Cookware company Meyer knew that overhauling its poorly performing palletizer and conveyors could improve productivity at the dock. What the company didn't expect was to stumble upon a whole new use for the equipment.
Susan Lacefield has been working for supply chain publications since 1999. Before joining DC VELOCITY, she was an associate editor for Supply Chain Management Review and wrote for Logistics Management magazine. She holds a master's degree in English.
As part of your maintenance routine, do you evaluate your material handling systems to make sure they're meeting expectations? If not, maybe you should. Doing this type of periodic analysis can be well worth the effort. In addition to exposing existing problems, this sort of exercise may point you to new ways to use the equipment.
Consider the case of cookware distributor Meyer Corp., U.S. In 2009, the company, whose products include such well-known brands as Anolon, Circulon, and Farberware, was uncomfortably aware that its existing palletizer and supporting conveyor system wasn't performing to standard.
The palletizer had been installed five years previously to speed up the inbound container unloading process. The idea was that as trucks arrived at dock doors, merchandise would be unloaded and whisked to the palletizer by a spaghetti-like network of conveyors. The palletizer would then automatically stack the items on pallets, and the pallets would be sent to storage.
Had the equipment worked correctly, it should have increased throughput twofold over offloading containers manually. But Meyer was never really able to get the conveyors and the palletizer to play well together. "It never really reached its potential," says Mark Warcholski, Meyer's director of warehouse operations. It got to the point where the system was down more than it was up, he says.
Because the system was so unreliable, it was never embraced by the team, Warcholski adds. Eventually, DC employees became so disillusioned with the equipment that many simply bypassed the palletizer and supporting conveyors and sent trucks to regular dock doors for manual unloading, according to Dave Rebata of Flostor, an integrator that stepped in to help Meyer address the issue.
Too many integrators
As for the source of the problem, Warcholski does not blame the equipment itself. There was nothing wrong with the palletizer's hardware, he says. Instead, he believes that Meyer used too many integrators to incorporate the palletizer into its overall material handling system. This lack of cohesiveness caused continual failures for the palletizer and kept it from working smoothly with the company's conveyor systems.
It was obvious to Warcholski and his team that something had to be done. The company couldn't afford to carry what was essentially a non-performing asset on its books. Replacement wasn't an option either—particularly as Meyer was already in the middle of an AS/RS installation project at its main DC in Fairfield, Calif., where it was consolidating distribution operations. The team would have to find a way to make the existing asset work in harmony with the rest of the equipment—in other words, solve the integration problem.
Coincidentally, Warcholski's team was already working with an integrator, Flostor, on another project—one that involved the installation of a pick module at the Fairfield DC. It was during a budget meeting with Flostor that a member of Warcholski's team had a unique idea: Why not use the same conveyors and controls that were already being used to feed the palletizer on the inbound side to move outbound products from the pick module to the correct outbound trailer? In other words, connect the conveyors to the planned pick module, add a sortation system to the existing conveyors, and then extend the conveyors into trucks for outbound delivery. "The more we looked at it, the more we thought, 'Yeah, that's a really good idea,'" recalls Rebata.
First step: brain surgery
But first, the team needed to get the palletizer to do what it was designed to do. "We basically had to gut the current system and give it a new brain," explains Warcholski. "That doesn't mean we were disassembling any of the mechanical pieces. It was really looking into the software and partnering back up with the manufacturer, Columbia, and getting it working the way it needed to."
This time around, Meyer was determined not to repeat past mistakes. "When we [first set up the system], there were too many people involved," says Warcholski. "This time, we went with Flostor and told them, 'You're the single integrator.'"
After partnering with Columbia to work out the bugs in the system, Flostor began looking at the mechanics of incorporating the palletizer case conveyor into the outbound flow. Could the conveyor be easily switched from running in one direction for inbound receiving to running the opposite way for outbound deliveries? Was there a way to set up the system so that Meyer could quickly turn off the palletizer and turn on the sorter as part of its daily operations?
