Apex Tool Group Addresses Labor Needs with Lucas
Apex Tool Group is one of the leading global manufacturers of professional hand and power tools. The company’s half million square foot central distribution center in North Carolina serves multiple channels, including direct-to-consumer fulfillment, B2B distribution to retailers, as well as shipments to other ATG DCs throughout the world.
Although Apex was using RF and pick-to-light, the picking processes were complex and inefficient and overtime was common. Secondly, work release was highly manual and pickers would ultimately decide the sequence in which orders were picked, which sometimes caused items to ship late, among other issues. Apex implemented Lucas to help alleviate labor challenges and more efficiently meet stringent quality demands of its customer base
“We were challenged by a number of open jobs across our distribution center. But the productivity and efficiency gains from Lucas allowed us to continue to deliver the levels of service our customers expect.”
Accuracy and Efficiency Gains for Workers, Supervisors, and Delivery Drivers
63% Reduction in Picking Errors
Drastically Improved Audit Efficiency
Operating With 10% Fewer Man Hours
Improved Employee Morale
Legacy Technology and Processes Before Lucas
The DC receives product from ATG manufacturing plants in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, and processes 3,000-4,000 outbound shipments per day. The facility has 28,000 pallet locations and more than 16,000 individual pick faces, including case pick and each pick locations across multiple zones with a variety of picking processes and technology.
The WMS provided RF-based work execution and integrated with conveyor and sortation systems, and a pick-to-light module for each picking. Despite using RF and pick-to-light, picking processes were complex and inefficient, causing frequent overtime.
Additionally, work release was highly manual. The WMS would print the labels for all orders for the day and a planner would sort the labels by carrier and shipment. The pickers would ultimately decide the sequence in which orders were picked, which sometimes caused items to ship late, among other issues. Errors and late shipments are especially costly when shipping to big box
Manual Work Release
Costly Shipping Errors
Inefficient Processes
Jennifer™ Provides Flexible Work Creation to Support Alternative Batch Picking Strategies and Intelligent Voice-Directed Processes
Lucas voice-directed applications are used for post-pick dock sortation and all picking processes in every area of the DC: pick-to-cart, pick-to-carton, case pick and non-conveyable.
The Lucas solution also included a management console that gives supervisors real-time insight on productivity, workflow, exceptions, and other operational data.
Jennifer™ creates optimized batch picking assignments for different cart configurations in the main piece picking area while defining optimal pick paths for each cart pick assignment in the area.
Workers were equipped with multi-modal mobile applications on android devices to maximize efficiency with voice, scanning and visual prompts.
Post-pick QC/Audit application uses barcode scanning to replace a manual visual audit process.
“You rarely implement a new system and have users tell you ‘It’s made my life so much easier.‘ Making the process better for associates makes them more productive. And that’s better for the business”
