations, including high-volume U.S. ports from Boston, New York / New Jersey, and Norfolk, to Savannah and Charleston, and down to New Orleans and Houston. With such widespread geography, a strike would likely lead to congestion from diverted traffic, as well as knock-on effects include the potential risk of increased freight rates and costly charges such as demurrage, detention, per diem, and dwell time fees on containers that may be slowed due to the congestion, according to an analysis by another transportation and logistics sector law firm, Benesch.
The weight of those combined blows means that many companies are already planning ways to minimize damage and recover quickly from the event. According to Scopelitis’ advice, mitigation measures could include: preparing for congestion on West coast ports, taking advantage of intermodal ground transportation where possible, looking for alternatives including air transport when necessary for urgent delivery, delaying shipping from East and Gulf coast ports until after the strike, and budgeting for increased freight and container fees.
Additional advice on softening the blow of a potential coastwide strike came from John Donigian, senior director of supply chain strategy at Moody’s. In a statement, he named six supply chain strategies for companies to consider: expedite certain shipments, reallocate existing inventory strategically, lock in alternative capacity with trucking and rail providers , communicate transparently with stakeholders to set realistic expectations for delivery timelines, shift sourcing to regional suppliers if possible, and utilize drop shipping to maintain sales.