Going Mobile & Wireless to Tackle Replenishment
By Katrina C. Arabe
How do you handle nearly 3 billion lbs. of merchandise a year with speed and accuracy? For Sears, the answer is a wireless mobile system that tracks product movement in real time.
Upgrading the communications system of your material handling operation can pay big dividends. This is what Sears Logistics Services Inc. discovered after implementing a new wireless mobile system in its seven retail replenishment centers (RRCs). The new technology’s impact was quickly evident, boosting productivity by more than 30% and paying for itself within eight months. In addition, it dramatically cut overtime, virtually wiped out system errors and forestalled more than 90% of support calls.
The new system, installed in fall 2001, delivered the kind of performance that Sears Logistics, a subsidiary of Sears Roebuck & Co., demanded. Its seven RRCs provide all the merchandise to the 870 Sears shopping mall stores across the country. Volume is very high. Last year, these RRCs supplied 2.7 billion lbs. of merchandise to stores. Each day, these facilities process more than 25,000 pallets. Furthermore, merchandise is constantly flowing in and out, staying in storage for only 24 or 48 hours on average. “The new system was a bigger benefit that we thought it was going to be,” says Bryan Howell, a hardware specialist at Sears Logistics’ biggest distribution center, located in Pennsylvania .
The MobileBuilder 2.1 system from California-based PenRight Corp. replaced another wireless mobile system, which Sears had installed in the mid-90s. That older technology, in turn, had taken the place of a manual paper-based system. While the old wireless system had improved the management of deliveries, shipments and inventories, it wasn’t delivering enough speed and accuracy. “The old system was based on a DOS system, the new system is Windows CE-based,” says Winston Yuan, an internal consultant who selected and adapted the applications to the RRCs. “The DOS system was slower, less reliable and it was very difficult to connect to the host. With the new system the network connection is much more efficient, provides more memory, more hard drive space and it’s faster.”
Besides superior network connection, Yuan chose the MobileBuilder system because it didn’t need multiple scanning devices. It runs on a Pocket PC made by New York-based Symbol Technologies. This mobile device can utilize different scanning libraries. Instead of having to use four different scanning devices like it did in the past, Sears could rely on one handheld. This mobile device scans merchandise on its way into the distribution center to confirm receipt and on its way out of the distribution center to record that it has been shipped to fill an order. In this manner, product is tracked in real time—giving valuable information to everyone involved. Retail replenishment managers, who restock stores, can quickly find out what merchandise is available at the RRC. Also, store managers can access this data to learn what products are coming into the store and in what amounts.
By providing information in real time, the system has drastically reduced error. “The old system didn’t give us real time information for available bins and locations in the warehouse,” says Howell. “With the Pocket PC we have the ability to go real time and it actually eliminates human error.” It prevents such mistakes as workers selecting the same bin location twice, an error that can disrupt the process. “Based on an 8-hour shift, the old system would run 30 to 40 errors a day,” says Howell. “An error would lock up the entire system and it would be a lot harder and a lot longer to reboot the system to get it up and running again. With the new system sometimes you won’t see an error for a couple of weeks. It’s a major difference.”
This error reduction has translated to increased productivity, greatly improving slotting applications—the process whereby warehouse workers called slotters receive pallets sent by manufacturers via truck and then store the merchandise in bins in the warehouse. “We’ve (almost) doubled the productivity of our slotters,” says Howell. “I would say that in our old system the average pallets moved per slotter would be around the 220 to 230 range. Now our range is between 300 to 400 pallets.” Even peak time volumes pose no problem for the new system. The RRCs don’t have to hire extra help anymore for the busiest seasons and have even cut down on overtime. “Before we installed the new system we saw people working overtime in order to complete a shipment,” says Yuan. “Now I can tell you that most employees are getting their shipments filled in their regular shifts.”
Even if the wireless connection between the handhelds and the server is lost, the process is not hampered. Employees can continue working because these mobile devices retain the information until the connection is restored, during which time workers can send the data to the server. Memory storage is dense—with the Pocket PCs, which are equipped with a wireless LAN radio, holding up to 64MB. In fact, this large memory makes continuous connection to the server unnecessary. By only periodically connecting to the server, these mobile devices are able to run faster and get even more mileage from their batteries.
With its MobileBuilder system bringing so much speed and reliability, what is the next step for Sears replenishment? Even greater accuracy. “For the future, my personal expectation is to have a voice interface with the device because that will create even better accuracy,” says Yuan. In a few years, employees may be commanding their mobile devices to “scan box” or “display order” with their voices.
Source: Replenishment Heaven
Peter Strozniak
