Extreme crossdocking at JCPenney
JCPenney's Lanthrop, Calif., new facility relies on a 938-foot-long sliding shoe sortation system.
By Bob Trebilcock, Executive Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/1/2009
JCPenney's Lathrop, Calif., crossdock center relies on a high-speed conveyor and sortation system to process cartons from the port to Penney's regional distribution centers. Roughly 95% of the 165,000 cartons that may pass through the facility each day travel directly from the receiving docks to the shipping docks in about five minutes. The remaining 5% are palletized for temporary storage. "Five percent doesn't sound like a lot," says Tim Wood, engineering and optimization director. "But when you're handling 165,000 cartons, that's still about 750 pallets a day."
Receiving: Penney begins tracking shipments from its overseas consolidators and receives an advance shipping notice (ASN) when containers arrive at the port. That allows the retailer to prioritize the order in which containers come into the facility based on the needs at the stores. By the time a container arrives at the receiving area 1, the warehouse management system (WMS) knows exactly what is coming in and how it will be allocated. Cartons are unloaded from the container onto an extendable belt conveyor. Each carton is assigned to a specific store and given a UPC code while still on the conveyor. From there the cartons travel up an incline conveyor and enter the conveyor system 3. Once they are on the conveyor, an overhead bar code scanner automatically scans a label on the carton. That determines whether the carton will be crossdocked to one of 50 outbound shipping dock doors or to a work processing area.
Putaway and shipping: Cartons that will be crossdocked continue on one of eight conveyor lanes to a pre-merge, where they narrow onto three lanes. At a main merge, the three lanes merge to one before they are inducted into the sorter. From there, they enter the 938-foot-long sliding shoe sortation system 4. The system then sorts them to the designated shipping door 5. The cartons travel down another incline conveyor to an extendable conveyor that reaches into an outbound trailer. Cartons are then floor loaded in the trailer.
Some cartons will be temporarily stored, based on when the merchandise is required in the stores. Those cartons are conveyed to a work in process and temporary storage area 2 on the distribution center floor. There, cartons are palletized by associates and then stored in pallet rack.
Once there is an order for the stored product, a lift truck driver is directed by the WMS to a pallet rack location. The cartons are manually placed on the conveyor 3 in the work in process area. They then follow the same path as cartons coming out of containers.
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