Store Order Fulfillment System Helps Intimate Apparel Company Manage Growth

Bendon Ltd., an international intimate apparel company with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand selected Diamond Phoenix to design and integrate a state-of-the-art material handling system for its distribution center in Auckland, New Zealand. The new system is part of an effort to manage the company’s growth and improve efficiency.

The automated store order fulfillment system combines several technologies, including the DiamondWare™ Warehouse Execution System™, DirectPick™ Pick to Light and RF Picking, and Diamond Horizontal Carousels. Package conveyor and sortation are also integrated into the complete solution.

Orders are picked in parallel across the different technologies and are conveyed and sorted to 23 order consolidation lanes, each assigned multiple orders.

The order picking system consists of four zones (carousel pods, flow rack, shelving and pallet rack) and combines 3 different technologies, all managed by Diamond Phoenix software and controls. Operators in the carousel pods are directed by light trees and sort bars on the workstations; pick to light instructs workers on pick quantities in the flow rack area; and the shelving and pallet rack zones both incorporate RF picking. Zones vary between fast movers, slow movers, introductory SKUs and bulk reserve.

The integrated conveyor system transports all order traffic throughout the system, consolidating orders coming from multiple zones, sorting multiple tote orders to packing stations, replenishing SKUs to carousel pods, and replenishing empty totes back to the pick zones.

The entire system is controlled by the DiamondWare™ Warehouse Execution System WES™ 3.0. This revolutionary software system handles all order management and consolidation operations and conveyor routing in the warehouse, freeing up the WMS for inventory and business tasks. WES controls order flow and timing so that all zones are balanced with work. It also directs the dynamic consolidation of orders coming from the different picking zones so orders are grouped together in sequence in the packing lanes for ease of performing final pack-out and shipping requirements.

Diamond Phoenix worked very closely with the Bendon team to develop a solution that provides them with the visibility and productivity required to achieve its goals now and into the future. The benefits of the system are many:

• Predictability. Orders are processed very quickly and in very predictable timeframes. This gives Bendon the immediate ability to handle fluctuating order volumes over short and long range scenarios providing the least operating risk.
• Future expansion. The system is designed for expansion of the pick zones and to support changing order profiles and business requirements.
• Flexibility. Work zones have been designed so that picking and packing labor can be staffed to react to changing workload volumes.

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