When a privately owned, international housewares, furniture, and home accessories company, operating more than 100 stores in the U.S. and Canada, decided to dedicate its 600K square-foot distribution center (DC) in the Midwest to ship an expected 75K packages a day direct-to-consumers, they leveraged the Blue Yonder (BY) expertise of Open Sky Group to get the job done.

The company was already using Blue Yonder WMS to manage activities at the location, but its 2013 version of the software had outgrown its useful life. Further, the system was not designed to accommodate direct-to-consumer shipping, a few small items at a time. To meet their goal of centralizing e-commerce orders at the DC, they would have to fully automate a new facility and update the WMS for end-to-end pick, pack, and ship capabilities.

Prior to the decision, other DCs in their network handled e-commerce B2C orders ad hoc, often creating congestion and inefficiencies in the normal B2B flow of pallets and crates. Moving all their e-commerce activity to the new DC would both improve the flow of goods at the traditional DCs and establish a purpose-built, e-commerce hub designed to compete with the likes of Amazon.

The 15-month turnaround was remarkable, considering the restricted pandemic conditions and associated delays. Because so many of the client’s personnel were already trained on the Blue Yonder system, the latest version was adopted swiftly and without issue.

The newly equipped DC effectively passed its most stringent test during the 2021-22 peak season. With so many consumers working from home and shopping online, orders doubled over pre-pandemic conditions. Backorder fulfillment is one area where the system showed its mettle; only minimal support from other DCs in the network was required to meet customer demands. The collateral benefit is that fewer trucks hit the road, shrinking the company’s environmental footprint, while also cutting time and cost in the process.

Employee satisfaction at the warehouse is high. Automation has reduced the amount of physical labor, while analytics presented on graphical dashboards provide decision-makers with the necessary insights to enhance efficiency, safety, and productivity.

Today, Open Sky Group and the client are making minor corrections to the system based on early learnings. Progress is also now closing on a greenfield facility set to launch in fall 2022 in Texas.

Conclusion:

Open Sky Group’s talented consultants used their deep experience and skills to ensure their client was successfully able to optimize their operations and improve efficiency. The resources provided by Open Sky Group helped them reduce lead times, increase inventory visibility, and reduce labor costs. This case study demonstrates the value of partnering with a trusted provider like Open Sky Group for warehouse automation and supply chain management solutions.