Department store chain Belk knew it needed to speed up its supply chain. Serving 215 stores in 14 southeastern states in a timely manner had become too great a challenge for its distribution centers. In short, too many receiving points and extensive manual handling of merchandise were slowing down its supply chain. Worse yet, Belk's competitors were supplying the same merchandise from the same vendors to their store shelves faster.

Belk kicked its operations into high gear by consolidating its DCs into one highly automated, crossdocked distribution facility centrally located for all stores. As merchandise arrives from vendors, much of it is consolidated and shipped directly to stores. The new crossdocking operation allows faster merchandise processing with minimal handling and reduced freight costs. An effort to make items as close to floor-ready as possible also quickens the flow-through process. With these improvements, the time it takes to move products from vendor to store fixture has been slashed from 19 days to only seven.

Belk's 300,000 square foot DC in Blythewood, S.C. utilizes sliding shoe sorters with 33 diverts and a variety of conveyor systems including roller and zero pressure accumulation. The receiving dock is also designed to process conveyable and non-conveyable items.

With 33 diverts, the inbound sortation system sorts standard conveyable merchandise to either a processing station or crossdocks them directly to the shipping area. Atypical items and products from small vendors are still manually handled throughout the shipping process.

Vendor preparation of items for store shelves is also key to this crossdocking success. Belk's floor-ready vendors, which transmit their goods information electronically in advance, ship product with correct clothes hangers, price tickets and other necessary additions. As a result, these floor-ready shipments flow through the DC in seven minutes and are staged for the next store delivery.

"Three years ago, only 3% of our goods were floor-ready," says James Harvey, Belk executive vice president. "Now 90% are." With product moving from vendor to store about 10 days faster, the retailer has improved its cycle time by a week, adds Harvey.

Belk's operation today is a big improvement over its old distribution process. Workers no longer reorganize received merchandise into separate store piles or ship items to stores or satellite DCs for additional manual handling.

"Before, cartons could be handled as many as 8 to 12 times before reaching the store floor, but that's not the case anymore," says Harvey. Best of all, the return on investment for the entirely new automated facility has fully exceeded Belk's expectations.