Gains in the warehouse often include increases in storage capacity, throughput or labor productivity. And, when it comes to within-the-four walls improvements, Emmaus, Pa.-based publisher Rodale has accomplished all three by reconfiguring its aisles and putting in a warehouse management system (WMS).

But as it turns out, a recent packaging line upgrade goes one step further. The new line not only improved operations at the company's DC in Fogelsville, Pa., but makes a good first impression on customers, says Ted Uhlman, distribution services director.

That upgrade is a new package label system (PLS) at the division's DC in Fogelsville, Pa. that ships lifestyle books such as The South Beach Diet. The system allows Rodale to process more packages—up to 50 cartons per minute on each of its four lines—with fewer errors while including more inserts. In addition, quality control internally and the quality of packages received by customers have both improved.

As a result, the PLS (Accu-Sort) is ultimately helping Rodale sell more books, says Uhlman. The system and the resulting lowered return rate for shipments directly contributed to a $1 million increase in sales last year. "More customers are keeping books, and that translates into sales," Uhlman says.

If there were ever a facility that has been living a life of continuous improvement, the Fogelsville DC is it.

The internal efficiency of the DC took a major step forward in the late '90s when it was reconfigured for narrow aisles. Tim Wehr, engineering and maintenance manager, says the warehouse went from 10-foot to 6-foot aisles, adding 30% more useable space within the 100,000 square foot warehouse without enlarging the footprint.

The revamp freed up enough space that Rodale was able to drop its lease on an adjacent 50,000 square foot facility. Narrow-aisle lift trucks had to be purchased, but the savings from the consolidation quickly regained the expense.

"We got rid of the outside warehousing expense, and we got rid of the trucking expenses for moving goods from one warehouse to the other," says Uhlman. "We had box carts for running products back and forth from the facility, and we got rid of those. In the main facility, we added more racking and bulk storage locations."

A couple of years later, a WMS with wireless terminals was deployed. According to Uhlman, the software led to better inventory control, labor efficiency and automated cycle counting.

Before the WMS implementation, the communication of pick lists was paper-based. Lift truck operators reported to a supervisor at the start of a shift to find out what jobs to pick. As each pick was completed, drivers returned to the supervisor for the next set of pick instructions. The WMS, however, changed all that.

"Now all the information is brought up from the WMS to the wireless terminals," says Wehr. "They know what to pick next, how much to pick and the exact locations. Their routines are fully system directed. It cuts down on drive time, so they can stay on the floor all day performing their tasks."

According to Uhlman, the WMS also helps with inventory reduction by monitoring slow-moving items. If products are being stored for a long time, a list of those items is sent to marketing to adjust efforts to sell those products.

Throughout these upgrades, Rodale mailed its publications in packages each with a window envelope glued to the outside. The envelope contained everything the U.S. Postal Service and the customer would need—the customer's invoice, name and ship-to address.

While the method worked most of the time, some customers didn't receive their books when the envelope separated from the main package. And those who did receive both parts of the shipment found they could quickly return the book without opening the package—or the book.

Because the invoice was in an envelope glued to the package, the customer could examine the title and price and make a decision on keeping a book without actually reviewing it. With the new PLS, the invoice is in an envelope inside the package along with the book, so the customer must open the package, and perhaps page through the book, before making a decision.

"The product never had a chance to sell itself," Uhlman says. "Our feeling is that we produce quality books, if customers look at one, they'll keep it."

In December 2003, Wehr and his team researched and installed the PLS. The deployment involved several process changes and vendors, but the heart of the PLS is a high-speed labeling and tracking system. It scans, inducts, tracks, labels and verifies the order fulfillment operations.

While reducing errors and in-creasing throughput, the PLS also has allowed the warehouse to de-crease the number of quality control people on its lines from four to one. This is largely due to the ability of the PLS to automatically verify label and invoice accuracy on book orders, which are typically batched into larger runs associated with a marketing campaign.

An operator on each of three auto-pack lines places books on a conveyor located behind the PLS equipment. As the product rides down the track, inserts are automatically placed on top of the books. Then an envelope containing the invoice is placed on top. The bar code on the invoice is scanned and five packages are placed in the PLS queue at a time.

Using rolls of single-sided corrugated packaging material, the machine cold-seals the books with the self-adhesive product and moves them to the labeler, which prints and affixes a label to each package. The key at this point is ensuring that the label on the outside of the package matches the invoice on the inside. Rodale uses a combination of two bar codes for verification: a UCC 128 symbol for the U.S. Postal Service, and an Interleaved 2 of 5 symbol for internal systems.

Then another scanner verifies that the printed label is correct. If it isn't, or if the package does not contain a label, software shuts down the line. Operators then remove the packages, unship those orders, and feed them through the system again.

The packages are then fed to a conveyor where they are scanned by a photo eye that records the package ID, length and weight, sending that information to the system. The package is centered and timed so it will land on a tray on the tilt-tray sorter for delivery to the postal service's bulk mail centers.

In short, says Uhlman, the PLS's biggest benefits don't stop within the DC. "Our packaging equipment didn't change much, but the PLS does provide for a better quality control process," he says. "Mainly, that system ties back to better customer service, and increased sales."