Matthews Automation Solutions’ brand Lightning Pick is featured as part of Modern Materials Handling magazine’s June 2016 cover story on Hibbet Sports’ new 420,000-square-foot distribution center in Alabaster, Alabama. The article, “Hibbett Sports: Faster, Flexible and Efficient,” describes how the facility’s high-speed conveyor and sortation system optimize cross-docking flow-through for 80% of incoming merchandise.
The other 20% is diverted to a serve storage area or to a put-to-light mezzanine. The mezzanine is equipped with Lightning Pick’s pack-to-light solution (also called put-to-light or put-to-store) so that full cases of merchandise can be quickly sorted into individual retail store cartons. The new put-to-light strategy enables replenishment at the item level, so Hibbett is more targeted than ever about the merchandise it sends to its stores.
“In our old facility, we cross docked about 96% of the merchandise, which meant we replenished at the full case level,” says Tony Lago, the vice president of distribution who was brought in to run the new facility. “By replenishing based on what’s selling, less merchandise has to be discounted.”
Content and Images Source: MMH.com