The Situation
Running a large retail warehouse has many challenges. Efficiency is critical. But as the years go by, it becomes difficult to keep up with the latest technology and processes to stay ahead of the curve. At Bar Code Direct we recently partnered with a longstanding international retail client to modernize their distribution facility, train their people to be more efficient and streamline their operations.
Our Approach
To accomplish this, we began by doing a comprehensive site analysis and discovered that the facility was running several different systems concurrently that were not designed to work together – including non-automated, paper-based systems and technology that was simply inefficient for the task at hand.
The Solution
We took a three-pronged approach:
- We installed a new wireless backbone with a WAN failover connection.
- Brought in new hardware including tablets, wearables, handhelds, scanners and GUI-based terminals.
- Developed a customized enterprise software solution to help every thing work together seamlessly.
The Results
We helped increase speed and productivity by over 20%. Also, by arming the warehouse workers with a simplified, yet more powerful system we were able to help them increase their pick rates, and improve their bonus levels. Downtime was reduced by over 40% and the corporation’s upward growth trajectory continued to accelerate to record levels.
The Tools:
Zebra ET50, WT6000, TC70, DS3600, ZT410, QLn420
