Case Study: Premier Yarns' Pick-Pack-Ship Solution
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Premier Yarns needed to improve the 拣货、包装的速度和准确性 and ship operations. Carolina Handling's integrated solution has helped double daily picks and significantly improve fulfillment times for the manufacturer and distributor of hand knitting yarns.
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OVERVIEW
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WHO:
Premier Yarns
INDUSTRY:
E-Commerce
NEEDS:
Improve speed and accuracy of pick, pack and ship operations.
SOLUTION:
Integrated automation system featuring ground-level and elevated conveyor, 螺旋旋转和移动机器人.
RESULTS:
Doubled daily picks. 缩短完成周期.
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Pack and ship operations previously were housed together in a back corner of the warehouse.
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Locus mobile robots deliver orders to induction where they are checked, 在新的包装站包装并贴上标签, then placed on the conveyor for delivery to shipping.
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A motor-driven roller (MDR) spiral turn lifts packages to an overhead conveyor that delivers them to shipping.
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Mobile robots have doubled picking speed to 1,000 orders per day.
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Screens attached to mobile robots identify picking location and quantity to be picked.
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监视器实时显示拾取的位置.
Stay In Touch
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总理纱线的历史
Knitting, quilting and other crafts experienced a revival during the Covid-19 pandemic with companies like Premier® Yarns in Harrisburg, North Carolina, seeing a spike in sales as those quarantined at home turned to a mid-19th century pastime to pass the time.
A leading North American manufacturer and distributor of hand knitting yarns, Premier opened as a mass market distributor in 2005, selling its colorful skeins to retail chains like Walmart, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn’s and Michael’s, with a sister company, Universal Yarns, selling to smaller, independent retailers.
该公司于2008年推出了一个网站, in 2010, established an e-commerce platform for online sales to end users. Before the pandemic, sales online had slowly increased from an average of five orders per day to about 20. But when Covid forced retailers such as JoAnn’s and Michael’s to close, Premier’s online orders immediately jumped to 400–500 per day.
“In 2022, on Black Friday, we got slammed with orders on our dot.com business,” said Premier Yarns President Hal Ozbelli. “FedEx was coming three times each day for pickup, and we regularly ran out of supplies like boxes and tape.”
随着订单的不断涌入, Premier owners knew they needed an alternative to their largely manual process.
“We needed to pick fast and accurately,” said Premier Managing Director Yonca Ozbelli. “We considered outsourcing to a third-party logistics company, 但是质量控制对我们来说是一个主要问题.”
Instead, Premier turned to long-time material handling partner, Carolina Handling.
"After we visited a few of the companies that are currently using these systems, it was a no-brainer. We have found the right partner and team to work with,” Hal Ozbelli said.
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考虑事项和目标
总理的首要目标是寻找 一个可以改善 拣货、包装的速度和准确性 and ship operations. With online 新冠疫情后订单持续增长， 履约率达到10个以上的企业 天需要减少到2到 3-day turnaround.
此外，公司需要 一个能在其内部运作的系统 现有6万平方英尺的设施和 一个不会中断的安装 已经很紧张的行动.
A final consideration was maintaining sound quality within the facility.
“当我们第一次进来的时候，我们注意到了这一点 他们所有的流程都非常手工。” 卡罗莱纳装卸系统工程师说 Jacob Barrett. “在Premier，你必须这么做 挑选，打包，运输，一个都没有 所有这些的解，我们看一下 下面是添加移动机器人的方法 以及输送机和分选解决方案 他们现在的流程.”
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BEFORE: Design engineers took advantage of underutilized floor space in the middle of the Premier Yarns warehouse to install a conveyor with packing stations on either side.
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AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION
利用未充分利用的资源 地面和高层的楼面空间 仓库天花板，卡罗莱纳装卸店 首先是内部物流解决方案组 installed a conveyor to serve as a 快递拣货的高速公路 从中心的包装站 仓库到货运站附近 back of the facility..
有了新系统，12个移动轨迹 机器人将挑选好的订单送到商店 放置它们的感应区域 上了顶部传送带，然后送到 每边都有包装站.
一旦订单被检查，包装和 有标签，瓦楞纸箱和塑料 手提袋被放在底部的传送带上， which elevates them through a motor driven roller (MDR) spiral turn, then 垂直移动它们 仓库通过吊顶输送机. 传送带拒绝装运 卸货区; 计量和分类的运输方法.
输送机配有滚轮 当一个纸箱或 tote approaches. 当产品通过时，滚筒 关闭，直到检测到另一个包裹， 保持低噪音水平和能量 efficiency high.
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AFTER: A new conveyor takes orders from packing stations to an MDR spiral turn which lifts them to an overhead conveyor and delivers them across the warehouse to shipping.
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短期和长期利益
总理纱线已经看到了回归 在投资方面，每天翻一番 出货量平均每台1000台 根据仓库经理的说法 Marsha Sanders.
“我们的每日挑选数量翻了一番，而且我们已经 从一个巨大的窗口流逝的时间框架 发货- 5到10个工作日 缩短到2到3个工作日. “We’ve seen 这种转变发生得很快。” Sanders said.
挑选的准确性也随之提高 员工满意度.
“它有助于避免失误，因为我们的 机器人可以区分放入哪些物品 手提袋，”桑德斯说. “It’s also a lot 较少的体力，因为我们的采摘者 被分配到指定的通道，他们 now are hands-free. They aren’t pushing around carts; so with the flow, they’re 能够补充，工作和清洁 过道里什么都没有 in their way.”
自动化系统也协助 补充和规划，桑德斯说.
“我们能够评估我们的开放选择 提供给我们的电视屏幕(右边) 轨迹，这样我们就能看到所有的 每天都要挑线——有多少机器人 在这些领域，有多少快速选择 我们只有几行(甚至更少)，”桑德斯说. “If we see there are a lot of picks in a certain 区域，我们知道我们需要关注这些 通道，确保他们留下来 补充和总是有库存，所以我们 bots can go.”
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ROOM TO GROW
Fast and accurate fulfillment of orders has given Premier Yarns a newfound flexibility to 开展促销活动，发布新产品.
“We are no longer time constrained about releasing new products and how that might hinder our picking time or add a burden to the team,” Yonca Ozbelli said.
It also has owners considering additional robots and additional employees.
“Because our business is growing because of our better, faster service to our customers, we see that orders are coming even stronger, so we’re keeping all of our employees and even adding more team members to help us with the growth and replenishment of our 哈尔·奥兹贝利说.
“I’m hoping to get more robots from Locus, and I’m hoping to add another line to the conveyor where we can separate the way orders are being sent out. We’re looking for a 我们公司的2024年是强劲的.”
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