Retrofit and expand a one-year-old shipping sortation system provided by a third-party integrator to accommodate a three-facility consolidation. Increase shipping accuracy by synergizing the shipping system and WMS.

Sanford is the leading manufacturer of writing instruments marketed under brands such as PaperMate, Sharpie, Uniball and Expo. The company ships an average of 30,000 cases a day, spiking to 60,000 cases per day during the peak back-to-school season. After Sanford consolidated three facilities into the operation located in Shelbyville, TN, the system was being put to the test.

Sanford was operating a single sorter with ten lanes of sortation. Each lane had approximately 16 pallet positions. During the peak season, the facility relied on temporary labor that was scanning and manually sorting cases to the pallet locations. Accuracy dropped from 99 percent to 95 percent, which resulted in an increase in unacceptable chargebacks.

To erase the mistakes, FORTE retrofitted the original sortation system with two new sorters serving a total of 100 lanes. This solution provided one pallet position per lane, thereby eliminating manual RF scanning. A label with a bar code identifying an assigned pallet position is applied to every carton. When the label is scanned, the warehouse management system automatically routes the carton to an assigned position for palletizing. A flashing beacon at the pallet position automatically flashes when a pallet position is complete and ready to be taken to the shipping dock. The shipping system was integrated with Sanford’s WMS software using FORTE’s CONTINUIMi™ DC Automation Director middleware module.

• In less than 120 days, the entire system installation was performed in the same footprint as the existing shipping system while Sanford continued operations.
• Over a three-day weekend FORTE de-installed the existing system and commissioned the new system.

• 100 percent shipping accuracy
• Increased productivity without added labor
• Extremely low troubleshooting requirements

“We looked at a lot of different firms, but we didn’t have a lot of success. Then we called FORTE… I was amazed at their determination to meet our deadline and stay within budget. It was the highest caliber of professionalism I’ve ever seen.”

- Distribution Manager,
Sanford, Inc.®, a Newell Rubbermaid™ Company