After studying the problem, the integrator decided the answer to both questions was yes. Working together with Meyer, Flostor successfully assembled a pick module that could interface with the palletizer and be used for outbound sortation. This was no small accomplishment, according to Rebata. "It's very unusual for somebody to come in and do this using an existing system," he says. "By the time that system is up and running the way it should be for one process, it's very difficult to make it turn on a dime and work for another process. A lot of work has to go behind it."
Two for one
But it was this decision to use the conveyor system in two different ways that really made the project a success, according to Warcholski. Not only was Meyer finally able to use the equipment for its intended purpose, but the company was also able to use it in a totally different capacity.
By all accounts, the project has resulted in significant operational benefits. "It increased our volume capacity twofold, allowed us to reduce labor, and increased our productivity," says Warcholski. Now, during non-peak season, the swing shift uses the palletizer on the inbound side, and the day shift uses it to process outbound cases. This has allowed the company to reduce its non-peak outbound shifts from two to one.
Better yet, the solution proved economical. By reusing an existing system, the company was able to avoid making a $2 million investment in new conveyors and controls. In addition, the implementation time was much shorter than if Meyer had started from scratch. Meyer began to see the payback immediately, according to Warcholski.
Meyer is not done with reviewing its palletizer and conveyor system (or for that matter, the other systems that were installed around it). Based on the success of the project, the company says that over the next three to five years, it will be continually looking at its systems to make sure they're performing at optimal levels—and being put to maximum use.
The number of container ships waiting outside U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has swelled from just three vessels on Sunday to 54 on Thursday as a dockworker strike has swiftly halted bustling container traffic at some of the nation’s business facilities, according to analysis by Everstream Analytics.
As of Thursday morning, the two ports with the biggest traffic jams are Savannah (15 ships) and New York (14), followed by single-digit numbers at Mobile, Charleston, Houston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Miami, Everstream said.
The impact of that clogged flow of goods will depend on how long the strike lasts, analysts with Moody’s said. The firm’s Moody’s Analytics division estimates the strike will cause a daily hit to the U.S. economy of at least $500 million in the coming days. But that impact will jump to $2 billion per day if the strike persists for several weeks.
The immediate cost of the strike can be seen in rising surcharges and rerouting delays, which can be absorbed by most enterprise-scale companies but hit small and medium-sized businesses particularly hard, a report from Container xChange says.
“The timing of this strike is especially challenging as we are in our traditional peak season. While many pulled forward shipments earlier this year to mitigate risks, stockpiled inventories will only cushion businesses for so long. If the strike continues for an extended period, we could see significant strain on container availability and shipping schedules,” Christian Roeloffs, cofounder and CEO of Container xChange, said in a release.
“For small and medium-sized container traders, this could result in skyrocketing logistics costs and delays, making it harder to secure containers. The longer the disruption lasts, the more difficult it will be for these businesses to keep pace with market demands,” Roeloffs said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) kicked off its 2024 season this week with a call for volunteers. The group, which honors U.S. military veterans through a range of civic outreach programs, is seeking trucking companies and professional drivers to help deliver wreaths to cemeteries across the country for its annual wreath-laying ceremony, December 14.
“Wreaths Across America relies on the transportation industry to move the mission. The Honor Fleet, composed of dedicated carriers, professional drivers, and other transportation partners, guarantees the delivery of millions of sponsored veterans’ wreaths to their destination each year,” Courtney George, WAA’s director of trucking and industry relations, said in a statement Tuesday. “Transportation partners benefit from driver retention and recruitment, employee engagement, positive brand exposure, and the opportunity to give back to their community’s veterans and military families.”
WAA delivers wreaths to more than 4,500 locations nationwide, and as of this week had added more than 20 loads to be delivered this season. The wreaths are donated by sponsors from across the country, delivered by truckers, and laid at the graves of veterans by WAA volunteers.
Wreaths Across America
Transportation companies interested in joining the Honor Fleet can visit the WAA website to find an open lane or contact the WAA transportation team at trucking@wreathsacrossamerica.org for more information.